Olivier award-winning comedy favourites, Mischief, announce they will be touring the UK with three productions this summer.
Direct from the West End, Magic Goes Wrong, created with Las Vegas magicians Penn & Teller, will open at Curve, Leicester on 16 July. Mischief’s original box office hit, The Play That Goes Wrong, will return for its fourth UK tour, opening at Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury on 13 July. Completing the triple, their West End comedy, Groan Ups, will open at Theatre Royal Bath on 12 August. All three productions will tour through autumn 2021 into 2022. Casting yet to be announced.
Producer Kenny Wax says: ‘Our priority over the past year has been to help kick start the industry in any way we can and we’re delighted to be mounting three Mischief shows on tour, working together with the regional venues to welcome audiences back into theatres nationwide. We hope to provide much needed work to the many actors, stage managers, technicians and creatives who make up our freelance workforce, many of whom have not had paid work since last March.’
Heading out on its inaugural UK tour, Mischief’s biggest and most daring comedy catastrophe to date, Magic Goes Wrong, created with magic legends Penn & Teller, follows a hapless gang of magicians as they stage an evening of grand illusion to raise cash for charity. As the magic turns to mayhem, accidents spiral out of control and so does their fundraising target! The show premiered in the West End at the Vaudeville Theatre in December 2019, where it is set to resume performances this October. Written by Penn Jillette, Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, Henry Shields and Teller, the show is directed by Adam Meggido.
The Play That Goes Wrong is now in its seventh year in the West End and is fast becoming a global phenomenon with productions in over 35 countries and across 6 continents. Winning multiple awards including a Tony and the Olivier award for Best New Comedy, the show follows an amateur dramatics society as they attempt to stage a 1920s murder mystery, but as the calamity prone thesps battle to reach their final curtain call, everything that can go wrong… does! Back by popular demand, the production will open at Marlowe Theatre Canterbury, where it first premiered in 2014. Written by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields with original direction by Mark Bell. The touring production is directed by Sean Turner.
Something a little different from Mischief, Groan Ups is a comedy all about growing up. Following an unruly classroom of six year-olds as they journey through anarchic teenage life, through to adulthood, this comedy asks the real questions – do we choose who we become? Is the story of our lives already written? Do we ever really grow up? Groan Ups premiered in the West End at the Vaudeville Theatre in September 2019 and also featured on the Royal Variety Performance in the presence of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. This will be its first UK tour. Written by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields, the show is directed by Kirsty Patrick Ward.
