UTM’s latest theatre performance, The Play That Goes Wrong
UTM’s winter 2026 season will come to a close with this famously hilarious play.
Running from March 26th to April 5th, The Play that Goes Wrong will be the last show given at Erindale Studio Theatre for the 2026 winter semester.
First performed in 2012, The Play that Goes Wrong was written by Henry Shields, Henry Lewis, and Jonathan Sayer. It won the “Best New Comedy” award in 2015, and has been touring internationally, including being on Broadway for 2 years. The play is a comedic “play within a play.” The storyline follows the characters, Maxine, Denise, Roberta, Joanne, Annie, Sandra, Trevor, and Chris, who are all actors working for Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society. They are trying to perform a murder mystery play called The Murder at Haversham Manor, though, as the title suggests, things are constantly going wrong. The comedy comes from these mishaps, as the character-actors constantly forget their lines, break props, fall through floors, and more. At one point, a character passes out, and later another character forgets their line and repeats an earlier line of dialogue, causing the actors to repeat the entire scene. Before The Murder at Haversham Manor play even begins, key set pieces are already broken and a dog needs to be chased/returned to the show. It will be interesting to see how UTM adapts this play to fit our smaller studio theatre.
UTM’s performance will include Emma Benabdallah as Maxine, Lauren Cattell as Denise, Sofia “Stevie” Garcia as Roberta, Jaden Jackson as Joanne, Ola Olupinyo as Annie, Jazmine Palmer as Sandra, Gareth Roberts as Trevor, and Adam Stein as Chris. Each actor is tasked with playing not just their roles, but also whichever The Murder at Haversham Manor character they are meant to be, creating a second layer of complexity that undoubtedly takes skill and talent. UTM also has Melee Hutton directing The Play That Goes Wrong. She is an experienced actor/director/stage coach who has worked for multiple prestigious theatre companies. She has also been a full-time professor at our Sheridan campus since 2015.
UTM will be performing The Play That Goes Wrong for two weeks, with each show being about 2 hours long, including the intermission. For those who’ve never been, the Erindale Studio Theatre is located next to Deerfield Hall. Tickets can be purchased online (with student prices being about $13 per person), with limited seats still available.
