Opera House Players will bring comedy gold in The Play That Goes Wrong

By Willis Patenaude

On a bus trip to the Twin Cities several years ago, Opera House Players (OHP) director extraordinaire Cheri Moser watched The Play That Goes Wrong, and remembered leaving the theatre having “never laughed so hard at a show” in her life. It was a sentiment shared by daughter, Mariah, who said it “was one of the funniest things” she had ever seen and so, it only seemed natural when discussions rolled around for this year’s fall play, that the fall-down funny play was selected.

One of the things that made the play so appealing, is also one of the things that makes the play such a “huge undertaking,” as Cheri put it, and it’s the amount of physical comedy that requires a lot of special effects on a stage that is smaller than most. Overcoming this obstacle was a priority for set director Jonathan Moser, who spent hours, researching how to alter the Opera House stage and make everything work. 

Since May, Jonathan, through a process of trial and error, and with some help from the “creative knowledge” of Tom Chandler, and the assistance of Cameron Berges, and other OHP friends, has been able to figure the majority of it out, but Cheri did admit, work still needs to be done before opening night next weekend.

“The set is pretty much the 9th character in the show. It’s very complicated but, as set director, I’ve loved the challenge of making it all work for our stage,” Jonathan said.

The difficulty of the set is tied to the physical comedy aspects of the play, and while that type of comedy isn’t new to the OHP, Cheri noted that “the comedy mixed with the physical, mixed with the technical elements,” are what make the show difficult, but it’s also what makes the show unique.

“The timing of everything has to be perfect for everything to go wrong, at the right time. The cast has to be very careful about their lines too! They have to say the lines exactly right because, quite often, those lines are a cue for something important to happen,” Cheri explained.

Performing those lines and acts of physical comedy, is a small cast of just eight actors, almost all of which have experience on the Opera House stage. Since August, this dedicated cast has put in “a lot of work,” Cheri said, rehearsing between four and five times a week for at least two hours at a time.

Among the cast is Jonathan, who basically grew up in the Opera House and has been in nearly 40 productions over the years, including Matilda (2021), The Producers (2019), and Shrek the Musical (2015). He even met his future wife, Cheri, at the Opera House when they were in productions as children, and he’s now looking forward to sharing the stage with daughter, Mariah, who is “completely shining in her role,” he said.

“Her facial expressions alone are spot on. Her character is awkward and crazy. It’s a fun energy to be around on stage!” Jonathan added.

As for his own part, Jonathan is playing the character, Thomas Colleymore, a physically demanding role, which was one of the motivating factors in auditioning for the part, because it presented an opportunity for physical comedy, which Jonathan has had “a lot of fun with.” He also gets to portray a character that “gets swept up in the madness happening around him and finds himself in some absurd situations, and I want to capture that blend of seriousness and silliness. My aim is to keep things feeling spontaneous and real,” Jonathan explained.

Then there is Mariah, who is also no novice to the stage, having been performing since 2015, at the age of seven and has been involved in 12 productions over that time. “I got involved at the Opera House because it has been a family activity of ours for as long as I can remember,” she said.

However, this has still been a unique experience for her, with the smaller than usual cast of eight, as opposed to the typical 20 or more, but Mariah said this has been one of the “funnest casts” she’s ever worked with, and though she is only a teen, the OHP family, has made her feel like an equal.

During the play, Mariah will be acting as the stage manager, Annie, who gets pushed onstage into a role because things keep going wrong onstage during the play revealing the “play within a play” structure that audiences will need to follow. But when it comes to playing Annie, Mariah said, “Annie’s part was written so that it will be funny no matter how someone delivers the lines, but with me playing her character, I think I can really bring out the comedy.”

Joining the Moser duo on stage is Berges, who is in his seventh production with the OHP, first appearing in 2018 in Marry Poppins. Berges was encouraged by the community theatre group in Waukon (ACPI) to audition for Bert in that show and ever since, he has “continued to make the trek down to Elkader because there’s such a fun, active, and dedicated group at the Opera House that the rehearsals and shows are always a blast.”

Berges had previously never seen the The Play That Goes Wrong, so when the Opera House announced it, he searched the internet and came across a ten-minute teaser of the play with the original UK cast on YouTube and thought it was “so funny,” that he had to be a part of this production, even if it is physically demanding including things like characters falling off parts of the set, being thrown across stage, sword fighting, throwing props at each other, among other things. 

“It’s definitely been a challenge to bring these characters to life while maximizing the comedic timing of the gags but also making sure everything is executed in a safe manner for the actors,” Berges said.

He will be performing these comedic gags as an actor in the fictional Cornley Drama Society named Max, who is playing two different characters in the drama society’s 1920s murder mystery, including the pompous rogue Cecil Haversham in Act 1 and Arthur the Gardener in Act 2.

“Max is a happy-go-lucky kind of guy who’s not terribly bright but excited to help out any way he can. Portraying a loveable dimwit in a comedy is always a load of fun and a bundle of laughs,” Berges said.

Also on the stage will be Rhys Evans, who first got involved with the OHP in 2000 when he was still in high school and was onstage as a pirate for last year’s Peter Pan production. Rhys plays Trevor, the fake production’s sound engineer in a smaller role, playing a character that is not great at his job, lazy, and he’s usually in a bad mood, all of which, Rhys said, “are fun to play.” 

Even though he has a smaller role, it has not diminished the amount of time spent rehearsing and preparing, with Rhys stating, “Between helping build the set since May, plus all rehearsals, I’d hate to see how many dozens and dozens of hours I’ve put into it. All together we’re 100’s and 100’s of man-hours.”

Of course, all those man-hours, is just more time spent with the cast and crew in an environment, about which, every single actor had positive things to say, including Rhys, who said, “The people are some of my favorite in the world, including my cast mates, the director and crew. That’s my favorite thing, being able to do something I love with people I really enjoy.”

It’s a cast that has made Cheri “laugh out loud” throughout the rehearsals, even after she’s seen the gags and comedy for upwards of 64 hours at this point. “It’s a brilliantly written script and the actors are carrying it out beautifully. It’s a guaranteed night of laughter,” she said.

It’s also a chance to show the value and importance of small-town theatre productions, which are “all about community,” Berges said, while Jonathan added that it’s a group of volunteers “driven by nothing more than the joy and a passion for sharing art with our community.”

Cheri touched on something else about small town theatre, like the fact that after you witness the “comic gold” of the play, you “might very well bump into one of the cast members within a week or so, just around town. These are just regular people in your community and I think it’s amazing what they can do on stage.”

Performances for The Play That Goes Wrong are on October 4th, 5th, 11th, 12th at 7pm and October 6th and 13th at 2pm. It is a family-friendly show with tickets available at the door, or you can reserve ahead of time at a discount by going to Elkader Floral or www.operahouse.booktix.com.