Bold opening: A Christmas comedy sensation is back on tour, and it’s heading to Kent for a festive, laugh-out-loud showdown.
The award-winning Mischief Theatre company, creators of The Play That Goes Wrong, brings its latest holiday calamity to Kent after an eight-week West End run. The new production, Christmas Carol Goes Wrong, continues its national tour with six Canterbury performances.
Plot: The Cornley Amateur Drama Society, a lovable chaos-prone theatre troupe, attempts their own staging of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol while navigating a cascade of mishaps—from missing actors to behind-the-scenes feuds.
About the creators: Mischief Theatre, a multi-award-winning outfit founded by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields, also gave life to the Goes Wrong Show on BBC TV. Their first on-screen adaptation of A Christmas Carol appeared in 2017, and the stage version now features refreshed material.
Creative insight: “We felt there was more to explore, so we’re excited to revisit it,” says Henry Lewis. “A key difference this time is that we take you into rehearsal. Audiences will see the Cornley players rehearsing and then watch everything unravel on stage.” He explains that the rehearsal sequences unlock jokes that require setup, helping audiences recognize the rapid-fire pay-offs later: when two actors argue about a particular issue, or when someone struggles with an emotional moment, the later gags land with extra momentum.
Origin and evolution: The Cornley troupe first appeared in The Play That Goes Wrong in 2012, which earned the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy Play. Since then, the writers have produced acclaimed works such as Peter Pan Goes Wrong and The Comedy About a Bank Robbery.
Jonathan Sayer reflects on the troupe: “They might keep bungling productions, but there’s a sense of belonging and a peculiar chosen family among them. They may bicker and tumble, yet quitting never crosses their minds—they love every moment of it.”
Tour details: The show lands at the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury as part of a United Kingdom tour. Henry Shields calls Canterbury one of his “favourite places,” noting it’s where their major Play That Goes Wrong tour began and where cherished memories linger.
Performance window: Tuesday, February 24 through Sunday, March 1. Tickets are available online at the Marlowe Theatre website or by phone at 01227 787787.
But here’s where it gets controversial: does updating a beloved Dickens tale with rehearsal-room chaos honor the classics or risk defacing them? Share your take in the comments: is this fresh, funny innovation or a risky reimagining? And this is the part most people miss: the real treat isn’t just the gags, but how the performers collaborate under pressure, turning mishaps into memorable theatre.
Book now and prepare for a festive, farcical journey that blends tradition with cheeky modern twists.
