| Magic Goes Wrong | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Written by | Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer Henry Shields Penn Jillette Teller |
| Date premiered | 6 August 2019 |
| Place premiered | The Lowry, Salford |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | Comedy Magic |
| Official site | |
Magic Goes Wrong is a comedy play by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, Henry Shields (of Mischief Theatre Company) and Penn & Teller. It follows the series of Mischief's Goes Wrong series of plays following The Play That Goes Wrong and Peter Pan Goes Wrong .
The play opened in the Quays Theatre at The Lowry, Salford from 6 to 11 August 2019, prior to its opening in London's West End at the Vaudeville Theatre from 14 December 2019. [1] [2] [3] It is notable for employing a far greater level of black comedy than previous instalments in the Goes Wrong series, including many on-stage gory demises for the guest characters. Although, slightly paradoxically, the ending is considerably more upbeat and sentimental than the group's other productions.
The play was the third Mischief production running simultaneously in the West End alongside the long-running productions of The Play That Goes Wrong and The Comedy About a Bank Robbery (until its closure in March 2020), and the fourth in London while Peter Pan Goes Wrong played the Christmas 2019 season at the Alexandra Palace.
In March 2020, the play stopped performances due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The play resumed its London run on 21 October 2021 at a new venue, the Apollo Theatre. A UK tour commenced at the Curve, Leicester from 20 July 2021.
| Characters | London (2019) [4] | UK tour (2021) | London (2021) [5] |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spitzmaus | Bryony Corrigan | Jocelyn Prah | |
| Eugenia | Roxy Faridany | Valerie Cutko | Genevieve Nicole |
| The Blade | Dave Hearn | Kiefer Moriarty | Kazeem Tosin Amore |
| Mind Mangler | Henry Lewis | Rory Fairbairn | Henry Lewis |
| Mickey | Jonathan Sayer | Daniel Anthony | Sydney K Smith |
| Sophisticato | Henry Shields | Sam Hill | Shane David-Joseph |
| Bär | Nancy Zamit | Chloe Tannenbaum | |
| Madam Escapade | Jane Milligan | ||
| Peg | Louise Beresford | ||
| Martina | Nancy Zamit | ||
| Mel | Scott Hunter | ||
| Understudies | Natasha Culley | Ishbel Cumming | Steph De Whalley |
| Lauren Ingram | Ricky Oakley | Christian James | |
| Laurence Pears | CJ Field | Tom Wainwright | |
| Sydney K Smith | Jay Olpin | ||
| Liv Spencer |
| Year | Award | Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Laurence Olivier Awards | Best Entertainment or Comedy Play | Nominated | |
| 2022 | WhatsOnStage Awards [6] [7] | Best New Play | Shortlisted | |
| 2022 | WhatsOnStage Awards [6] [7] | Best West End Show | Shortlisted | |
| 2022 | WhatsOnStage Awards [6] [7] | Best Performer in a Male Identifying Role in a Play | Henry Lewis | Shortlisted |
| 2022 | WhatsOnStage Awards [6] [7] | Best Supporting Performer in a Male Identifying Role in a Play | Jonathan Sayer | Shortlisted |
| 2022 | WhatsOnStage Awards [6] [7] | Best Supporting Performer in a Female Identifying Role in a Play | Nancy Zamit | Shortlisted |
Penn & Teller, Penn Jillette and Teller, are American magicians, entertainers, and scientific skeptics who have performed together since the late 1970s. They are noted for their ongoing act that combines elements of comedy with magic.
West End theatre is mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres in and near the West End of London. Along with New York City's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world. Seeing a West End show is a common tourist activity in London. Famous screen actors, British and international alike, frequently appear on the London stage.
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The Play That Goes Wrong is a 2012 play by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields of Mischief Theatre Company. It won Best New Comedy at the 2015 Laurence Olivier Awards. As of September 2021, the show has been running since 2012 in London; since 2014, the play has undertaken five tours of the UK.
Mischief Theatre is a British theatre company founded in 2008 by a group of students from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in West London, and directed by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields. The group originally began by doing improvised comedy shows, but by 2012 they expanded into comedic theatrical performances that includes choreographed routines, jokes, and stunts.
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Henry Lewis is a British actor and playwright. He co-founded Mischief Theatre, responsible for The Play That Goes Wrong, Peter Pan Goes Wrong, The Comedy About a Bank Robbery, Groan Ups, Magic Goes Wrong and The Goes Wrong Show, and co-hosts Riddiculous, an ITV daytime game show.
Groan Ups is a comedy play by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields of Mischief Theatre.
The Goes Wrong Show is a British comedy series created by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields, and produced by Mischief Screen and Big Talk Productions, in association with Lionsgate UK, for the BBC. The programme stars the ensemble members of the Mischief Theatre company, who reprise their roles as the members of the fictitious theatre company, "Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society", as they conduct a "live" televised stage play, which tends to go wrong due to mistakes, accidents and other issues that hamper the company's efforts. The concept was devised by Lewis, Sayer and Shields following two television Christmas specials for the BBC, with the series premiering on BBC One on 23 December 2019. In 2020, the group conducted a second series, but under strict guidelines due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, which aired on 27 September 2021.
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Jarnéia Richard-Noel is an English stage actress and singer. She is known for portraying the role of Catherine of Aragon in the musical Six on the original UK tour and in the West End production at the Arts Theatre, Lyric Theatre and Vaudeville Theatre, as well as forming part of pop girl group SVN.
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Laura Beatrice White is a British actress. Following stage roles including starring as Sandra Wilkinson in a UK tour of The Play That Goes Wrong, White appeared in the BBC soap opera Doctors as Princess Buchanan from 2022 to 2023. For her role as Princess, White was nominated for the British Soap Award for Villain of the Year.