By Crystal McGough, Editor
TRUSSVILLE – ACTA Theatre brought down the house, quite literally, with its opening performance of “The Play That Goes Wrong” Friday night, Sept. 15.
“‘It’s even funnier than I heard it was!’ ‘This play is hilarious!’ ‘Now that was funny!’ – Comments made by last night’s audience at ACTA’s The Play That Goes Wrong opening night performance,” ACTA posted on their Facebook page.
Written by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields, and directed by Zach Skaggs, “The Play That Goes Wrong” tells the story of a rag-tag group of actors who are excited for the opportunity to put on a murder mystery play called “The Murder at Haversham Manor.” Unfortunately however, despite their best efforts, the performance doesn’t go quite as planned.
“The basic premise is that they’re putting on a show that’s maybe a little bit above their level,” Skaggs said. “They’re good actors and they’re very passionate about what they’re doing, but they’re reaching for something that is just a bit beyond their grasp, and you get to see the effects of that through the show.”
Apart from the phenomenal actors, the set in this play is a character in and of itself. According to Skaggs, this is one of, if not the most complex set ACTA has ever had. Theatergoers should be prepared for anything and everything to go wrong as the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society does their best to make sure the show goes on despite any unfortunate circumstances.
“I love this show. I think it is probably one of the funniest, if not the funniest show ever written,” Skaggs said. “I’m super excited to share it with the community.”
Seats are still available for performances both this weekend and next, though they are selling fast. Tickets can be purchased at the door or online at https://acta.booktix.com/. Adult tickets are $18, senior citizen tickets are $15, and student tickets are $12.
Performances are Sept. 15-17 and 22-24, with 7 p.m. showings on Friday and Saturday nights and 2:30 p.m. matinees on Sundays.