Review: THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG Exudes Energy at Beit Lessin Theatre

The comedy The Play That Goes Wrong that keeps winning over every stage it's performed on, whether it's in London where it won the 2015 Olivier Award for Best New Comedy or on Broadway where it was recently nominated for Best Scenic Design of a Play in this year's Tony Awards, received a Hebrew adaptation by Udi Ben Moshe, Gur Koren and Moran Rozen, thanks to Beit Lessin Theatre's latest production directed by Udi Ben Moshe.

It all starts with a rather original introduction to the play, which is essentially a play inside a play, when before it even begins a few members of the cast are already on stage and in character as they are doing last minute adjustments on stage and around the arriving audience before the inner play begins. This kind of crowd warming preview sets the amusing theme of the plot and assures the audience that they're headed towards a very good time. When the play finally begins all the characters are introduced along with their role in the inner play called "The Murder at Hamilton Manor", a play that from the very first second it begins every possible element in it goes wrong.

The entire production is fun to watch and very much enjoyable but two main components in it especially stand out. The first one is the incredible cast where all its members are working extremely hard but clearly look as if they're having a blast while doing so along with their non stop energy, an energy that the audience is guaranteed to receive all of it.

Each and every one in the cast is absolutely brilliant, no exceptions, from Yaniv Swisa who spends most of the play next to the stage and still gives a great performance, to Naama Amit whose comic gestures and spark in her eyes are a refreshing surprise in such a comedy. Although at times the repetitive jokes from Ofri Biterman's character aren't very necessary even for such a play that doesn't stop Biterman from doing an excellent job as well. Additionally, it's important to mention the rest of the cast that includes Liron Baranes, Yuval Yanai, Ofir Weil, Shiran Huberman and Ori Laizerouvich, who give everything they have in them for this production and they all do so while combining hilarious physical comedy skills with impressive facial expressions.

The second standing out component is the modular set, designed by Alexander Lisiyansky. Just like a good escape room, at first the set seems detailed but with nothing out of the ordinary and then, without too many spoilers, it becomes another living character in the play. True, a few minutes into the play it's easy to guess what will happen to the set because of the physical refinements it requires to be more esthetic and truly surprising, but the design itself is very exciting and definitely original.

With a superb cast, a fun story that requires no effort to fully enjoy, a Hebrew adaptation that fits the Israeli audience perfectly and a wonderful supporting team, all that's left is to just sit back and enjoy a hilarious play at the theatre and wait for the play to go wrong in all the right ways.

Now playing at the ZOA House in Tel Aviv.
For tickets and further information visit Beit Lessin Theatre or call 03-7255333 (Israel).

Photo Credit: Kfir Bolotin.

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