The Play That Goes Wrong: The Holy Grail among Comedies
Josef Meszáros 13. May 2024 zdroj www.scena.cz
(…) Another example of a “fated” performance has been given to the world. For the viewer, however, a source of unceasing entertainment. And for those involved in the production? They should answer this question for us themselves, but as far as I know, it is far from easy to time everything to perfection and tie it all together so that it looks believable. Constructing a collapsing set so that no one gets hurt and learning confused lines. It’s all simply a gas for everyone involved and, most importantly, masterful theatre, because engaging and entertaining the audience is one of the most difficult theatre disciplines there is, and far more difficult than performing a serious and profound drama.
Director Mikoláš Tyc has a good understanding with the actors. He has put his money on appropriate parody and, in places, some amateurish acting. Costume designer Petra Krčmářová offers highly attractive costumes in the spirit of the age of Sherlock Holmes. We certainly appreciate the costumes worn by Linda (Kristýna Daňhelová), Kryštof (Milan Němec) and Emil (Jan Valeš) and the “civilian” characters Marek (Jakub Przebinda) and Anička (Marta Matějová). Set designer Petr Hloušek has had to deal with elements that had to collapse during the course of the action. He has coped excellently with even the most difficult situations, such as the gradual collapse of the office upstairs. Robin Schenk’s music thrilled the audience, particularly in the dramatic passages.
Each of the actors put everything into their performance, such as Miroslav, played by Jonáš Florián, who finds great enjoyment in the character of the murdered brother and later the gardener. He gives a particularly wonderful performance with a fictitious dog when all he has to work with is a leash in his hand. Jan Valeš as Emil is first the victim of his colleagues’ unfortunate mistakes. He has to endure torments of various kinds as the supposedly dead man. He enjoys his entrance and the revelation of all the lies and intrigues at the conclusion of the play.
Milan Němec as Kryštof and the director has to deal with the “clumsiness” of the lighting technicians. As the detective, he leads the investigation masterfully and gradually transforms into the villain, particularly at the moment when the truth comes to the surface and the layers of his pretence are gradually stripped away. Robert, as played by Jiří Mach, is exposed to the most demanding acrobatics which the audience will evidently appreciate the most.
The female members of the cast – Kristýna Daňhelová as Linda and Marta Matějová as Anička – play distinctly different roles. As an actress, Kristýna Daňhelová maintains her social standards. She does a good job of portraying both a grieving fiancée and an experienced lover. Marta Matějová plays her stage manager, i.e. a lower position in the amateur dramatics group, extremely attractively. The clash between the two characters is interesting when Matějová has to deputise in Daňhelová’s role. Their acting subsequently degenerates into a real rivalry and, it must be noted, an extremely funny and clever one at that.
The technician and the character of Marek, as played by Jakub Przebinda, is simply “adorable”, particularly his “business” with the Helena Vondráčková CD, the phone call with his mother and more and more blunders in putting the music on and generally throwing spikes into the works for his colleagues from the amateur dramatics group.
The production The Play That Goes Wrong represents the comedy grail for any theatre that finds a place for it in its repertoire, and that certainly applies to Brno City Theatre as well. We are confident that audience interest and performances reserved for companies will keep it in the repertoire for a long time to come. Fingers crossed.
BLOG: The Jaroslav Štěpaník Periodical (No. 77)
Jaroslav Štěpaník 1. May 2024 zdroj www.i-divadlo.cz/blogy
(...) Jan Šotkovský is a particularly talented writer (from a group of writers of original and successful comedies that come close to the approach taken by the Mischief Theatre trio). They are also a team of authors, rather than a theatre company as the name they have chosen may suggest. The direction was a good fit for Mikoláš Tyc, who has staged the play with maximum gusto. The significant contribution made by Petr Hloušek’s script, on which Jozef Hugo Čačko collaborated, must also be highlighted. Of those behind the scenes, I would also underline the contribution made by the set designer (Libor Lindner). A precise and realistic set depicting an aristocratic residence necessarily had to correspond to the original requirements. The comedy features not only two well-cast actresses and equally well-cast actors, but everything around them – every piece of furniture. The furnishings were frequently in motion, sometimes dangerously so, and at the same time a source of slapstick humour. The actors on the stage got themselves into precarious situations thanks to the hidden possibilities and pitfalls concealed in the attractively and stylishly furnished room. They overcame them without exception with surprisingly athletic performances and titanic feats. Petra Krčmářová’s artfully designed costumes caught the eye and put the finishing touches to the overall atmosphere. The music (Robin Schenk) and the lighting (David Kachlíř) made a well-directed and effective contribution towards enhancing the comedy. (…) All the performers each played two roles. They played the characters in the staged play, and at the same time the members of the amateur theatre group who portrayed them. All their performances were extremely good and they met the requirements of the genre to the full, with everyone contributing their own little “spiel” and a unique approach to understanding and processing their role and the overall character of the production.
If the audience had decided to go and see a parody and a crazy comedy, they would not have been disappointed as they got plenty to laugh at. The play will certainly appeal to the younger generation in particular, as well as a wider range of people with a sense of humour and a tolerance for a variety of comic styles. This is a successful and skilful comedy in its genre. It is amusing and provides relaxing laughter and a distraction from everyday worries and the current problems of the outside world.
The Play That Goes Wrong... Or perhaps not
Jan Trojan 15. April 2024 zdroj www.brnozurnal.cz
When someone messes something up, it can be a lot of fun. When these failures start to pile up and accumulate, when they keep coming one after another on the stage, it can be absolutely hilarious. If it’s done right. It’s all the more challenging for the actors because they don’t have any scope for the slightest improvisation, no matter how brief, because a production like this built for maximum humour on seemingly unwitting scenes must run like clockwork.
(…) There are certainly other genres that could be the basis for great hilarity, but a detective story with a murder offers enormous possibilities, and director Mikoláš Tyc and the actors have taken complete advantage of them. With script editor Jan Šotkovský, they have set the proceedings in Tuřany in the Brno area, where the local amateur actors from the Tyl Theatre Society are to perform. My research revealed that there is no amateur dramatics group there, so no one in Tuřany has any need to feel either offended or a figure of great respect. (...) An endless stream of comic scenes begins. These take place in the private room of the murder victim which is furnished like a country house from the 1920s. Praise here goes to Petr Hloušek. He may have had the authors’ detailed description at his disposal, but he still had to ensure that everything looked right and worked as intended. A falling painting, a blocked door and an old elevator to the first floor. The highlight is the tilting of the upper floor, when the actor Miroslav, as played by Jonáš Florián, manages to disturb a support column. A short while later, the tilt becomes even more pronounced... Added to that, the ineptitude of the actors, their lapses in and out of character, their repetition of individual scenes. The props are not where they should be, and the actors pick up something else instead which is then out of place later on. Other parts of the scenery also collapse. Nothing’s going well... We also see elements of slapstick, such as when a character is stunned by a suddenly opened door. The “mishaps” accumulate until the audience begins to worry before the end of the first act whether there can be anything left to come. This worry is entirely unnecessary – the authors and production team have plenty of good ideas up their sleeves.
Kristýna Daňhelová plays a prominent part in the production in the role of the actress Linda. She proves that she is not just a wonderful musical singer, but also an actress with a great flair for comedy. Marta Matějová is no less appreciated in the role of stage manager Anička and gives her character a touching and funny naivety. The aforementioned Milan Němec excels in the role of Kryštof who portrays the investigating inspector in the play. The cast also features Jiří Mach as the actor Robert and Martin Mihál as the actor Luděk. They all deserve an award for their comedy performances and the precision that such a production requires. “It wasn’t easy to rehearse this play as there’s no room for acting creativity. Everything that should happen on stage is laid out precisely in advance,” Milan Němec told journalists before the premiere. Director Mikoláš Tyc added that, “Sometimes I had to point out to the actors that they were being a bit too good for amateurs, that they needed to tone it down a bit.” Evidence of the success of the play, which is certain not to be a flop with audiences at the City Theatre, is provided by the sold-out performances.
Jan Trojan
Collapsing scenery at Tyl Tuřany? Why not?
(jasu) 11. April 2024 zdroj MF Dnes - Brno a Jižní Morava
(…) The fictitious theatre company Tyl Tuřany is supposed to be performing the English detective story The Murder at Haversham Manor at the local sports hall, but everything goes awry from the very beginning. Either because of fictitiously absurd actors, hastily cobbled-together scenery, switched or lost props, or the general incompetence of the people “behind the scenes”. But everything from the first to the last minute of this play is clearly an exaggeration, a madcap farce for a like-minded audience, and something you won’t remember for more than a week.
But the actors from the City Theatre play their roles full of deliberate overacting and artlessness with obvious relish, and their actual performances among the collapsing sets and failing props are worthy of admiration, or at least respect – and if you don’t mind the fact that the detective story they are performing is really not important, and that you will probably forget it at once, then why not? In short, why not give your brain a rest for an evening with something that is at least decently done and that isn’t vulgar or just a cheap laugh, no matter how unchallenging it may be?
It is, what’s more, enhanced by the performances of the eight actors, among whom Milan Němec stands out in the “principal” role of Kryštof. But the other performers also play their parody roles with the same relish, particularly the younger reinforcements of the current ensemble Jonáš Florián and Martin Mihál. And the always-reliable Kristýna Daňhelová in the role of the hysterical and aristocratic young lady Florence Colleymoore is ably supported this time by Marta Matějová in the role of the stage manager Anička, who has to stand in for her on stage and who gets an enormous taste for acting in no time at all. (jasu)
