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Intentionally horrible play in store for Sterling High School
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Sterling High School Theatre students rehearse a scene from “The One-Act Play That Goes Wrong,” which will be presented at their school on March 25 and 26. Left to right the students are Claire Chesney Ella Wellman (floor), Luke Harding, and Josiah Watney. Noah Svaty, Micah Svaty and Charlie Simpson-Eighmy are also in the cast.

STERLING — Eight veteran Sterling High School Theatre performers will be trying their best to do their worst in the spring play, “The One-Act Play That Goes Wrong.” The show is the original version of the now-internationally acclaimed, award-winning show “The Play That Goes Wrong.” Sterling High School’s version will be produced at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, March 25 and 26.

The play was the breakout hit for Mischief Theatre, a small, London theatre group that began life in 2008 as a drama school Improv troupe. Three of Mischief’s founders came up with “The Play That Goes Wrong” when they were roommates scraping by with day jobs. They realized that some of their favorite moments in theatre where when things went horribly wrong on stage, and the actors had to find ways to cover it up and just keep going. The play is by Henry Lewis, Henry Shields, and Jonathan Sayer. 

The show is an amateur production of a 1920’s murder mystery play called “The Murder at Haversham Manor,” performed by students from the Cornley University. This 1920s whodunit has everything you never wanted in a show—an unconscious leading lady, a corpse that can’t play dead, and actors who trip over everything (including their lines). Nevertheless, the accident-prone thespians battle against all odds to make it through to their final curtain call, with hilarious consequences! Part Monty Python, part Sherlock Holmes, this Olivier Award–winning comedy is a global phenomenon that’s guaranteed to leave you aching with laughter!

Included in the Sterling High School cast are seniors Noah Svaty, Josiah Watney, Ty Fulbright, and Claire Chesney. Juniors Ella Wellman and Luke Hooker are also in the cast are sophomores Charlie Simpson-Eighmy and Micah Svaty. Directing the show is Betsy Dutton. Recent Sterling High graduate Caleb Brownlee is designing the set. 

“The One-Act Play That Goes Wrong” was developed specifically with young actors in mind. It is closer to how the show was originally staged before it was developed into a two-act show for the West End. It cuts out a lot of the more dangerous aspects of the original show, including the collapsing second level, the elevator that breaks down, and above-the-stage stunt work.

Tickets for “The One-Act Play That Goes Wrong” are $5 for adults and $4 for students and will be available at the door before each performance.