This is London Magazine September Edition 2026 - Flipbook - Page 6
6
The Play That Goes Wrong cast.
THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG:
LONDON’S LANDMARK COMEDY
Mischief’s Olivier Award-winning
The Play That Goes Wrong continues its
remarkable West End run at the Duchess
Theatre, celebrating its 12th anniversary
on 9 September.
First performed at the Old Red Lion
Theatre to just four paying customers, the
production has since become one of
London’s most enduring comedy
successes. Its deliberately disastrous
combination of slapstick, physical comedy
and theatrical chaos has delighted
audiences for more than a decade.
The story follows the accident-prone
Cornley Drama Society as they attempt
to stage a classic country-house murder
mystery. As technical mishaps,
collapsing scenery, misplaced props and
increasingly unfortunate accidents
threaten to derail the performance, the
determined cast battle to reach the final
curtain call. Whether they will uncover
the murderer of Charles Haversham is
another matter entirely.
The 2026/27 cast features Ruby Ablett
as Annie, Matthew Spencer as Chris,
Raphael Bushay as Robert, Luke Wilson
as Jonathan, Lucinda Turner as Sandra,
Alex Bird as Dennis, Joshua Lendon as
Max and Kieron Michael as Trevor,
alongside Winston the dog – if Winston
can be found.
Photo: Matt Crockett
With more than 2,600 fire
extinguishers and over 125,000 onstage collisions involving objects or
fellow performers, the production shows
no sign of slowing down. It is currently
booking at the Duchess Theatre until
31 January 2028, with tickets from £20.
Performance times are Tuesday to
Saturday at 19:30, with Saturday and
Sunday matinees at 14:30 and an
additional Sunday evening performance
at 19:00. The show runs for
approximately two hours, including an
interval, and is recommended for
audiences aged eight and over. With its
fast-paced comedy, spectacular mishaps
and wonderfully chaotic performances, it
remains an entertaining choice for
London theatre audiences.
theplaythatgoeswrong.com
THE RAW AND THE COOKED AT
SAATCHI GALLERY
For someone who has studied the
medieval in what I would describe as
quite a purist fashion, being sat in
libraries poring over Old English texts
and inscriptions, the Saatchi Gallery's
new exhibition 'The Raw & The Cooked,'
which is running until 11 September,
brings with it a revitalising shift in
perspective when it comes to the
'Dark Ages.'
Uniting the work of eleven
contemporary artists, the collection
curated by Harry Jones London features
a range of instalments. From a baked
skeleton to a painted scene that
stretches almost the entirety of a wall,
this versatile installation brings to the
forefront the relevance of the medieval in
the modern day, but not simply by
encapsulating the traditions of that time
in art.
Instead, what is especially captivating
about this exhibition is the way in which
it does not just reflect but interacts with
the medieval.
A perfect example of the dynamic
exchange between past and present
featured in this collection is the work of
James Lang, and his painting 'The
Dream of the Rood,' inspired by the
Anglo-Saxon poem by that name. This
painting transforms one of the oldest
works of the corpus of Old English
Literature into a piece of unique art that
is striking imagery of a tree surrounded
by birds and letters with a human figure
at its base in itself is a beautiful
composition, whilst also being an
effective artistic rendering of its roots.
Thus, what is especially impressive
about this exhibition is its capacity to
avoid simple medieval mimicry, instead
showcasing the individuality of its art
which clearly resonates with that age in
its focus on the physical and the
handmade, and yet is refreshingly
unique, relevant and new.
Olive Jenkins
The Dream of the Rood.
T H I S I S L O N D O N M A G A Z I N E • T H I S I S L O N D O N O N L I N E • w w w. t i l . c o m • @ t h i s i s l o n d o n m a g
