Little Lark of London

“You have to be generous on stage if you’re going to make the show successful”

Mischief Theatre’s The Play That Goes Wrong has been running off-Broadway at New World Stages since 2019, after a two-year run on Broadway. The comedy, written by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields, follows the Cornley University Drama Society as they put on The Murder at Haversham Manor. As one might expect from the title, however, things go horribly wrong, resulting in hilarity. 

Recently, I had the chance to speak with Samuel Douglas, who plays Max Bennett (who plays Cecil Haversham!) in The Play That Goes Wrong. We discussed how he first got started in the world of theatre, what it has been like to join the Mischief Theatre family, and even how he might have ended up in a very different role in the show!

How did you first get started in the world of theatre?

When I was a kid, my parents worked at a kindergarten to 12th-grade school. My mom was an administrator, so when she didn’t have childcare for me, she would plop me in the back of the auditorium, and I would watch the high schoolers rehearse for the musical. The first one I remember was Camelot, and I just remember sitting there in kindergarten like, “They’re having so much fun up there. I want to do that!” I didn’t really know anything about it, but it was really fun. And then we listened to cast recordings in the car nonstop. 

I remember going to New York for spring break around that same time. It was the first time I had ever been, and we saw The Lion King. I remember being just astounded by the whole product. The production was so beautiful, and I was like, “These are people who are on stage performing, and everybody in the audience is believing that they’re animals on a savannah.” That suspension of disbelief, to me, was so mind-boggling. I was like, “This is unbelievable!” So from then on, I was like, “I gotta do this.” And it certainly wasn’t very good when I started, but I had to do it, so I’ve been pursuing it ever since.

And what made you want to be a part of The Play That Goes Wrong?

Who wouldn’t want to be? [Laughs] The first time I saw it was when I auditioned for it, so this was in June of 2024. I was asked to submit a tape for Chris Bean, the inspector/director, so I went to see the show. I had heard things about it, I had friends who had been in it, but I was never able to see it, so I went to see it, and was like, “Oh my gosh, this play is so funny and so sharp! It looks like everybody’s having so much fun up there,” and “Wow, I really want to play Max. That part looks amazing!” So I submitted my Chris Bean tape, and then got an email back that was like, “We’d love for you to come in for our in-person callbacks, but can you prepare the Max stuff?” I felt so vindicated! And so I did, and it was just an unbelievable experience. It’s simple, and it works. It’s like butter. It’s so perfect. And that’s been my experience working on it, too. It’s just so much fun! Every time we start the show, I just get giddy. I’m like, “I get to do the play!” I feel really lucky.

And what was the rehearsal process like for a show like The Play That Goes Wrong? 

Oh my gosh, it was so fast! I auditioned in June and left being like, “I nailed that. That was amazing!” And I didn’t hear anything for four months. So I was like, “Okay, that’s fine. I did a great job, that’s okay.” Then I was at a wedding in Spain in October, and I got a text from my agent saying, “Hey, The Play That Goes Wrong would love for you to step in. When are you free to come in?” And I was like, “Well, I’m out of the country. I’m going to do some travelling, so I could be there in two weeks.” And he was like, “How about on Monday?” It was Thursday! So I changed my flight, flew back to New York, and started rehearsals on Monday.

I was a vacation cover for the guy playing Max – I had four rehearsals, a put-in on Friday, and then I was in the show on Monday. It was really a whirlwind, exciting time! It was just me, Mark Evans, and a stage manager in the rehearsal room. We went through the play together, I went home and learned my lines, and then came in. Doing the play on that Monday for the first time, I was buzzing, because it’s terrifying! There’s so little that you can prepare for – especially for Max – because so much of that character is in alignment and engagement with the audience and their reaction. Mark kept being like, “I guess you’ll see what happens.” I was like, “Okay, that’s a lot of trust you have in me!” It was one of the most thrilling experiences I’ve ever had on stage, that first night. And really, every night is equally that! I feel so lucky that I get to be with this ineffable theatrical presence that is this live audience. Other characters do interact with them, but I feel like I get to play with them in a real way, and that is so juicy as an actor. Really fulfilling and hard, but really, really fun.

For those who might be unfamiliar with The Play That Goes Wrong, can you tell us a bit about it and the role that you play, Max Bennett?

The Play That Goes Wrong . . . It’s in the name! It’s a many-layered gig. So I’m playing a guy named Max Bennett who has been cast in the play, The Murder at Haversham Manor. My uncle has put up a lot of money to fund this play! I’m cast in two roles, but the main role is Cecil Haversham, who’s the brother of the guy who gets murdered. Over the course of the production of The Murder at Haversham Manor, which everybody’s there to see, the play goes wrong – things fall down, and people get hurt. There’s a lot of slapstick. There’s a lost dog! It’s really funny. One of my friends saw it and was like, “I’ve never been in the theatre where it’s literally a laugh every minute – there’s so much laughing!” It’s some of the funniest stuff that you’ll see on stage.

And how do you balance the play-within-a-play as an actor? 

I thought it would be harder than it was! Our director, Matt DiCarlo, has talked about the “Cornley Cocktail” – the name of the group of players who are putting on The Murder at Haversham Manor is the Cornley University Drama Society. He talks about how it should be this much The Murder at Haversham Manor character, this much the Cornley character. And sometimes, that shifts and changes throughout the play. It was interesting to feel that navigation. And it’s always a fine line for me to be like, “Oh yeah, tonight I was a little too Max when I should have been more Cecil.” But that makes it fun and alive. Every night, I feel like my performance is minutely shifting, but it’s always searching for, “How is this gonna make this funnier and make a storytelling moment clearer to the audience?” So it’s certainly a balance beam to be on, but it’s a fun one. I don’t know if this is true for everybody who’s played Max, but because the audience is so different every night, to me, being present with that audience, it’s like a new scene partner every single night who’s gonna respond differently. It’s really a beautiful, purely theatrical gift to me as an artist.

You mentioned you were in rehearsals by yourself, and that some of the actors have been doing this show for several years. What was it like slotting into this cast?

I really liked it! I know we do it differently than they do it on the West End, where a new cast comes in every year, and everybody’s new. I really appreciated that there were people who knew what was going on and whom I could lean on when I was lost on stage. They’ve done the show for years, so that has made me feel like I was coming into a family, instead of trying to make a family with people who didn’t know each other. And everybody is so generous! You have to be generous on stage if you’re going to make the show successful. And that carries over to backstage dynamics – everybody is really kind and supportive. Coming into this group of people who are tight-knit was daunting at first, but everybody’s so kind, so it was way easier than I thought it would be. And actually a boon to my artistic journey too, because if I ever have a question, I can always ask somebody, and they’ve been with so many different Max actors already that they’re like, “Oh, well, it’s this way sometimes, or some people do this,” and that gives me an idea of where I can go with this moment.

Do you have any moments from the past months you’ve been doing the show that stand out?

Nothing specific! I have friends who have come to see it, and I’m like, “Oh, when so and so was here, that audience was unbelievable.” My parents came to see it, and I was really lucky that it was the best audience I’ve ever had. That was really sweet. But sometimes, as it’s happening and as I’m getting to know the audience, an image appears in my head that usually has to do with water. It’s like, “This audience feels like a stream that is trickling,” if they’re not laughing very much. The best audiences are the audiences where I’m like, “Oh, this feels like I’m in the ocean and there’s a huge wave that’s coming,” and it’s like, “Oh my gosh, I’m gonna get knocked over by the energy!” When that is happening, that is so fun. And that has happened several times – a really fun way to surf.

Do you have any favorite scenes, either to be a part of or to watch?

I have a lot of fun doing the sword fight with Robert. Brent Bateman, who plays Robert, is really sensational, and that’s really fun. It’s hard for me to choose just one! Even standing backstage, I’m like, “I’m so excited to get to do this next!” As a whole, I will say, I feel so lucky to be able to work with these actors on this, because everybody is at the top of their game. We have a vacation swing, Jake Bentley Young, who said, “These are the best clowns in New York City,” and he’s right! Every night, it’s so cool to watch these people who are so talented do the thing that they do best. I learn something every time I watch them. 

We were doing a put-in rehearsal for Jake a couple of weeks ago, and I was in the audience watching the parts that I wasn’t in. I don’t usually do that because I’m backstage and I need to go drink water or go to the bathroom or something. But I was just watching these people, and I was laughing out loud! I know what’s gonna happen, and it’s still so funny. Everybody’s so funny and so smart and sharp and on it. For every person, I have a favorite moment – something they do, or some line that they say that always makes me laugh. Everybody’s so good!

What about any favorite lines?

My favourite is actually a moment, because it’s completely silent! But I love when the stretcher lift happens, and it breaks, because that encapsulates the whole show in a single moment. Brent, who leads that moment, and Trevor Braun, who plays Perkins, they’re so good. I’m just watching them make this moment real for the audience – they lift up the thing, it breaks, and then they look at each other. It’s like seeing them understand what’s happening and then watching Brent make the decision, “Okay, we’re going to keep going.” I laugh inside every single time. It’s the funniest thing on the planet. And it’s so great because it’s at the beginning of my time on stage, and so I’m like, “Let’s go!” So that is my favourite moment. I know it’s not a line, but there are so many good lines. They’re all so funny! But that encapsulates the show as a whole, for me. Everybody commits to the bit. 

I feel like you, as Max, potentially have more opportunities to break than some of the other characters!

Yeah, and I feel really lucky about that, because it’s hard for me to keep a straight face! Sometimes things have happened, and I have been able to laugh, really taking advantage of that breaking of the fourth wall, of the character. 

What do you hope audiences take away from The Play That Goes Wrong?

Somebody came up to me after the show recently and was like, “Thank you so much for giving me a space to laugh. I don’t have the opportunity to do it a lot, and I’m really grateful that I could laugh as much as I did tonight.” Sometimes it’s easy to disregard comedy as something that is frivolous – what good does it do in the world? And it’s easy, also, as an actor, for me to get caught up in, “Well, this didn’t work tonight. This wasn’t funny enough, they didn’t laugh enough.” I hope that audiences will be able to give themselves the gift of just laughing – there is something really powerful in it. 

There’s a line from Cabaret, “Leave your troubles outside . . . In here, life is beautiful.” In here, life is certainly not beautiful for the Cornley characters, but it can be a real gift to laugh, especially these days, when there’s so much turmoil happening in the world. It can be a really beautiful thing to be in a room full of strangers laughing. There’s something really therapeutic about that, so I hope that people can give themselves that gift. But I hope people take from it that we don’t have to take ourselves so seriously. We can all relax a little bit. Things go wrong, and we persevere. At the end of the day, things can really go wrong, and the play can be really funny. So maybe that’s true in life as well. Things can go wrong, and you can still have a beautiful life.

How would you describe The Play That Goes Wrong in one word?

It’s stupendous, absolutely stupendous.

The Play That Goes Wrong is currently running at New World Stages. For more information and to purchase tickets, click here.