Mischief Theatre

The Mischief Theatre Company

The Mischief Theatre founded in 2008 by a group of graduates and students of The London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art.
Formation 2008
Type Theatre group
Purpose Comedy
Location
  • United Kingdom
Artistic director(s)
 Henry Lewis
Jonathan Sayer
Henry Shields
Website http://www.mischieftheatre.co.uk

Mischief Theatre is an Olivier Award-winning[1] British theatre company specialising in comedy. The company was founded in 2008 by a group of students from The London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art[2] in West London. Since its inception the company has performed scripted and improvised comedy in the West End, across the UK as well as in Europe and Asia.

Ensemble

Mischief Theatre's ensemble members are: Henry Lewis,[3] Jonathan Sayer,[4] Dave Hearn,[5] Harry Kershaw,[6] Charlie Russell,[7] Josh Elliott, Mike Bodie, Nancy Wallinger, Henry Shields,[8] Niall Ransome, Bryony Corrigan[9] & Rob Falconer.

The company is led by Artistic Director Henry Lewis and Company Director Jonathan Sayer.[10]

History

Mischief Theatre performed their first show Let's See What Happens[11] on Tuesday 15 July 2008 at The Questors Studio Theatre in Ealing. Let's See What Happens ran at The Questors Theatre for a week before it moved to The Edinburgh Festival the following month. Since then Mischief Theatre has produced three more of its own improvised shows: Lights! Camera! Improvise!,[12] Late Night Impro Fight[13] and Improvaganza and scripted shows including; The Murder Before Christmas,[14] Mogic and The Buffoons.

The Mischief Theatre Company was formerly known as The Scat Pack.

Current productions

The Play That Goes Wrong

Mischief Theatre's Olivier Award winning hit comedy The Play That Goes Wrong is currently playing in London's West End at the Duchess Theatre and has extended until February 2016.[15]

The Play That Goes Wrong[16] is a play by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields. It premiered at the Old Red Lion Theatre in London in 2012,[17] moved to Trafalgar Studios in 2013,[18] toured the UK and internationally in 2014 and opened to the Duchess Theatre in the West End on 14 September 2014 where it will remain until at least September 2017. It won Best New Comedy at the 2015 Laurence Olivier Awards and Best New Comedy at the WhatsOnStage.com Awards in 2014[19]

Original cast included: Henry Lewis, Henry Shields, Jonathan Sayer, Nancy Zamit, Dave Hearn, Charlie Russell, Rob Falconer & Greg Tannahill

In the play The Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society attempt to put on a 1920s murder mystery, but the performance is beset with disasters and the accident prone cast struggled through every scene.

The West End production was directed by Mark Bell, designed by Nigel Hook with lighting designs by Ric Mountjoy, costume designed by Roberto Surace and was produced by Kenny Wax Ltd & Stage Presence Ltd present as a Mischief Theatre Production.

Foreign language productions of The Play that Goes Wrong have also been presented in France,[20] Israel and Italy.

Productions will soon open in China, USA, Australia, Hungary, Poland, Spain, Greece, Israel, Scandinavia, Brazil, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Argentina, Uruguay, Turkey, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Philippines and South Africa.

The Comedy About a Bank Robbery

The Comedy About a Bank Robbery is a comedy play, written by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields, who are members of Mischief Theatre Company.[21] The play opened at the West End's Criterion Theatre on 31 March 2016, with an official opening night on 21 April 2016. The show is currently booking until April 2018.

Original cast included: Henry Lewis, Henry Shields, Jonathan Sayer, Nancy Zamit, Dave Hearn, Charlie Russell, Greg Tannahill, Jeremy Lloyd & Chris Leask

The play is directed by Mark Bell, with set design by David Farley and costume design by Roberto Surace.[22]

Peter Pan Goes Wrong

Peter Pan Goes Wrong is a critically acclaimed comedy play by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields in the 'Goes Wrong' range. It premiered at the Pleasance Theatre in London in December 2013 before touring the UK in 2014 and 2015 where it received exceptional critical acclaim across the country,[23] and in December 2015 it opened at London's Apollo Theatre.[24] Following widespread critical acclaim, Peter Pan Goes Wrong returned to the Apollo Theatre for a limited run from 21 October 2016 – 29 January 2017.[25]

The play is adapted from the original stage play Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie and in it the inept and accident prone Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society set out to present the classic tale of Peter Pan with comical and disastrous results.

The original cast included: Henry Lewis, Henry Shields, Jonathan Sayer, Nancy Zamit, Dave Hearn, Charlie Russell, Sophie Whittaker, Daisy Waterstone, Harry Kershaw, Rob Falconer & Greg Tannahill.

The original production was directed by Adam Meggido assisted by Andy MacName and designed by Martin Thomas with lighting design by Owen Evans and sound designed by Ella Wahlstrom. This production was nominated for two Off West End Awards for Best Production and Best Ensemble.

The UK tour was produced by Kenny Wax and Stage Presence Ltd. The cast for the tour included Laurence Pears, Leonie Hill, Alex Bartram, Naomi Sheldon, Rosie Abrahams, James Marlowe, Matt Cavendish, Cornelius Booth and Chris Leask with Harry Kershaw returning from the original cast.

Adam Meggido returned to direct the touring production and Ella Wahlstrom to design sound and Rob Falconer and Richard Baker to write the original music. The set was designed by Simon Scullion, the costumes by Roberto Surace and lighting by Matt Haskins.

Lights! Camera! Improvise!

Lights! Camera! Improvise! is an improvised comedy show format devised and performed by Mischief Theatre.[26] The show was first presented at The Edinburgh Festival in August 2009[27] and has since been performed across the UK and internationally as well as at The Duchess Theatre in the West End.

In the show a film collector named Oscar invites the audience to suggest genres, locations and a title for a film which he then finds in his extensive DVD collection. A company of six or seven performers then improvise a longform narrative based on these ideas under the direction of Oscar.

Cast members past and present include: Jonathan Sayer, Nancy Wallinger, Henry Lewis, Henry Shields, Dave Hearn, Charlie Russell, Mike Bodie, Josh Elliott, Harry Kershaw, Bryony Corrigan, Niall Ransome, Ellie Morris, Matt Cavendish, Laura Kirman, Lotti Maddox, Monica Heisey and musicians Rob Falconer, Richard Baker, Joey Hickman, Sam Cable, Tom Dunlea and Chris Ash.

In 2013 the production won a Spirit of the Fringe Award at Edinburgh Festival.

References

  1. ↑ "2015 Olivier Award winners". Olivier Awards. Official London Theatre. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  2. ↑ "LAMDA website". Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  3. ↑ "Henry Lewis". United Agents. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  4. ↑ "Jonathan Sayer". United Agents. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  5. ↑ "Dave Hearn". PBJ Agents. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  6. ↑ "Harry Kershaw". Curtis Brown. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  7. ↑ "Charlie Russell". AHA Talent. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  8. ↑ "Henry Shields". James Foster Limited.
  9. ↑ "Bryony Corrigan". Spotlight. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  10. ↑ "About Us". Mischief Theatre. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  11. ↑ "Mischief Theatre on the theatre, the West End and things that go wrong!". Performance Reviewed. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  12. ↑ "Lights Camera Improvise". Nimax Theatres. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  13. ↑ "Late Night Impro Fight". The List.
  14. ↑ Lines, Sarah. "The Murder Before Christmas - Old Red Lion Theatre". The Good Review.
  15. ↑ "The Play That Goes Wrong". Nimax Theatres. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  16. ↑ "The Play That Goes Wrong". www.theplaythatgoeswrong.com. Retrieved 2015-10-28.
  17. ↑ "Sheer Schadenfreude: The Play That Goes Wrong at the Old Red Lion Theatre". One Stop Arts. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  18. ↑ Spencer, Charles. "The Play That Goes Wrong, Trafalgar Studios, Review". The Telegraph. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  19. ↑ "Full List: Winners of the 2014 WhatsOnStage Awards". Whats On Stage.
  20. ↑ "Les Faux British". Théâtre Tristan-Bernard. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  21. ↑ "Olivier Winners Stage Bank Robbery". officiallondontheatre.co.uk. Official London Theatre. 3 December 2015. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
  22. ↑ "Play That Goes Wrong team launches new West End show". thestage.co.uk. The Stage. 3 December 2015. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
  23. ↑ "Upcoming Shows". Mischief Theatre. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  24. ↑ "Home | Peter Pan Goes Wrong". www.peterpangoeswrong.com. Retrieved 2015-10-28.
  25. ↑ "Show". Peter Pan Goes Wrong. Retrieved 17 Oct 2016.
  26. ↑ "Lights! Camera! Improvise!". Nimax Theatres. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  27. ↑ Hawkins, Rowena. "Edinburgh Review: Lights! Camera! Improvise! – The Improvised Movie, Pleasance Courtyard". A Younger Theatre. Retrieved 7 July 2015.

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