The Spring Play: The Play That Goes Wrong

“The Play That Goes Wrong is going right at Deerfield Academy,” said Theater Co-Director Vincent Rougeau regarding the Academy’s upcoming slapstick comedy centered around a play within a play. The characters are part of a community theatre company presenting The Murder at Haversham Manor, a murder mystery about the homicide of Mr. Charles Haversham.

However, as Director of Arts Catriona Hynds notes, the production quickly descends into chaos, with “people being knocked out, things going on fire, set pieces falling off, people forgetting their lines... It’s a catastrophe!”

The production’s cast consists of five seniors, one junior, and two sophomores. Each member of the cast must take on the challenge of not only portraying one character, but two—the actor, and the acted. Lottie Levine ’25, who plays Annie Twilloil—the stage manager who is forced to act in the play during one of the play’s many mishaps—described this as “definitely add[ing] a little bit of confusion. I, myself, find it hard to keep track of whose name is whose, but it’s also an exciting undertaking as an actor, to have to juggle all of these different ideas in your head at once.”

In contrast to the more dramatic plays in the fall and winter, Mrs. Hynds wanted to put on something lighter for the spring, while also highlighting theatre’s many graduating seniors. “That’s why I chose comedy—because I wanted to lift everyone’s moods, and it is the spring, and I chose one that wasn’t too long, so that we could do it justice in the very short time that we have this spring time,” Mrs. Hynds said.

Mrs. Hynds and Mr. Rougeau both direct the show while Lily Pierce ’25 is an assistant director. Unlike the fall and winter plays, The Crucible and Eurydice, which had more complex set designs, the spring show requires close work with the tech branch of theater because of its many visual designs.

These three directors were therefore approached with a problem: how would they go about directing a show that is intentionally chaotic? Mrs. Hynds replied that, “The challenge is to make it safe, because there’s some crazy stuff that happens technically in this show, and to make it look chaotic means it has to be rehearsed again and again... so that it looks spontaneous, but it actually isn’t... You have to be really intentional [with this sort of comedy], and I will say that’s what’s challenging.”

While such effects made directing this show very difficult, it will definitely make it an entertaining show for the audience. Speaking specifically about Mrs. Hynds, Sophie Petronzio ’25 said, “She’s very active as a director. She’s constantly listening and walking, and she strikes a very big balance between the two.”

Reagan Warren ’27 described the dynamic in the cast as “phenomenal.” She continued, “We have so many seniors in this cast, which is so bittersweet, but also beautiful, because they have dedicated so much of their time and their expertise to Deerfield theater.” She describes the seniors as a “guiding light” and is sorry to see them go.