The Play That Goes Wrong
​High School Edition

By Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer & Henry Shields​
Synopsis
From Mischief, Broadway masters of comedy, comes this smash hit farce. Welcome to opening night of the Cornley Drama Society’s newest production, The Murder at Haversham Manor, where things are quickly going from bad to utterly disastrous. This 1920s whodunit has everything you never wanted in a show—an unconscious leading lady, a corpse that can’t play dead, and actors who trip over everything (including their lines). Nevertheless, the accident-prone thespians battle against all odds to make it through to their final curtain call, with hilarious consequences! Part Monty Python, part Sherlock Holmes, this Olivier Award–winning comedy is a global phenomenon that’s guaranteed to leave you aching with laughter!
Character Breakdown
As with any play-within-a-play, you have the complication of the characters of the actors doing the play-within-the-play and the characters within the play-within-the-play. To make it a little simpler, the names are laid out below in two lists: firstly the members of the Cornley Drama Society who are putting on the play, and secondly the characters of The Murder at Haversham Manor. The text always uses the actors’ names rather than the characters’ names. 

Members of the Cornley Drama Society (in order of appearance) 
  • ANNIE is the company’s stage manager. American accent. Stands in as Florence. (F) 
  • STAGE CREW (6–8), the Cornley Drama Society stage crew. (M/F) 
  • TAYLOR is the company’s lighting and sound operator. American accent. (M/F) 
  • CHRIS (short for Christine, if female) is the head of the drama society, directed the play and plays Inspector Carter. (M/F) 
  • JONATHAN plays Charles Haversham. (M) 
  • ROBERT (or RACHEL, if female) plays Thomas Colleymoore (or Mary Colleymoore). (M/F) DENNIS (or DENISE, if female) plays Perkins. (M/F) 
  • MAX plays Cecil Haversham and Arthur the Gardener. (M) 
  • SANDRA plays Florence Colleymoore. (F) 

The action takes place on the opening night of the Cornley Drama Society’s production of The Murder at Haversham Manor by Susie H. K. Brideswell. Present day.

Characters in The Murder at Haversham Manor (in order of appearance) 
  • CHARLES HAVERSHAM, the deceased. (M) 
  • THOMAS (or MARY) COLLEYMOORE, Charles’ old school friend. (M/F) 
  • PERKINS, Charles’ butler (or maid). (M/F) 
  • CECIL HAVERSHAM, Charles’ brother. (M) 
  • FLORENCE COLLEYMOORE, Charles’ fiancée and Thomas’/ Mary’s sister. (F) 
  • INSPECTOR CARTER, an esteemed local inspector. (M/F) 
  • ARTHUR THE GARDENER, the gardener at Haversham Manor. (M) 

The action takes place in Charles’ private rooms at Haversham Manor on the evening of Charles and Florence’s engagement party. Winter 1922.