The Play that Goes Wrong
Well, the title is certainly on the nose. In the British farce, The Play that Goes Wrong , we watch as the (fictional) Cornley University troupe tries to put on The Murder at Haversham Manor , and, as expected, everything goes wrong. No doubt taking inspiration from Noises Off (including having a stage manager go on for one of the actors; I imagine The Play that Goes Wrong is what the imagined audience in act two of Noises Off sees), The Play that Goes Wrong delights in its frivolity. As the title of the show within the show suggests, The Murder at Haversham Manor is a murder mystery, and could be a somewhat serious drama, but that's not the point of this, of course. The point is to be entertained. And watching people mess up or walk into a door or get hit with some flying object is entertaining. I know that's not the most sympathetic take on humor, but slapstick has endured for a reason. Maybe it's schadenfreude. Maybe it's just damn funny. ...