Patrick Russell and Adam Griffith Photo by Jessica Palopoli

Despite their limited resources, The Cornley team has found a play they feel is right in their wheelhouse: a murder mystery a la Agatha Christie entitled The Murder at Haversham Manor. True to the title, nothing in the play-within-the-play goes right, yet the cast perseveres, even as props are misplaced (or misused), set decorations fall from the walls, fires break out, doors refuse to open, actors go up on their lines or are knocked unconscious and replaced by stagehands (who then refuse to give up the limelight), and virtually every other mishap one could imagine.

Ignore the "plot," as there really isn't one, other than the flimsy tale of who might have murdered Lord Charles Haversham (Adam Griffith as Jonathan Harris). Was it his fiancée, the willowy Florence (Erin Rose Solorio as Sandra Wilkinson)? Perhaps Florence's brother Thomas (Patrick Russell as Robert Grove) is the culprit. There's also Charles' brother Cecil (Joe Ayers as Max Bennett) to consider. And, finally, perhaps the butler, Perkins (Greg Ayers as Dennis Tyde), did it.

No, what's important about The Murder at Haversham Manor and, by extension, The Play That Goes Goes Wrong (written by Henry Lewis, Henry Shields and Jonathan Sayer, and the first show in San Francisco Playhouse's 2024-25 season), is the inspired madcap lunacy that begins even before Lord Haversham is discovered dead on stage at the top of the show and continues, unabated, throughout the entire two-hour (including intermission) running time.

All this mayhem comes at a breakneck pace (Susi Damilano's direction is spot on) that had the audience on opening night laughing almost nonstop. As the set slowly begins to fall apart (set design by Cody Tellis Rutledge) and cues are missed and an actor repeats a line that causes their fellow performers to repeat the same sequence of lines over and over and over again in a sort of doom loop of comedy, the Cornley troupe go blithely on, ignoring the chaos in order to keep the show moving. It's their commitment to this travesty that is as entertaining as the physical business they do while everything is falling apart.

In the past, I've never been much of a fan of farces such as Noises Off or Boeing, Boeing, so I went into The Play That Goes Wrong with a rather large amount of skepticism, which was almost immediately erased by this incredibly skilled cast. There's not a weak member in this troupe (the SF Playhouse cast, at least–the Cornley players are another story entirely), but Joe Ayers (as Cornley's Max Bennett playing Cecil Haversham) managed to somehow pull huge guffaws from this normally reserved critic. The physicality with which he plays Max is breathtakingly boffo, and Max's hamminess so genuinely felt that you couldn't wipe the smile from my face with an industrial-strength drum sander fitted with 24-grit paper.

As Chris Chen, the director, designer, propmaster, costume designer, box office manager, dialect coach, fight choreographer (and more!) of the Cornley Drama Society, Phil Wong, who was wondrous in SF Playhouse's production of The 39 Steps, is equally brilliant here. He presents Chris as someone who's putting up a terrific facade of being in charge, yet manages to show us the overextended, under-qualified wannabe artist who is merely a passenger in this vehicle that is oh-so-quickly spiraling out of control.

Tasi Alabastro, as overworked tech Trevor (whose control room features a sign reading "Days Without an Incident: 1"), is also wonderful, as are Adam Griffith, who has a marvelously haughty air as Jonathan Harris playing Lord Haversham, and Renee Rogoff, who plays stage manager Annie with a hesitance that she somehow transforms into over-confidence when Annie is required to step in for Sandra (who's playing the fiancée) after she is knocked unconscious.

There's something wonderful, even inspiring, about watching a group of talented, skilled people playing a group of not-so-talented, bumbling strivers, trying–without success–to overcome their limitations, but in a way that makes us feel a little less concerned about our own shortcomings. To accomplish this with such joy and energy and laughter is more than wonderful–it's magical. This show must go on, and you must go experience it.

The Play That Goes Wrong runs through November 9, 2024, at San Francisco Playhouse, 450 Post Street, San Francisco CA. Performances are Tuesdays-Thursdays at 7:00pm, Wednesdays at 2:00pm and 7:00pm, Fridays at 8:00pm, Saturdays at 3:00pm and 8:00pm, and Sundays at 2:00pm. Tickets are $35-$125. For tickets and information, please visit www.sfplayhouse.org or call the box office at 415-677-9596.