A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong

My partner and I watch this one every year. We're both theatre people, so we love seeing everything going wrong through the production while knowing that everyone is actually safe. The amount of rehearsal and technical know-how needed to safely execute any "goes wrong" production is incredibly impressive, and my hat goes off to everyone involved.

The only reason I knock points off is that, in agreement with some of the other reviews here, some of the gags are drawn out longer than they need no be. It's surprising, as every other "gone wrong" production has their comedic timing down to a T. Still though, this is worth a watch.

The Mischief Theatre, also known as 'The Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society' is a group of comedians who have made a variety of BBC specials as well as a regular series. I have not seen any of these shows other than "A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong' because I live in the States and only just discovered their work. I hope their other productions are as good as this one.

The premise is that a group of mostly untalented people want to hijack a BBC broadcast of "A Christmas Carol" starring Derek Jacobi. After taking Jacobi out of the picture and holding the crew captive, the group put on their own version...which is mostly a giant disaster. A few of the problems are problematic green screens, a Bob Cratchit who knows none of his lines, an actor who wants to play the lead and keeps attacking the new Scrooge, a niece who gets glued to practically everything and much more. It's all very stupid...but fun.

If this had been a longer film, it probably would have become tedious. As is, the 51 minute version is quite enjoyable thanks to the dopiness of the show...and this IS meant as a compliment! Well worth seeing, and I found a copy on YouTube.

I have watch Peter Pan Goes Wrong(Movie), The Goes Wrong Show, and have The Play That Goes Wrong(Broadway) 3 times and loved all of them. This one does not disappoint either.

While the jokes and "fails" may be repetitive as they are the same as in the others, this is not a problem at all. These are fails that a lot of us in theatre worry about or what may happen during rehearsals or even the shows. What makes these different is the story of the show that is being put on. Same fails, but different settings.

As someone who has worked backstage in theatre for 11 years, mostly in set construction and lighting design, many of the fails are things we joke and worry about such as set safety. I know actors worry a lot about missing lines, messing up, etc. I have even had actors faint during shows and costumes completely fall apart. Besides the comedy part, it is very inspirational and encouraging about pushing through in a show no matter what happens.

Sadly though, these jokes are sometimes not as funny to those who have not done tech or acting before.

The Christmas classic with Derek Jacobi as Scrooge! Who wouldn't be thrilled at the idea? A player of such ability that he can disappear into any role! Well, not the Mischief Theater (masquerading as the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society) banned from the BBC since they ruined PETER PAN the previous year. So they knock out Jacobi, have Diana Rigg, the aunt of one of their performers, do the narration and hey, presto! It's a disaster.

And a very funny one, with performers who don't know their lines, performers covered in glue and stuck to their props, performers caught offsides when the green-screen software goes down.... a wondrous, silly, slapstick affair that kept me laughing throughout, as their inept production gets merged with their 'real' lives. If you've got an hour to spare and not enough laughs, this is a good way to fix that shortage.

As much as I liked their take on Peter Pan I think is where they seemed to run out of ideas.

I want to like it: the pieces all seem to be there but it lacks that X factor Peter Pan had. Some of it is funny and some of it just feels rehashed and contrived.

They go way too far with a lot of gags and put too much emphasis on the actors personal lives.

I'm not saying avoid it but go in knowing that the best of this franchise is behind it.