Britt Trachtenberg

In New World Stages’ production of The Play That Goes Wrong, Adam Petherbridge (Max) and Brent Bateman (Robert) excel in their roles. They utilize their slapstick comedy skills in the high-energy production.

In the play, the fictitious Cornley University performed The Murder at Haversham Manor. The also-fictitious Susie H. K. Brideswell wrote the 1920s murder mystery script. Chris Bean welcomed the audience to the fake play. Many purposeful errors ensued. To learn more about slapstick comedy’s purpose, read the interview with Adam Petherbridge and Brent Bateman below.

The Knockturnal: Thank you so much for joining me today. My first question is for both of you. How did you prepare for roles that involve slapstick violence and characters within characters?

Adam Petherbridge: Brent, you want to take that? You were there for the first go-around of this show.

Brent Bateman: Yeah, sure. So, I think it goes back as far as training goes. The preparation for slapstick involves going back for education in the theatre and learning physical acting techniques from a relatively young age. This applies to this show as well.

Britt, if you’re familiar with the show, which I think that you are, you might consider two hours of craziness really overwhelming. You might think ‘Oh my god, how do they do that?’ We started with Page 1 of the script and blocked all the little bits until Page 5. Then, we went back and did them again and started adding pages to that. So, it never seemed like we had to get the whole thing down all at once. Instead, we focused on one section at a time and figured it out until we got comfortable. Then, we moved on.

I will tack on to that in terms of slapstick specifically, and the requirements of this show specifically, there’s a lot of there’s a lot of physical preparation as far as like stretching and warming up that goes into every performance. But the real unsung heroes of this show are of various safety pads that we wear, whether that be on our knees, or elbows or our butts that keep us in good shape and able to repeat them without too much discomfort.

The Knockturnal: Okay. You answered my second question as well, which is the process of rehearsing slapstick comedy scenes. But if you have anything to add to that, you totally can.

Adam Petherbridge: Yeah, I think also just each person is, is an individual within the company as well. And everybody has their own requirements for safety and for the way that their bodies work. As Brent just alluded to, we have, you know, pads on us to avoid injuries and everything. But we’ve all sustained injuries along the way of our own of our own kinds. And so everyone’s kind of coming at it from a slightly different place. So when we rehearse, we also have to be aware of the slight differences between the people that we might be working with, because sometimes we have understudies on, sometimes people are injured, and we have somebody come in for, you know, maybe three or four months at a time, two months at a time, something like that. And so there’s a lot of checking in as we go. So we didn’t just rehearse at the beginning. And then you know, that’s kind of been the show ever since we’re constantly checking in with each other and having safety checks and working out little tiny discrepancies, little tiny problems with bits along the way, and that happens almost every single day at the theater, we’re working on something. And then we have brush-up rehearsals that we’re doing regularly with the director as well. So a little things are also changing and growing kind of just as the show evolves, and as the years tick by.

Brent Bateman: Okay, that’s great. I want to touch but I want to touch on something that I didn’t in the first question. That is the concept of playing a play within a play, which can be a pretty complicated process. We try to keep it as simple as possible, in that, ultimately, we’re there as a theatre company to put on a murder mystery. That’s the goal for the night. And our play within the play characters. That is to say that the actors that we’re playing, who are playing the characters in the show, reveal themselves as the show’s title comes into fruition, like as things start going wrong, then you start seeing more and more of the actors themselves. And keeping that imbalance is a big part of what Adam was just talking about, of like the tweaks, and understanding, like the overall flavor and Symphony you will have the comedy that we’re presenting is making sure that we’re not leaning too far into the play within the play. Although that’s very individual depending on which character we’re talking about. For me specifically, I find greater success when I am really gung ho into a murder mystery, and you only see the frustrations of the actor that I’m playing in little snapshots here and there and moments where it can’t help but be broken. Other characters for instance, Max, whom Adam plays sort of live is within the within the first layer of I’m an actor, I’m just having a great time the murder mystery doesn’t always matter so much to him because he’s just really enjoying the attention that he’s getting, and the fun that he’s having and the mayhem that he’s causing.

The Knockturnal: That makes sense. I feel like that I feel like that was kind of echoed, where, where I think your character, Brent is drinking the paint thinner, and he but he doesn’t know it. And he keeps saying, ‘Wow, this is the best liquor I’ve ever tasted.’

Brent Bateman: Right. No matter what the cost is, I’m just sticking to the story and trying to figure it out.

The Knockturnal: So my next question revolves around the characters within the character’s idea. So how do the costumes that you wore communicate the personality of the actor who was playing the character that you’re trying to bring out?

Adam Petherbridge: Yeah, sure. I mean, first of all, our wardrobe team is incredible. And our wardrobe design is really, really something else. So when you get up close, you can see just how elaborate these costumes are. Everything is custom-made for us by hand. We don’t have any, you know, Breakaway snaps, or anything on our buttons on our shirts, or anything, every single piece of my clothing is actually the way that piece of clothing would have been constructed, you know, in the 20s, when that when the murder is the murder at Haversham Manor is set. And I think each of them is distinct. And I think that’s kind of the most important thing because we try not to be too broad with the comedy. And obviously, all of this kind of harkens back hundreds of years, millennia, even to early clowning, and Canadia. And there are archetypes within those art forms. And if you go see a Canadian show, you see the same characters every time, they’re not playing different characters, the whole idea is that they are these archetypes. And it’s easy for us to fall into that. And that would be, you know, one way to get through the shows just to fall into the archetypes that we are, but we try not to do that we try to be individuals, we try to each have our own take on the characters our own takes on the show, and we try to make that show as realistic as possible so that we aren’t being too broad. But those costumes help kind of center us in the world of the play and within our you know, our Tony Award-winning set as well. And, and, and have a standout and kind of make each of our characterizations distinct. Within, you know, the the picture that you’re seeing on stage, which is kind of ever-evolving and often getting incredibly chaotic, we can still kind of stand out that way.

Brent Bateman: And it’s in the same vein as the board game or the movie Clue. It makes it easy to remember, you know, he’s the yellow one, he’s the purple one, she’s the she’s the red one. So it helps when you’re getting to learn who we are as points of reference, that we all are colored very differently with our wardrobe. I’d like to add that first off, I love my costume. I think that it’s amazing. I think it’s ridiculous. But one thing that it does is like I’m definitely the biggest person on the stage. My costume makes me even bigger because of the super baggy pants. You know, the just the I’m really hitting you over the head with mustardy houndstooth patterns. And it just enhances the larger-than-life sort of performance that I’m giving anyway like it makes it seem more authentic because of the wardrobe that I wear.

The Knockturnal: That makes sense. I noticed that Florence, for instance, wears red. So my next question is specifically for Adam. So there are scenes in the show where your character Max breaks the fourth wall and speaks directly to the audience. He’s smiling and really just enjoying the applause. Sometimes you mime the actions of words that you’re saying. I wanted to ask if parts of that were ad-libbed. If so, how did you come up with those movements?

Adam Petherbridge: Oh, yeah, well, we do have a lot of bits in the show that are kind of written as ad-libs, where each of us has our own different take on those bits. And those usually those moments where we’re kind of like talking to one another trying to, you know, explain what’s going on to one another and we play it in such a way as to allow the audience not to quite hear us, but to understand that we’re kind of break Hang things here by talking to one another. And this isn’t how it’s supposed to be going on. Max takes that obviously to the nth degree. And at least in terms of the mimes, there are a few in there that I do that are kind of standards, not necessarily ones that everybody does. But, you know, our director has preferences for certain movements. And so I keep some of those in. But it’s really, it’s really nice and freeing because we are allowed to explore and try to find our own versions of these things. And so for the most part, like all of the kind of breaking that I do into the short ball is my own version of that. For the most part, it’s all happening at the same time as it would for anybody else playing the character. So the timing isn’t necessarily different. But the way that it manifests itself, I think most people would probably agree is kind of unique to that specific Max. I also am an incredible ham. And as Brent will attest to, I’m always goofing around on stage, and trying to have the most fun just generally as myself, and trying to, you know, find other ways to be more max. And so I’ve, I’ve, I’ve added in probably three or four places along the way where I’m doing a break the fourth wall myself that isn’t necessarily in the script and isn’t necessarily one that other maxes do. But I just find colors, the life of my max more, because ultimately, I just want all of our characters to be full, fully, fully embody the characters. And so those little bits of breaking for me Don’t just tell the audience to laugh, they aren’t just about being goofy or silly. They’re about building the character of Max so that by the end of the show, everybody loves him.

The Knockturnal: What do you think Max is trying to get from the audience?

Adam Petherbridge: I got pages and pages of backstory written down if you want me to go into it. It’s a lot of different things. I come from a dramatic method acting background. And so I approach my characters is trying to understand who the character is not necessarily what they’re supposed to be doing on stage. And so for me, Max is, has never done this before. is brand new to this. Chris had just asked him if he wanted to be part of the play, he thought it was going to be a great time. He’s enjoying himself. He likes working with everybody and has no idea what he’s doing but wants to do it really well. He’s seen a lot of movies, he really likes murder mysteries and detective stories when he sees them in the movies and wants to do that version of things, but doesn’t know how. And so when he gets out on stage, and people start laughing and smiling, he thinks that they’re laughing and smiling at him because he’s doing a great job. So he keeps doing that and keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger, but that and that is having his own fun and doing what he thinks is acting, and what he thinks is doing the murder mystery. But really, he’s derailing it from.

The Knockturnal: Okay. Also, I wanted to ask you, Adam, about the larger implications of Max and Trevor’s scene. Earlier in the show, Florence is supposed to be having an affair with Max. He really doesn’t want to kiss Florence. It presents such a striking contrast when Trevor briefly plays Florence. Max is excited to kiss him. I wanted to ask about the larger implications of those two contrasting moments.

Adam Petherbridge: Yeah, sure. Well, there are many different ways that different Maxes in the past several years have justified those things and played them. So I can really only speak to my version of it. And, and that’s really just that he’s not super comfortable around girls. But by the time we get to the second act, he’s having such a good time. And everybody’s laughing and encouraging him and he’s just having fun. And so it just seems like a fun thing to try to do to kiss Trevor. And that’s really all that I come at it from is just the joy of getting a laugh from the audience. He’ll kind of do anything at that point. And I try to play that then he doesn’t realize what he’s done until afterwards. I’m when I cross the stage, and then Brent kind of snaps me back into reality as Robert. Then I realized that Oh, I just kissed somebody even though earlier I was I was uncomfortable with that.

The Knockturnal: Yeah, I think it shows how the character almost regains confidence throughout the play.

Adam Petherbridge: Yeah, exactly.

The Knockturnal: I noticed throughout the play that Duran Duran’s name came up a lot. At the beginning, Trevor asked, ‘If anyone finds a Duran Duran CD, that is personal property. Please return it to me.’ Eventually, your characters find the CD in the detective’s bag. After the curtains closed,  Girls on Film by Duran Duran played. Why was there so much mention of Duran Duran?

Brent Bateman: Now, I don’t know exactly the story. If you were in early, then you heard that sort of dramatic silly music that plays while Trevor and Annie fix things, welcome everyone, and look for Winston the dog. The themed music also plays at intermission, I believe. It’s my understanding that our original composer of that music was just sort of obsessed with Duran Duran as well. So they thought that it would be funny, and sort of anachronistic to the murder, mystery, and all of the things that we’re trying to do to put in references to something that doesn’t belong in the world at all. And further show Trevor’s sort of incompetence up in the booth by plugging little clips of Duran Duran music in when they’re not supposed to happen within our show, just as a comedic device. And also as a while, this guy really likes Duran Duran, How how, how wild is that? How much sense does that make? I don’t know if it’s any deeper than that. I don’t believe that it is, I think it’s just sort of silly. It would be a little bit like making a Nickelback joke in a way as well. I think there are a lot of a lot of bands or musicians that you could plug in, and they would be sort of effective. But I really like what Duran Duran does for the comedy of our show.

Adam Petherbridge: Yeah, the original person who composed all that music that we play, before and during intermission, was actually the original Trevor, Rob Falconer. And he started his life in the show, as actually just the stage manager, they just needed someone to play the music and change the lights and make an announcement. And he said, during one of their rehearsals, or one of their shows or something, do you mind if I just do it in character? And all the original, the creators of the show were like, sure, I guess we don’t know what that means. And so he just made Trevor kind of appear out of thin air. It wasn’t really supposed to be part of the show and wasn’t part of the show when it first happened. And so all of that is his kind of building this character that he just while he was sitting there, being the stage manager figured out would be a great addition to the show. And sure enough, it was.

The Knockturnal: Oh, okay. That’s great. So I also wanted to ask you, Brent, what changes do you feel that your character undergoes through the course of the play?

Brent Bateman: Yeah, that’s a tricky one. For me, the play as a large umbrella thing is about on a very basic level is about perseverance, and, and finishing the job that you set out to do. And if anything, Robert sort of doubles down over and over and over again, in what he believes in, as far in himself as far as true acting ability, domination. And I don’t know if any of that changes throughout, if anything, it just sort of he gets more and more emboldened, to regroup and to act harder as the play goes along. I think I think that’s the Robert story is that I get almost completely broken, and then finish triumphantly. See the thing through at all costs. I think it’s very similar to what Chris Bean goes through as well. I think the two have very similar trajectories because they’re the ones that are taking it the most seriously.