When your crew and the set function as an additional yet vital “character,” communication, precision, and dependability are a must and non-negotiable. Each actor is required to learn their character, lines, and blocking such that every performance is virtually identical and of the highest quality. In “The Play That Goes Wrong,” the tech crew and set must do exactly the same. I saw a roadshow version of this in Chicago and your set looks spot on to what they had. Nice work.
As someone who has been the guy running backstage for 30+ years, this show would be so fun! I've done shows that have complicated moments, but this is a constant go! Well done!
Absolutely get to know your actors. Take some time, before or after a rehearsal, to talk with them about anything they interact with, how they feel about anything from a technical stand point, especially any triggered or moving effects. Have them go through their routine while you stand near them or next to them so you understand what they see, what they expect, etc. In costume if possible. I did haunted houses for a long time, and we made it a point to go through each characters position and talk with them. Watch them do their scare and anything they might trigger, or hide-y hole they used. Ask them things like 'would it be easier to have a handle here', 'does this light give you away,' 'can you hear the next group so you know to be in position,' 'have to noticed any faults,' literally anything they might have thoughts or concerns about. Also we would work with them on things like "okay, when you jump down you grab this post, do you need that? Or is it just for the gag? You need it to steady yourself, okay, its not meant to take that, its just for show, gimmie a minute Ill shore it up so you could slam into it if you wanted and it wont budge", "You have hard time getting through this hole? Show me......Ah okay, if you step with your left, and we widen this gap that should work better [cuts out piece of wall] Okay come down, do your thing, but step in with your left foot then turn into it. That looked great from out here, does it feel safe? You're good with that? If it feels like you're going to do a header, tell us, we can just rip this bit out an do a black curtain....Okay, cool. Be safe, and remember, left foot first," and always remember to let them know of dangers, "okay, all of that is good, but look up here, yeah if youre going to fall, this isnt a safe thing to grab, just go down and sell it, or fall to the side here. Worst case go through this wall, its fine, its just scenery, we can fix it, its no big deal if worst comes to worse. We dont care about this wall nearly as much as we care about this thing that looks like a hand hold but its holding up the amps for this section. Besides, the wall will probably be softer than having all that come down on you. Really, its ok, its just a wall." (I did mention I did a lot of haunted house work, right? 😅The actors were basically stunt people, throwing themselves around, falls were expected. But we made sure they knew where it was and was not safe to fall. The flats were luan and gray paint with a texture, sometimes foam brick work facades, repairs could be done in the 3 minutes between groups a lot of times.) Work with them to make their performance the best it can be, but also train them on the bits they will be interacting with. If you do it right, and they take it seriously, they can be your second set of eyes and if something goes wrong they can tell you exactly what is out of place and you can get it fixed quickly instead of waste time trouble shooting. Or if you have to ditch a gag because its too far gone, both of you are aware enough of what each other do that it shouldnt take too long to figure out a bandaid for the rest of the show/night. I always hated the hurry up and wait, but I love the building stuff, installing, tuning, working with performers, getting timing down, fine tuning, and even the odd quick bodge repair to get things going again. Theater tech is a blast! Its like performing without having to perform 😂
Great video series. I just built this show and many of my solutions were very similar to what you have done, and it was great to see many of your creative solutions. Great work!
Because "RUclips" is as "RUclips" does, I was presented this series out of order … no matter, no matter … I've only worked Sets | Tech on ~18 shows, but I'd love to tackle a "Goes Wrong" show - at least I say that "hypothetical", if it ever comes true, I might be a bit sorry …
Not knocking your technical solutions but I've never found a play in the "goes wrong" series funny, Noises off is still far superior but dated and really needs a modern upgrade as well as pretty much anything Spymonkey have done. I've done a bit in technical theatre mainly with large scale pyro but I always take an interest in the other mechanical aspects. Most shows I've worked on have had someone dedicated to supervising all the technical stage gags separate to the overall stage manager.
When your crew and the set function as an additional yet vital “character,” communication, precision, and dependability are a must and non-negotiable. Each actor is required to learn their character, lines, and blocking such that every performance is virtually identical and of the highest quality. In “The Play That Goes Wrong,” the tech crew and set must do exactly the same. I saw a roadshow version of this in Chicago and your set looks spot on to what they had. Nice work.
As someone who has been the guy running backstage for 30+ years, this show would be so fun! I've done shows that have complicated moments, but this is a constant go! Well done!
Interesting, thanks. Saw the show on Broadway. Regrds from Baltimore.
I love the philosophy behind this, which can be applied to so many things.
Absolutely get to know your actors. Take some time, before or after a rehearsal, to talk with them about anything they interact with, how they feel about anything from a technical stand point, especially any triggered or moving effects. Have them go through their routine while you stand near them or next to them so you understand what they see, what they expect, etc. In costume if possible.
I did haunted houses for a long time, and we made it a point to go through each characters position and talk with them. Watch them do their scare and anything they might trigger, or hide-y hole they used. Ask them things like 'would it be easier to have a handle here', 'does this light give you away,' 'can you hear the next group so you know to be in position,' 'have to noticed any faults,' literally anything they might have thoughts or concerns about.
Also we would work with them on things like "okay, when you jump down you grab this post, do you need that? Or is it just for the gag? You need it to steady yourself, okay, its not meant to take that, its just for show, gimmie a minute Ill shore it up so you could slam into it if you wanted and it wont budge", "You have hard time getting through this hole? Show me......Ah okay, if you step with your left, and we widen this gap that should work better [cuts out piece of wall] Okay come down, do your thing, but step in with your left foot then turn into it. That looked great from out here, does it feel safe? You're good with that? If it feels like you're going to do a header, tell us, we can just rip this bit out an do a black curtain....Okay, cool. Be safe, and remember, left foot first," and always remember to let them know of dangers, "okay, all of that is good, but look up here, yeah if youre going to fall, this isnt a safe thing to grab, just go down and sell it, or fall to the side here. Worst case go through this wall, its fine, its just scenery, we can fix it, its no big deal if worst comes to worse. We dont care about this wall nearly as much as we care about this thing that looks like a hand hold but its holding up the amps for this section. Besides, the wall will probably be softer than having all that come down on you. Really, its ok, its just a wall." (I did mention I did a lot of haunted house work, right? 😅The actors were basically stunt people, throwing themselves around, falls were expected. But we made sure they knew where it was and was not safe to fall. The flats were luan and gray paint with a texture, sometimes foam brick work facades, repairs could be done in the 3 minutes between groups a lot of times.)
Work with them to make their performance the best it can be, but also train them on the bits they will be interacting with. If you do it right, and they take it seriously, they can be your second set of eyes and if something goes wrong they can tell you exactly what is out of place and you can get it fixed quickly instead of waste time trouble shooting. Or if you have to ditch a gag because its too far gone, both of you are aware enough of what each other do that it shouldnt take too long to figure out a bandaid for the rest of the show/night.
I always hated the hurry up and wait, but I love the building stuff, installing, tuning, working with performers, getting timing down, fine tuning, and even the odd quick bodge repair to get things going again. Theater tech is a blast! Its like performing without having to perform 😂
Great video series. I just built this show and many of my solutions were very similar to what you have done, and it was great to see many of your creative solutions.
Great work!
Glad it helped!
Saw this play at the Hall for Cornwall in Truro (UK) 3 years ago - it was great!!
These are a lot of fun. I wondered if licensing the script included set engineering designs from the original, but it sounds like not.
This is a great video -- I loved learning how you did the tricks!
Bro I loved this play and I didn`t know it had a youtube channel
Because "RUclips" is as "RUclips" does, I was presented this series out of order … no matter, no matter … I've only worked Sets | Tech on ~18 shows, but I'd love to tackle a "Goes Wrong" show - at least I say that "hypothetical", if it ever comes
true, I might be a bit sorry …
**ahem**
SPOILER ALERT!!
Not knocking your technical solutions but I've never found a play in the "goes wrong" series funny, Noises off is still far superior but dated and really needs a modern upgrade as well as pretty much anything Spymonkey have done. I've done a bit in technical theatre mainly with large scale pyro but I always take an interest in the other mechanical aspects. Most shows I've worked on have had someone dedicated to supervising all the technical stage gags separate to the overall stage manager.
Cool story.