Henry Shields

Review: Magic Goes Wrong (Vaudeville Theatre)

All in all, Mischief Theatre have done it again with another fun night at the theatre where more goes right than wrong . . . or should that be more goes wrong than right?

Theatre review: Magic Goes Wrong

What's missing is the unexpected -- this is a series of uneven sketches on the same running gag, although there is also some proper, brilliant magic too.

Magic Goes Wrong, Vaudeville Theatre review

Mischief Theatre's "Goes Wrong" oeuvre is now well established: broad humour combined with physical comedy and slapstick mishaps. Magic Goes Wrong, though, is the company's first outside collaboration - with American magicians Penn & Teller, themselves purveyors of fine spoof comedy of the ta-da! kind.

The Goes Wrong Show review

This Christmas special from the team behind The Play That Goes Wrong is brimming with bedlam, from awful-on-purpose props to a sozzled Santa.

The Goes Wrong Show: The Spirit of Christmas, review

With a dreadful script and OTT performances, it really did go wrong.

The Goes Wrong Show: When TV festive frolics go awry

The phenomenally successful franchise that began with The Play That Goes Wrong seven years ago in a small north London pub is coming to a living room near you.

Magic Goes Wrong casting announced

Full casting has been announced for Magic Goes Wrong in the West End and at The Lowry.

The Comedy About A Bank Robbery review

Writers Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields unashamedly mine the bank heist genre from every era to produce this enormously funny, goofy romp. A final mention, though, has to go to the seagulls. It's a glorious riot.

The set-up for A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong sees the fictional Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society attempt to get themselves back on the BBC but hijacking a live dramatisation of A Christmas Carol starring Derek Jacobi as Scrooge. Taking over the role of Scrooge is Chris (Henry Shields) who sees himself as slightly better than the rest of the group and feels himself superior to Robert (Henry Lewis) who also wanted the leading role. The feud between Chris and Robert, with the former's assertion that he'd only give up the role of Scrooge if he were incapacitated is the basis of one of the show's running gags. Another brilliant joke is that Jonathan (Greg Tannahill) has once again forgotten all his words and so his lines have to be written on various props during his portrayal of Bob Cratchitt. Alongside Jacobi, the other famous face in A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong is Diana Rigg who agrees to narrate the play as her niece Sandra (Charlie Russell) is one of the players. We also learn, via footage from a party that is accidentally played over the green screen software, that Charlie is going to dump her boyfriend Max (Dave Hearn) once the production is over and later at the same party we see her smooching Chris. Just like last year's offering, A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong is a brilliant farce where the jokes come thick and fast thanks to props malfunctioning and actors forced into playing other roles. I personally thought that the show was one of the funniest comedies of the years and I found myself laughing consistently throughout the piece. One element of the show that I didn't feel was needed was laughter from a studio audience as it took away from the authenticity of this being a live performance of A Christmas Carol that had been hijacked. Furthermore, I felt at times that the story was a little rushed and given another ten or so minutes the Mischief Theatre Company could have provided even more laughs. But these are minor quibbles for a show that I believe should have had much more of a prominent position in the festive schedules. After two strong specials I hope that we get to see the Cornley Polytechnic invade our screens every December and I'd like to see these shows become a permanent fixture of the Christmas schedules.