Interview: Dave Hearn Falls for the Audience in THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG

Dave Hearn, who plays Max in the madcap farce The Play That Goes Wrong, has learned how to roll with the punches. Literally.

Bumps and bruises are par for the painful course in the 1920s murder mystery, THE MURDER AT HAVERSHAM MANOR, within the play. The set soon starts falling apart piece by piece, a corpse refuses to play dead and a pert ingénue gets dragged through a window after being knocked unconscious. Hysterical mayhem ensues, carefully choreographed with split-second timing.

"We do a lot of physical training and go to the gym a lot," Hearn said on his way through Bryant Park to grab coffee at the Blue Bottle café. "We do a lot of jumping and rolling and have to learn how to fall without getting hurt. We've been doing it for so long and still have to be careful," he added.

"If you get a knock early on, you have to rethink the moves a bit. Tiny injuries can turn into big injuries," he said. "I've had surgery on both shoulders after dislocating them. One time it happened after I took a big swing on stage."

THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG has been running for two years in London and won the Olivier Award for Best Comedy in 2015. A touring company is on a 30-week UK tour; it's played in 30 countries, to an audience of over half a million.

The Mischief Theater is responsible for this riotous farce that recalls Michael Frayn's famed NOISES OFF and the Marx Brothers' antics in their classic movies.

"It's not a show for the critics," Hearn said. "It's for the people. Things fall apart, and if you're a reviewer it's easy to say there are a lot of plot holes," he said. "But as long as you buy into that one joke, let yourself go for two hours and just laugh, you'll have fun.

"That's all we're asking the audience to do," he said.

Broadway audiences are radically different from London crowds. "Different in a really good way," Hearn said. "London audiences are more cynical. I think people here have heard it was good and come: 'Yeah, yeah, yeah, this is great.'

"In the UK in general, the attitude is 'it better be good.' There's kind of an expectation. Weirdly, the harder shows there are Friday and Saturday nights because people are so precious with what they do with their time and money. They do eventually enjoy it a lot," Hearn said.

"In New York, they aren't precious. They are louder and applaud more, so the journey of the characters here has a slightly different projection. Initially it required more vocal power to get over the audience. You can't be afraid to tell the audience when to stop laughing, and that's how you control the rhythm of the show," he said.

Hearn has a theory why the play has garnered such positive buzz. "Everybody likes to watch someone fall over; it's inherently amusing," he said. "It's the same effect how people like being scared at horror movies: People like watching people get hurt."

But serious injuries have visited cast members. In a recent performance, Henry Shields, who plays Chris, re-injured a herniated cervical disc at the conclusion of Act I. Shields, an award-winning writer (he and Henry Lewis, who plays Robert, are two-thirds of the play's writing team) and Mischief Theatre member since 2009, has recovered and rejoined the cast. "I was really lonely when Henry was hurt," Hearn said. "He brings in Tate's cookies all the time and it's rude not to eat them, and I justify eating them all. We don't have that at home."

When to eat may not seem to be a major concern for most people, but it is for the cast of such a physically demanding show. "Our lives are timed to when we eat," Hearn said. "If you eat too much it's horrible. And there's also nothing worse than getting half way through the show and becoming really hungry. I usually have lunch at 3 or 4 and eat a little bit all the way till the show."

Hearn has been playing comedy for years and may be ready for something else down the pike. "I lean more towards the darker kind of aggressive characters and I got a lot of comedy roles early on.

"The darker stuff was easier for me to work with," he said. Max is not a dark character. "Max represents the only element of joy on stage," Hearn said. "The play is very dry and British in approach and this character is falling in love with the audience. He thinks he's a brilliant actor."

Hearn didn't think about becoming an actor until he was 17. "I was a little late to the party," he said. "I didn't want to be in the classroom. I was quite shy as a kid and I thought if I did drama it would help. I was pretty much earnest and arrogant and full of myself. I joined a rugby team and wanted to be one of the cool kids. Taking drama instead of IT in school was the first step," he said. "If I could stand in front of people and form something, the rest is easy," he realized.

"If what you're doing is smashing chairs and falling over and people think we're good, that's pretty cool."

Hearn has taken to the mad rush of New York life. "I've fallen in love very quickly. The speed of the place. It hasn't quite stolen me away from London but it might. You guys have a very aggressive kindness, an abrasive kindness," he said, "and it's great."

THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG was written by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields. The Broadway production is directed by Mark Bell and the scenic design is by Nigel Hook. Costumes are by Roberto Surace, lighting by Ric Mountjoy, sound design by AnDrew Johnson and original music by Rob Falconer.

It's playing at the Lyceum Theatre, 149 West 45th Street.