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Hello, and welcome to prompt.
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A podcast that looks at fair to, from Um perspective of me Jess and act stage manager.
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Join me as I chat to a wide range of theater practitioners about their experiences, mistakes and whether or not they are indeed prompt.
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Hello, welcome to Prompt.
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Thank you for downloading this.
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I hope you are having a great day.
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Um, I'm having a good day.
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I think autumn is here.
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At least I hope it's here because I've put away like all of our summer clothes and got out all of the girls, like, winter clothes.
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So fingers crossed it's, uh, it's autumn or they're just going to be really, really hot for a couple of weeks.
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Um, so today I am having a conversation with Jonathan and Henry from Mischief Theatre Company.
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Um, a while ago a PR company got in touch saying that The Play That Goes Wrong was about to celebrate 10 years in the West End and would I like to go and see it and chat to them? First of all, I couldn't quite believe that the play that goes wrong had been in the West End for 10 years It just doesn't feel like it.
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But then when I thought about it, I was like, yeah I've just been seeing those posters on the tube forever It's just become sort of A fabric of the West End and, uh, I hadn't ever seen it, remarkably.
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So I was like, yeah, I'd love to go and see it.
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Something you should know about me is that if somebody offers me a ticket to go and see a theatre show, I will always take it.
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I will always go and see some theatre.
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Um, and, so I went to see it and I had a brilliant night out.
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It was just so much fun and I've been talking about this a lot recently actually, I recently did um, recorded an episode with Danny Robbins who wrote 222, uh, it's coming out shortly and he, we were both just talking about how like, I think we just want theatre to be fun at the moment, that's like, My number one request when I go and see a show is that it's just like a bit of a laugh and this, the play that goes wrong, was a hundred percent that and I had such a fun night and I couldn't wait to talk to them because obviously I'm completely obsessed with mistakes and things going wrong So I was really really excited to talk to the makers of a show that You could not celebrate mistakes and things going wrong in the theatre anymore.
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So here is the brilliant Henry and Jonathan from Mischief Theatre.
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Enjoy.
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Hi Jonathan and Henry and, uh, welcome to Prompt and thank you so much for giving up your time today.
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Thanks for having us.
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Yeah, I love it a bit.
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It's really nice to have you here.
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Although Jonathan, you're in a Pratt because you've slightly double butch yourself, but you are going to go And give blood, which is a great reason to have double butch yourself.
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So we will forgive you.
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Uh, but we will crack straight on.
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And I love, I love the, I love the press environment as well.
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Transcribed I've taken many an important call in a Pratt.
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I think we all have.
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Um, so you were here because you were celebrating 10 years.
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in the West End, which is such an incredible achievement.
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I just can't, when you opened in the old Red Line in 2012, and then moving to Trafalgar Studios in 2013, and then coming to the West End in 2014, did you ever imagine that you would still be here? there 10 years later.
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No, I mean, not at all.
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I think, um, it was a, you know, it's a huge surprise and continues to be really.
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I think, um, you know, when we first moved to the West End, I think we thought that it would sort of be, you know, a few weeks.
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Um, and there was sort of talk about it coming in over the summer.
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And then we, we sort of moved that back to September.
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This is sort of 2014.
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And I think we, you know, we thought, um, you know, we'd be incredibly lucky to get a run until Christmas, maybe just into the new year.
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Um, and so we, we had no idea that it would continue on in the way that it has.
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Um, and we've never really kind of known that it, you know, uh, you know, you're always kind of renewing the, the booking period or whatever, putting another kind of, nine months to a year on sale and you're always kind of hoping that you get through through that period but you're always aware that ultimately the theater can you know if you're if you drop below the break even point for two weeks or more the theater can kind of chuck you out So Um, it's um, it's always a bit sort of uh nerve wracking and so yes at no point have we sort of felt like um Oh, we're going to be here for a long time It's only when you kind of look back I guess afterwards that uh that you realize that It's so difficult to get a play on in the West End anyway, even for like a three month run.
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So the fact that it's, it's been on and it's just so loved, it's had tours of the UK, it's been on Broadway, it's been in Australia, it's been in America.
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The success of it is just, It's just completely incredible.
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But then also you've had all these other things that have branched off it.
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You've got your own podcast.
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You've got, uh, the Goes Wrong show on the BBC.
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You've got Peter Pan Goes Wrong.
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You've got Christmas Carol Goes Wrong.
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You've got the Mischief Movie Nights.
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from this play, you've grown this global sensation and this incredible business from things going wrong.
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It's been no it's been it's been a real adventure and um, I think we you know after after sort of play that goes wrong Uh started to really connect with audiences.
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I think that that kind of um I think we enjoyed that experience so much and got so much out of it.
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And it's been so, so much fun kind of making each other and making audiences laugh that we've been keen to kind of explore different ways.
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And so, yeah, it's been a real kind of a venture over the last, uh, Over the last, well, more than 10 years really, since we sort of formed as a group, but certainly Play That Goes Wrong marks our first kind of, uh, entrance into, the West End and doing theatre in a more sort of, commercially sustainable way.
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Yeah, because commercially sustainable is often, uh, the thing that very few people actually manage to achieve.
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Um, Jonathan, you've changed location.
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What have you, are you somewhere else? I've just moved next door to somewhere slightly quieter.
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Um, there was a lady right next to me eating a sandwich and I just thought, Oh, I'll just go here.
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So I'm, I'm here now.
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Um, uh, so I came to see it a few weeks ago.
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Uh, so I knew what I was talking to you about.
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Um, and when it first started, I was like, Oh, I'm not sure how much of like things falling off mantelpieces.
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I can sort of stand, um, I was like, is this, is this going to be it? And then it just got so funny and so surreal.
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And it was actually because I was a West End stage manager for like 20 years.
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And I was like, this is like anxiety dreams that I have had.
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Like, I've had the, the dream where I've had to go on with the book.
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I've had the dream where, where, you know, things just, all of us, like, sets just start collapsing.
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And I'm always fascinated when people dramatize stage managers, it gets done quite a lot.
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Um, and so with the roles of the stage managers that you created, were they from people that you like knew? Were they based on anybody or did you just conjure them up out of thin air? I suppose the way, just the way that we've always worked is we work as a big unit company and try and write around kind of the group and the group's dynamics.
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So I think less kind of being like, we, this is who the character is and they'll be like this.
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It was more kind of, for one, coming up with a character who was very, very much outside the world of.
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the kind of play that goes right in the murder at Havisham Manor, which is obviously a really fancy kind of, um, kind of RP.
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kind of received pronunciation play, so it was just about kind of finding a character that really felt like they lived outside of a different world to that and putting them in the show.
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I thought that they, you know, they were, they were obviously hilarious and quite heightened, but I did feel that they sort of came from a place of love.
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That's how, that's how it came across to me.
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Um, we always talk about stage management on this podcast.
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So do you have, uh, a favorite stage manager or a stage management team who really sticks out in your memory for something that they've done? And what is that? Good We've had a lot of really great stage management, haven't we, Ed? Yeah, we've had no amazing stage management teams.
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Um, I mean, uh, we've had I mean, no, I don't know if we could pick our favorite ever.
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Um, the stage management team on magic goes wrong.
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I think that was a particularly big team because it's quite a complicated show.
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I think we've just worked with a really lovely team on the Mindmangler show, um, uh, who are really, really brilliant, We've just done Mischief Movie Night in the West End, um, we had, you know, um, A small team, but a team who I think hadn't done much improv before, but really took to that.
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Um, I mean, there are so many different teams.
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Yeah, on, um, on our shows is that you're, you're inputting in a lot of the comic timing so, so often.
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Um, so I, I, you kind of really get woven into the entire fabric of the show.
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Um, just a very quick incident of the story, but our magic goes wrong.
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I remember one of the massive jobs as well, the stage manager had to do, is there was a scene where there's someone in a huge tank of water.
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And basically after every single show, this tank had to be drained, refilled, the temperature had to be checked, just like so much stuff, so much dedication and love and care to make each and every little moment work.
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So we've been so, so blessed with the stage manager, which I'm really lucky.
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It I've never done it, but those, um, like stage managing improv shows must be incredibly hard just because there is no, running order and you know, so much of what you're trying to do as a stage manager is keep everything the same every single night.
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So I can only imagine how difficult It must be.
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Uh, oh, well, a very particular skillset is required when the show.
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every single night is so different.
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but what you were saying about the comic timing, um, I did the 39 steps in the tricycle and then was the first DSM on it when it transferred to the West End.
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And I'd never done anything like that before.
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It was like my first kind of biggest DSM gig.
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And I remember the director, Mariah Aitken, like talking to me about comic timing.
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You know, getting the sound cues at that like split second where it was going to be hilarious because a split second later it wouldn't land.
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Um, so yeah, I think I could only imagine that, yeah, your stage management teams are really put through it.
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makes such a huge difference because we're an ensemble company, right? So that really means like every single facet of the team have to kind of work and move as one.
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Otherwise it all unravels really, really quickly.
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I mean, play that goes wrong.
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Like you said, there are, there are so many big technical moments and it's written, so it constantly ramps up and builds.
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And as soon as.
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there's one cue that's a second late or there's one thing that doesn't fire or there's something that's not quite been set right, the kind of souffle sinks a little bit.
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So it's, it's, it's so, so important.
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I think they're, they're really good fun shows to work on behind the scenes as well, because, you know, They're quite action packed, like Peter Pan particularly, like, you're literally like running around, like, because each time the revolve, it's on a revolve, and each time the revolve turns, everything on that revolve section needs to be struck super quick, and the next set needs to be put in, and it's just, it's just, there are a lot of, there are a lot of fun to do, but.
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They are such huge team, um, such team, team efforts.
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So I was actually going to get onto this question later, but it just feels right to bring it up now.
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Um, on Prompt, we talk about mistakes a lot.
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I am a really big fan of mistakes, uh, nobody always wants to own up to mistakes.
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Nobody wants to be in the show report.
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Um, and I feel that it's something that we should just all be owning up more.
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But one of the things I love the most about mistakes is how brilliant things can come from them.
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Because, uh, when we did 39 Steps and we did one of the first previews at the tricycle and, uh, Hanne and this beautiful woman who he's brought home, they walk into his apartment for the first time.
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He goes to switch on a light.
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We just had this scene change that had gone so wrong on so many levels.
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And I was queuing the show and I had people in my ear, Things weren't set or cacophony of noise in my head.
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And the amazing Charlie Edwards went to switch on the standard lamp.
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He said, I'll turn the light on.
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And he puts hands under the light and it didn't turn on.
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And so he just stepped away from it.
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And I looked up at the stage, went shit, Alex, go.
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And then the light came on and the audience just fell about laughing.
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And Mariah Raikin was like, stay here, they're saying, um, and, you know, and it's, it's still in the show to this day.
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And I think that great things come from mistakes.
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So I would really love to hear if there's if there's a time when something has actually gone really wrong in the play that goes wrong.
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Like, have you ever found like a whole new layer of actually something like really going quite wrong? there's been a few, a few instances of, um, of, of things, as you say, I mean, there's the one that I, uh, quickly recall as an example of something that went wrong, but that we kept it in, as happened, uh, to you guys in 39 Steps, was, um, Um, Uh, when we did the goes wrong show, there was a bit with a, there's a gun on the wall and the character takes this gun off the wall and he is about to fire it.
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Um, and the gun, I, I was doing it and I picked up the gun, and the gun fell, fell apart into two pieces.
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And so my character's trying to put the whole thing back together, and that was completely not planned.
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That just happened to happen.
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barrel happened to come off of the, you know, the other, the end bit where the other bit's gone.
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And, um, yeah, and so we kept that in.
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Um, there's been a couple of other things like that.
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I mean, the, the phone in, um, the sort of phone stretching across the, uh, the, in Play That Goes Wrong, there's a moment where the phone is supposed to be passed to a character.
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A character is stuck on the other side of the stage and can't do their normal blocking.
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Uh, and so the phone, in the original version, the phone is picked up and brought across the stage to them.
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Um, but The phone ended up getting stuck, glued down, or bolted down to the table.
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Um, and, uh, it's bolted down for a different reason.
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In Act 1, the bolt's supposed to be taken out before Act 2, but someone forgot to take it out, so it was stuck.
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So the phone had to kind of be stretched, but it didn't reach.
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So someone else was kind of like, well, I'll sort of make myself part of this.
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And so they grabbed the phone and stretched out as though, you know, kind of doing sort of phone, you know, Oh, Be the phone.
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And that's the, yeah, so that, well that came out of a mistake.
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That was not in the, the very first version.
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So it kind of, then everybody forms a big chain and they finally, he talks to him on the phone.
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Um, so yeah, that was an example of exactly the same thing as And that's one of, that's one of the best moments of the show as well, because that's when it gets quite surreal, Yeah.
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how brilliant that that actually came from mistake.
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Um, and has there, has there been moments when the play goes wrong, has, has just actually gone quite wrong, where you're like, well, we're in real trouble now.
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for sure.
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If there's an error or a mistake in the show, um, quite often it's then the absence of a joke.
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So if something goes wrong within the play that goes wrong, it's the, you know, a coal scuttle that's supposed to spark into fire doesn't spark.
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So you just kind of carry on the play.
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So quite often the mistakes kind of go unnoticed and unseen.
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Oh, the mistakes just mean that the play goes right.
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Yeah, kind of.
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Yeah, it's a strange one.
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It's always trouble because if you do the murder at Havisham Manor, which is the play within the play, in Play That Goes Wrong, if you just do that with no mistakes, it's only about 25 minutes long.
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So, uh, you need the mistakes to really give you a full two act experience.
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I love it.
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This was, I was so excited about recording this episode because I just love talking about, uh, mistakes so much.
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Um, so this podcast is called Prompt, um, because I am low key obsessed with timekeeping.
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I'm incredibly punctual.
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I'm very, sort of.
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stereotypical stage manager when it comes to being a stickler about being on time.
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So the question that I have for you two is, are you prompt? Uh, I am pretty prompt.
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It's ironic because I was actually late for this, uh, but that was mainly because I was sat at my desk at the right time.
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There was, a technical, there was a technical error.
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We'll let you have that.
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Uh, but no, I am pretty, I would say pretty much, yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm pretty prompt.
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I might have the occasional, uh, um, uh, the occasional thing.
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But more than anything else, because we, because we sort of, because we wear, um, Because we sort of wear two hats, we kind of, we sort of run the company, but we're also in lots of the shows.
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Um, that can sometimes be where there's just a bit of overlap.
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There's quite a lot of running from a meeting at, at five in order to get to the theater for our call.
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So that, that, that would be an example of maybe where I'm occasionally not, but no, generally I would say pretty, I think we're both pretty, pretty punctual Would you agree with that, Jonathan? Yeah, Emi's certainly a prompt man.
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And um, I think I'm pretty prompt as well.
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Like, I can't think of many.
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I get quite, I get quite stressed and anxious if I'm, if I'm running late.
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So no, I tend to, I tend to set off for stuff very, very early.
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And it's quite like in my family, like my dad is very, very, uh, uncomfortable with poor timekeeping.
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I remember we used to go to the zoo when we were like, when we were kids, and we were known by the staff at Chester Zoo for being that weird family that used to show up like once we were an hour and a half early before the zoo opened.
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That we were always like half an hour early before the zoo opened, or an hour and a half once.
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My dad was all, would always we don't know what the traffic's going to be like.
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And I suppose I'm not quite that prompt because I've kind of deliberately in my life decided that that's too prompt.
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Because, because if you go the other way, right, you kind of inconvenience people in just the same way as if you're late, if you're too early.
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So I strive to be one time That's such a dad thing to say as well, like there might be traffic.
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obsessed.
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He still does it now.
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He's always, that will do set off early.
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You didn't want the.
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Traffic's going to be like, and it's like, well, yes, but also you can't live your entire life just like with the idea that there might be three hours of traffic.
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Anyway, I'm prompt as is Henry.
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good.
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So Mischief Theatre is obviously, you know, you just talked about having two different hats, you're in these shows, but you're also running this unbelievably, uh, successful theatre company.
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So if we imagine that we're in an alternate universe, And the National Theatre said what we're going to do is we're going to let Miss Chief take the reins and run the National Theatre.
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What is something that you would do? And that can be, we've had a real variety of answers.
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Some people say they're going to serve gluten free sandwiches.
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Some people talk about the shows they're going to stage.
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It can be whatever you want, but what would you do if Miss Chief got put in charge of the National Theatre? Oh, what do you think, John? I mean, I think probably we, you know, one thing we would do is, I think, uh, obviously we like comedy, and I think, um, I think, uh, There's, there's not, there's not as much comedy about, I think, now as there used to be, maybe.
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So I think we, I think, you know, if we had a, if we ran a venue, and this is the Criticism of what the, uh, what the National Theatre does because it's amazing.
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Um, but I think if we had a venue of some kind, I think we would, um, um, I think we'd, we'd want to have a venue dedicated to doing really good comedy and original comedy and new stuff.
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Uh, I think, um, because I think it's, uh, I think it's really important.
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I think sometimes it kind of gets, uh, gets lost, uh, you know, a bit.
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Um, even though it's, um, you know, audiences really like it.
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Um, and I think it's really, um, really great for people.
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I think one of the most amazing things about all the mischief shows is that it's, um, you know, it's, uh, not all of the shows probably, but most of them are shows where audiences of all ages, um, and from all different backgrounds can kind of all come together and laugh together.
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Um, you can come with, you know, uh, family of, of young kids and their grandparents and everybody, and everybody will have a kind of genuinely.
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good time.
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John often says, you know, he's become a father recently.
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And that's a, you know, you, you particularly realize the significance of that to have something where it's not something where the kids are being dragged along, but it's also not something where the parents are going and sort of sat sitting through it with gritted teeth.
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It's nice to have something that everybody can genuinely enjoy.
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So.
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I think that's really cool.
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Um, but I think on a, on a broader level beyond, you know, family, it's also nice to, to sit in a room for the people who um, you know, in a, in a, in a kind of slightly more polarised and divided world, it's nice to sit in a room with lots of different people and have a shared laughter experience.
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Um, so if we had a venue, I think we'd probably try and sort of focus on that as a bit of an objective.
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When I came to see the play that goes wrong, actually, and there was a huge school group of like secondary school kids, um, sat behind us and, they were like at the start, they've been quite loud and they've been quite fidgety.
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And then the show started and, you know, there was still quite a lot of chatting and.
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Lots of kind of sweet rustling and stuff and I was like, Oh God, is this gonna drive me insane? And then as the show went on they just like settled down more and more They were like laughing and laughing and you know when we came back for act two They were just so engaged and they were you know, all the little nuanced jokes or the big jokes They were like falling about laughing and they were just they were absolutely riveted, you know, as were the older people in the audience.
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I think the show and the shows that you're creating, they do appeal to just such, to so many different people and so many different audiences.
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And yeah, there should, there should be a bit more of that maybe at the national.
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think the other thing is like, I, I would, um, make sure that there's like, um, a certain amount of debuts per year.
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And, you know, and that's, that's kind of in every different department, be that stage management, be that acting or be that as writers.
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I think that.
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We are, you know, we're really the beneficiaries of a producer taking a chance on kind of young people and not being not not being worried about that and just being like, Oh yeah, they'll deliver.
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And also just throw it giving us a tremendous amount of trust and space.
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And, um, so I think it's really important that the industry does that, because I think that's how you get new and exciting work and, and if you give people that space and that trust, then I think that, you know, 9.
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9%, sorry, 99.
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9 percent of the time, they, they, they, they, you know, they always deliver, not 9.
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9.
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I, uh, yeah, I think I like to think that that is happening more like I was reading, you know, the, the, um, there's a new musical in the West End called Why Am I So Single that was written by the people who created Six, you know, again, like very young people that producers took a chance on.
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And it's like, you know, these people, you know, like you, like the creators of Six, they're so sort of in touch.
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with what people actually want.
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You know, we don't necessarily want another David hair play, no, disrespect.
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Um, but you know, there's, but I think.
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Yeah, I, I, I, I think that there's more producers out there who are taking risks, like bigger risks on younger people, um, because they are creating good work and, you know, it doesn't always pay off, but, but yeah, I, I think, obviously that I'm talking about independent producers.
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It would be really, really nice to see the National Theatre take those risks as well.
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for sure.
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Um, yeah, absolutely.
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Well, no, I mean, I think we're, we're incredibly lucky to, um, uh, to, uh, partner up with, um, uh, our producers, including Kenny Wax, who I think is, is hugely a kind of, you know, advocate for that.
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Um, and I think we were very lucky to find someone, uh, when we were so young, who is, who is a big advocate for that.
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He, uh, produces, uh, you know, a lot, almost all of our stuff.
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And, um, And, uh, and, and also, uh, six.
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And indeed, why am I so single? So, um, yeah, no, he's, I think he, he's, he's a, a brilliant person, uh, really keen to sort of back new and exciting stuff.
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So yeah, no huge, huge thanks to him.
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Well, uh, congratulations again on 10 years, uh, in the West End.
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It's a brilliant show.
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I think it's, uh, I think it's timeless as well.
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That's what I was thinking when I was watching it.
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I was like, this could just stay for so long.
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I think so many shows come in and they've got certain levels of technology that I think could date quite quickly.
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Um, but I think that, uh, play that goes wrong.
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It's timeless.
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It's a classic.
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I hope it runs and runs and thank you so much for your time today.
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Thanks so much, Jess.
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All right.
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Have a great day.
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Enjoy giving blood.
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Thanks Jess.
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That was lovely.
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That was the brilliant Jonathan and Henry from mischief theater talking, all things play that goes wrong.
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Um, how incredible you've created a play at the red line theater and have it turn into this.
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Uh, you know, this worldwide phenomenon that is also had all these other things branch off from it.
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It's, it's really impressive and incredible.
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And I just love talking to them, you know? The experiences that we shared, 39 steps in play that goes wrong.
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Have to have lots of kinds of similar parallels.
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You know, watching the peril of actors on stage, trying to put on something very serious, it goes wrong.
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Um, so it was really nice to share those experiences.
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Um, thus proving my point, the mistakes are a great thing and we should all celebrate them.
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Um, I hope you enjoyed the episode.
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Uh, if you want to send me a message about it, you can prompt the podcast@gmo.com.
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You can follow me on Instagram at prompt underscore pro.
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Then prompt, underscore podcast.
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Or Jess, Lucy brunch.
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Um, thank you so much for listening and I will see you next time.
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Bye.
00:00:13,819.696969697 --> 00:00:15,409.696969697
Hello, and welcome to prompt.
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A podcast that looks at fair to, from Um perspective of me Jess and act stage manager.
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Join me as I chat to a wide range of theater practitioners about their experiences, mistakes and whether or not they are indeed prompt.
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00:00:41,495.090909091 --> 00:00:43,505.090909091
Hello, welcome to Prompt.
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Thank you for downloading this.
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I hope you are having a great day.
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Um, I'm having a good day.
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I think autumn is here.
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At least I hope it's here because I've put away like all of our summer clothes and got out all of the girls, like, winter clothes.
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So fingers crossed it's, uh, it's autumn or they're just going to be really, really hot for a couple of weeks.
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Um, so today I am having a conversation with Jonathan and Henry from Mischief Theatre Company.
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Um, a while ago a PR company got in touch saying that The Play That Goes Wrong was about to celebrate 10 years in the West End and would I like to go and see it and chat to them? First of all, I couldn't quite believe that the play that goes wrong had been in the West End for 10 years It just doesn't feel like it.
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But then when I thought about it, I was like, yeah I've just been seeing those posters on the tube forever It's just become sort of A fabric of the West End and, uh, I hadn't ever seen it, remarkably.
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So I was like, yeah, I'd love to go and see it.
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Something you should know about me is that if somebody offers me a ticket to go and see a theatre show, I will always take it.
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I will always go and see some theatre.
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Um, and, so I went to see it and I had a brilliant night out.
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It was just so much fun and I've been talking about this a lot recently actually, I recently did um, recorded an episode with Danny Robbins who wrote 222, uh, it's coming out shortly and he, we were both just talking about how like, I think we just want theatre to be fun at the moment, that's like, My number one request when I go and see a show is that it's just like a bit of a laugh and this, the play that goes wrong, was a hundred percent that and I had such a fun night and I couldn't wait to talk to them because obviously I'm completely obsessed with mistakes and things going wrong So I was really really excited to talk to the makers of a show that You could not celebrate mistakes and things going wrong in the theatre anymore.
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So here is the brilliant Henry and Jonathan from Mischief Theatre.
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Enjoy.
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Hi Jonathan and Henry and, uh, welcome to Prompt and thank you so much for giving up your time today.
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Thanks for having us.
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Yeah, I love it a bit.
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It's really nice to have you here.
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Although Jonathan, you're in a Pratt because you've slightly double butch yourself, but you are going to go And give blood, which is a great reason to have double butch yourself.
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So we will forgive you.
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Uh, but we will crack straight on.
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And I love, I love the, I love the press environment as well.
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Transcribed I've taken many an important call in a Pratt.
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I think we all have.
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Um, so you were here because you were celebrating 10 years.
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in the West End, which is such an incredible achievement.
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I just can't, when you opened in the old Red Line in 2012, and then moving to Trafalgar Studios in 2013, and then coming to the West End in 2014, did you ever imagine that you would still be here? there 10 years later.
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No, I mean, not at all.
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I think, um, it was a, you know, it's a huge surprise and continues to be really.
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I think, um, you know, when we first moved to the West End, I think we thought that it would sort of be, you know, a few weeks.
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Um, and there was sort of talk about it coming in over the summer.
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And then we, we sort of moved that back to September.
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This is sort of 2014.
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And I think we, you know, we thought, um, you know, we'd be incredibly lucky to get a run until Christmas, maybe just into the new year.
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Um, and so we, we had no idea that it would continue on in the way that it has.
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Um, and we've never really kind of known that it, you know, uh, you know, you're always kind of renewing the, the booking period or whatever, putting another kind of, nine months to a year on sale and you're always kind of hoping that you get through through that period but you're always aware that ultimately the theater can you know if you're if you drop below the break even point for two weeks or more the theater can kind of chuck you out So Um, it's um, it's always a bit sort of uh nerve wracking and so yes at no point have we sort of felt like um Oh, we're going to be here for a long time It's only when you kind of look back I guess afterwards that uh that you realize that It's so difficult to get a play on in the West End anyway, even for like a three month run.
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So the fact that it's, it's been on and it's just so loved, it's had tours of the UK, it's been on Broadway, it's been in Australia, it's been in America.
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The success of it is just, It's just completely incredible.
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But then also you've had all these other things that have branched off it.
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You've got your own podcast.
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You've got, uh, the Goes Wrong show on the BBC.
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You've got Peter Pan Goes Wrong.
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You've got Christmas Carol Goes Wrong.
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You've got the Mischief Movie Nights.
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from this play, you've grown this global sensation and this incredible business from things going wrong.
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It's been no it's been it's been a real adventure and um, I think we you know after after sort of play that goes wrong Uh started to really connect with audiences.
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I think that that kind of um I think we enjoyed that experience so much and got so much out of it.
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And it's been so, so much fun kind of making each other and making audiences laugh that we've been keen to kind of explore different ways.
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And so, yeah, it's been a real kind of a venture over the last, uh, Over the last, well, more than 10 years really, since we sort of formed as a group, but certainly Play That Goes Wrong marks our first kind of, uh, entrance into, the West End and doing theatre in a more sort of, commercially sustainable way.
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Yeah, because commercially sustainable is often, uh, the thing that very few people actually manage to achieve.
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Um, Jonathan, you've changed location.
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What have you, are you somewhere else? I've just moved next door to somewhere slightly quieter.
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Um, there was a lady right next to me eating a sandwich and I just thought, Oh, I'll just go here.
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So I'm, I'm here now.
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Um, uh, so I came to see it a few weeks ago.
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Uh, so I knew what I was talking to you about.
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Um, and when it first started, I was like, Oh, I'm not sure how much of like things falling off mantelpieces.
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I can sort of stand, um, I was like, is this, is this going to be it? And then it just got so funny and so surreal.
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And it was actually because I was a West End stage manager for like 20 years.
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And I was like, this is like anxiety dreams that I have had.
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Like, I've had the, the dream where I've had to go on with the book.
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I've had the dream where, where, you know, things just, all of us, like, sets just start collapsing.
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And I'm always fascinated when people dramatize stage managers, it gets done quite a lot.
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Um, and so with the roles of the stage managers that you created, were they from people that you like knew? Were they based on anybody or did you just conjure them up out of thin air? I suppose the way, just the way that we've always worked is we work as a big unit company and try and write around kind of the group and the group's dynamics.
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So I think less kind of being like, we, this is who the character is and they'll be like this.
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It was more kind of, for one, coming up with a character who was very, very much outside the world of.
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the kind of play that goes right in the murder at Havisham Manor, which is obviously a really fancy kind of, um, kind of RP.
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kind of received pronunciation play, so it was just about kind of finding a character that really felt like they lived outside of a different world to that and putting them in the show.
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I thought that they, you know, they were, they were obviously hilarious and quite heightened, but I did feel that they sort of came from a place of love.
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That's how, that's how it came across to me.
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Um, we always talk about stage management on this podcast.
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So do you have, uh, a favorite stage manager or a stage management team who really sticks out in your memory for something that they've done? And what is that? Good We've had a lot of really great stage management, haven't we, Ed? Yeah, we've had no amazing stage management teams.
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Um, I mean, uh, we've had I mean, no, I don't know if we could pick our favorite ever.
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Um, the stage management team on magic goes wrong.
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I think that was a particularly big team because it's quite a complicated show.
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I think we've just worked with a really lovely team on the Mindmangler show, um, uh, who are really, really brilliant, We've just done Mischief Movie Night in the West End, um, we had, you know, um, A small team, but a team who I think hadn't done much improv before, but really took to that.
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Um, I mean, there are so many different teams.
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Yeah, on, um, on our shows is that you're, you're inputting in a lot of the comic timing so, so often.
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Um, so I, I, you kind of really get woven into the entire fabric of the show.
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Um, just a very quick incident of the story, but our magic goes wrong.
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I remember one of the massive jobs as well, the stage manager had to do, is there was a scene where there's someone in a huge tank of water.
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And basically after every single show, this tank had to be drained, refilled, the temperature had to be checked, just like so much stuff, so much dedication and love and care to make each and every little moment work.
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So we've been so, so blessed with the stage manager, which I'm really lucky.
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It I've never done it, but those, um, like stage managing improv shows must be incredibly hard just because there is no, running order and you know, so much of what you're trying to do as a stage manager is keep everything the same every single night.
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So I can only imagine how difficult It must be.
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Uh, oh, well, a very particular skillset is required when the show.
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every single night is so different.
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but what you were saying about the comic timing, um, I did the 39 steps in the tricycle and then was the first DSM on it when it transferred to the West End.
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And I'd never done anything like that before.
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It was like my first kind of biggest DSM gig.
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And I remember the director, Mariah Aitken, like talking to me about comic timing.
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You know, getting the sound cues at that like split second where it was going to be hilarious because a split second later it wouldn't land.
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Um, so yeah, I think I could only imagine that, yeah, your stage management teams are really put through it.
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makes such a huge difference because we're an ensemble company, right? So that really means like every single facet of the team have to kind of work and move as one.
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Otherwise it all unravels really, really quickly.
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I mean, play that goes wrong.
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Like you said, there are, there are so many big technical moments and it's written, so it constantly ramps up and builds.
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And as soon as.
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there's one cue that's a second late or there's one thing that doesn't fire or there's something that's not quite been set right, the kind of souffle sinks a little bit.
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So it's, it's, it's so, so important.
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I think they're, they're really good fun shows to work on behind the scenes as well, because, you know, They're quite action packed, like Peter Pan particularly, like, you're literally like running around, like, because each time the revolve, it's on a revolve, and each time the revolve turns, everything on that revolve section needs to be struck super quick, and the next set needs to be put in, and it's just, it's just, there are a lot of, there are a lot of fun to do, but.
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They are such huge team, um, such team, team efforts.
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So I was actually going to get onto this question later, but it just feels right to bring it up now.
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Um, on Prompt, we talk about mistakes a lot.
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I am a really big fan of mistakes, uh, nobody always wants to own up to mistakes.
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Nobody wants to be in the show report.
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Um, and I feel that it's something that we should just all be owning up more.
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But one of the things I love the most about mistakes is how brilliant things can come from them.
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Because, uh, when we did 39 Steps and we did one of the first previews at the tricycle and, uh, Hanne and this beautiful woman who he's brought home, they walk into his apartment for the first time.
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He goes to switch on a light.
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We just had this scene change that had gone so wrong on so many levels.
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And I was queuing the show and I had people in my ear, Things weren't set or cacophony of noise in my head.
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And the amazing Charlie Edwards went to switch on the standard lamp.
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He said, I'll turn the light on.
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And he puts hands under the light and it didn't turn on.
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And so he just stepped away from it.
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And I looked up at the stage, went shit, Alex, go.
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And then the light came on and the audience just fell about laughing.
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And Mariah Raikin was like, stay here, they're saying, um, and, you know, and it's, it's still in the show to this day.
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And I think that great things come from mistakes.
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So I would really love to hear if there's if there's a time when something has actually gone really wrong in the play that goes wrong.
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Like, have you ever found like a whole new layer of actually something like really going quite wrong? there's been a few, a few instances of, um, of, of things, as you say, I mean, there's the one that I, uh, quickly recall as an example of something that went wrong, but that we kept it in, as happened, uh, to you guys in 39 Steps, was, um, Um, Uh, when we did the goes wrong show, there was a bit with a, there's a gun on the wall and the character takes this gun off the wall and he is about to fire it.
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Um, and the gun, I, I was doing it and I picked up the gun, and the gun fell, fell apart into two pieces.
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And so my character's trying to put the whole thing back together, and that was completely not planned.
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That just happened to happen.
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barrel happened to come off of the, you know, the other, the end bit where the other bit's gone.
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And, um, yeah, and so we kept that in.
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Um, there's been a couple of other things like that.
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I mean, the, the phone in, um, the sort of phone stretching across the, uh, the, in Play That Goes Wrong, there's a moment where the phone is supposed to be passed to a character.
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A character is stuck on the other side of the stage and can't do their normal blocking.
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Uh, and so the phone, in the original version, the phone is picked up and brought across the stage to them.
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Um, but The phone ended up getting stuck, glued down, or bolted down to the table.
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Um, and, uh, it's bolted down for a different reason.
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In Act 1, the bolt's supposed to be taken out before Act 2, but someone forgot to take it out, so it was stuck.
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So the phone had to kind of be stretched, but it didn't reach.
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So someone else was kind of like, well, I'll sort of make myself part of this.
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And so they grabbed the phone and stretched out as though, you know, kind of doing sort of phone, you know, Oh, Be the phone.
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And that's the, yeah, so that, well that came out of a mistake.
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That was not in the, the very first version.
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So it kind of, then everybody forms a big chain and they finally, he talks to him on the phone.
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Um, so yeah, that was an example of exactly the same thing as And that's one of, that's one of the best moments of the show as well, because that's when it gets quite surreal, Yeah.
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how brilliant that that actually came from mistake.
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Um, and has there, has there been moments when the play goes wrong, has, has just actually gone quite wrong, where you're like, well, we're in real trouble now.
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for sure.
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If there's an error or a mistake in the show, um, quite often it's then the absence of a joke.
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So if something goes wrong within the play that goes wrong, it's the, you know, a coal scuttle that's supposed to spark into fire doesn't spark.
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So you just kind of carry on the play.
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So quite often the mistakes kind of go unnoticed and unseen.
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Oh, the mistakes just mean that the play goes right.
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Yeah, kind of.
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Yeah, it's a strange one.
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It's always trouble because if you do the murder at Havisham Manor, which is the play within the play, in Play That Goes Wrong, if you just do that with no mistakes, it's only about 25 minutes long.
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So, uh, you need the mistakes to really give you a full two act experience.
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I love it.
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This was, I was so excited about recording this episode because I just love talking about, uh, mistakes so much.
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Um, so this podcast is called Prompt, um, because I am low key obsessed with timekeeping.
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I'm incredibly punctual.
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I'm very, sort of.
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stereotypical stage manager when it comes to being a stickler about being on time.
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So the question that I have for you two is, are you prompt? Uh, I am pretty prompt.
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It's ironic because I was actually late for this, uh, but that was mainly because I was sat at my desk at the right time.
168
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There was, a technical, there was a technical error.
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We'll let you have that.
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Uh, but no, I am pretty, I would say pretty much, yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm pretty prompt.
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I might have the occasional, uh, um, uh, the occasional thing.
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But more than anything else, because we, because we sort of, because we wear, um, Because we sort of wear two hats, we kind of, we sort of run the company, but we're also in lots of the shows.
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Um, that can sometimes be where there's just a bit of overlap.
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There's quite a lot of running from a meeting at, at five in order to get to the theater for our call.
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So that, that, that would be an example of maybe where I'm occasionally not, but no, generally I would say pretty, I think we're both pretty, pretty punctual Would you agree with that, Jonathan? Yeah, Emi's certainly a prompt man.
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And um, I think I'm pretty prompt as well.
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Like, I can't think of many.
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I get quite, I get quite stressed and anxious if I'm, if I'm running late.
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So no, I tend to, I tend to set off for stuff very, very early.
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And it's quite like in my family, like my dad is very, very, uh, uncomfortable with poor timekeeping.
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I remember we used to go to the zoo when we were like, when we were kids, and we were known by the staff at Chester Zoo for being that weird family that used to show up like once we were an hour and a half early before the zoo opened.
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That we were always like half an hour early before the zoo opened, or an hour and a half once.
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My dad was all, would always we don't know what the traffic's going to be like.
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And I suppose I'm not quite that prompt because I've kind of deliberately in my life decided that that's too prompt.
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Because, because if you go the other way, right, you kind of inconvenience people in just the same way as if you're late, if you're too early.
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So I strive to be one time That's such a dad thing to say as well, like there might be traffic.
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obsessed.
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He still does it now.
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He's always, that will do set off early.
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You didn't want the.
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Traffic's going to be like, and it's like, well, yes, but also you can't live your entire life just like with the idea that there might be three hours of traffic.
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Anyway, I'm prompt as is Henry.
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good.
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So Mischief Theatre is obviously, you know, you just talked about having two different hats, you're in these shows, but you're also running this unbelievably, uh, successful theatre company.
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So if we imagine that we're in an alternate universe, And the National Theatre said what we're going to do is we're going to let Miss Chief take the reins and run the National Theatre.
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What is something that you would do? And that can be, we've had a real variety of answers.
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Some people say they're going to serve gluten free sandwiches.
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Some people talk about the shows they're going to stage.
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It can be whatever you want, but what would you do if Miss Chief got put in charge of the National Theatre? Oh, what do you think, John? I mean, I think probably we, you know, one thing we would do is, I think, uh, obviously we like comedy, and I think, um, I think, uh, There's, there's not, there's not as much comedy about, I think, now as there used to be, maybe.
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So I think we, I think, you know, if we had a, if we ran a venue, and this is the Criticism of what the, uh, what the National Theatre does because it's amazing.
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Um, but I think if we had a venue of some kind, I think we would, um, um, I think we'd, we'd want to have a venue dedicated to doing really good comedy and original comedy and new stuff.
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Uh, I think, um, because I think it's, uh, I think it's really important.
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I think sometimes it kind of gets, uh, gets lost, uh, you know, a bit.
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Um, even though it's, um, you know, audiences really like it.
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Um, and I think it's really, um, really great for people.
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I think one of the most amazing things about all the mischief shows is that it's, um, you know, it's, uh, not all of the shows probably, but most of them are shows where audiences of all ages, um, and from all different backgrounds can kind of all come together and laugh together.
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Um, you can come with, you know, uh, family of, of young kids and their grandparents and everybody, and everybody will have a kind of genuinely.
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good time.
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John often says, you know, he's become a father recently.
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And that's a, you know, you, you particularly realize the significance of that to have something where it's not something where the kids are being dragged along, but it's also not something where the parents are going and sort of sat sitting through it with gritted teeth.
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It's nice to have something that everybody can genuinely enjoy.
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So.
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I think that's really cool.
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Um, but I think on a, on a broader level beyond, you know, family, it's also nice to, to sit in a room for the people who um, you know, in a, in a, in a kind of slightly more polarised and divided world, it's nice to sit in a room with lots of different people and have a shared laughter experience.
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Um, so if we had a venue, I think we'd probably try and sort of focus on that as a bit of an objective.
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When I came to see the play that goes wrong, actually, and there was a huge school group of like secondary school kids, um, sat behind us and, they were like at the start, they've been quite loud and they've been quite fidgety.
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And then the show started and, you know, there was still quite a lot of chatting and.
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Lots of kind of sweet rustling and stuff and I was like, Oh God, is this gonna drive me insane? And then as the show went on they just like settled down more and more They were like laughing and laughing and you know when we came back for act two They were just so engaged and they were you know, all the little nuanced jokes or the big jokes They were like falling about laughing and they were just they were absolutely riveted, you know, as were the older people in the audience.
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I think the show and the shows that you're creating, they do appeal to just such, to so many different people and so many different audiences.
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And yeah, there should, there should be a bit more of that maybe at the national.
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think the other thing is like, I, I would, um, make sure that there's like, um, a certain amount of debuts per year.
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And, you know, and that's, that's kind of in every different department, be that stage management, be that acting or be that as writers.
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I think that.
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We are, you know, we're really the beneficiaries of a producer taking a chance on kind of young people and not being not not being worried about that and just being like, Oh yeah, they'll deliver.
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And also just throw it giving us a tremendous amount of trust and space.
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And, um, so I think it's really important that the industry does that, because I think that's how you get new and exciting work and, and if you give people that space and that trust, then I think that, you know, 9.
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9%, sorry, 99.
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9 percent of the time, they, they, they, they, you know, they always deliver, not 9.
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9.
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I, uh, yeah, I think I like to think that that is happening more like I was reading, you know, the, the, um, there's a new musical in the West End called Why Am I So Single that was written by the people who created Six, you know, again, like very young people that producers took a chance on.
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And it's like, you know, these people, you know, like you, like the creators of Six, they're so sort of in touch.
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with what people actually want.
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You know, we don't necessarily want another David hair play, no, disrespect.
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Um, but you know, there's, but I think.
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Yeah, I, I, I, I think that there's more producers out there who are taking risks, like bigger risks on younger people, um, because they are creating good work and, you know, it doesn't always pay off, but, but yeah, I, I think, obviously that I'm talking about independent producers.
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It would be really, really nice to see the National Theatre take those risks as well.
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for sure.
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Um, yeah, absolutely.
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Well, no, I mean, I think we're, we're incredibly lucky to, um, uh, to, uh, partner up with, um, uh, our producers, including Kenny Wax, who I think is, is hugely a kind of, you know, advocate for that.
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Um, and I think we were very lucky to find someone, uh, when we were so young, who is, who is a big advocate for that.
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He, uh, produces, uh, you know, a lot, almost all of our stuff.
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And, um, And, uh, and, and also, uh, six.
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And indeed, why am I so single? So, um, yeah, no, he's, I think he, he's, he's a, a brilliant person, uh, really keen to sort of back new and exciting stuff.
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So yeah, no huge, huge thanks to him.
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Well, uh, congratulations again on 10 years, uh, in the West End.
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It's a brilliant show.
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I think it's, uh, I think it's timeless as well.
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That's what I was thinking when I was watching it.
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I was like, this could just stay for so long.
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I think so many shows come in and they've got certain levels of technology that I think could date quite quickly.
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Um, but I think that, uh, play that goes wrong.
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It's timeless.
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It's a classic.
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I hope it runs and runs and thank you so much for your time today.
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Thanks so much, Jess.
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All right.
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Have a great day.
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Enjoy giving blood.
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Thanks Jess.
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That was lovely.
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That was the brilliant Jonathan and Henry from mischief theater talking, all things play that goes wrong.
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Um, how incredible you've created a play at the red line theater and have it turn into this.
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Uh, you know, this worldwide phenomenon that is also had all these other things branch off from it.
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It's, it's really impressive and incredible.
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And I just love talking to them, you know? The experiences that we shared, 39 steps in play that goes wrong.
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Have to have lots of kinds of similar parallels.
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You know, watching the peril of actors on stage, trying to put on something very serious, it goes wrong.
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Um, so it was really nice to share those experiences.
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Um, thus proving my point, the mistakes are a great thing and we should all celebrate them.
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Um, I hope you enjoyed the episode.
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Uh, if you want to send me a message about it, you can prompt the podcast@gmo.com.
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You can follow me on Instagram at prompt underscore pro.
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Then prompt, underscore podcast.
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Or Jess, Lucy brunch.
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Um, thank you so much for listening and I will see you next time.
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Bye.
