#Christmas Carol goes wrong

[lesbianrecorderplayer]

Let's be real.

[omgitzlongdennis]

goes wrong blinkies, might make more

[styx-the-stick]

outtakes of the passing the phone vid 1: this photo i accidentally took of dave when trying to film

[emiko-matsui]

vanessa wilcock wynn carroway saw a group of deranged lunatic actors coup the BBC and said I gotta get in on this

[smallbitterman]

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you’re all doing well!

New video is out, next part in my Terribly Edited series…

[valicelavidad]

try not to say "i'm the head of the bbc" every time you see a twix challenge

[stars-irises]

Watching The Goes Wrong Show and crying over Sandra and Max. They're so cute I'm going to explode

[capaldis-kidneys]

saying I did revision by watching Christmas carol goes wrong but I really doubt "uoy sselb" will help me in my GCSES

[vinecovered-mech]

WANG

[sapphic-songbird]

Sometimes when I get sad I think about the clips in Christmas Carol Goes Wrong of Dennis's Birthday. I think about Chris and Trevor vibing/poorly dancing in the background, Annie and Sandra having very important very deep conversations while blocking the snack table. But mostly the fact that Dennis invited them all to his little birthday party, and they all decided to come :)

[marvelmaniac715]

From 1:45-1:57 is a real time recreation of the War Master's time on the televised version of Doctor Who.

[omgitzlongdennis]

GOES WRONG SHOW AS CHRISTMAS SWEATERS

CHRIS

ANNIE

ROBERT

(+ what chris made him wear)

SANDRA

MAX

VANESSA

DENNIS (picked by vanessa)

TREVOR

[burningthrucelluloid]

Christmas Carol-cember, Day 16

In 2008, comedians Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields formed Mischief Theatre, a British Theatre company that specializes in comedy slapstick routines where the punchline is usually baked in the illusion of failure.

Actors forget their lines or have personal squabbles with each other that come out during the performance, a prop breaks or does not work as intended, the set falls apart, doors either fall off the hinges or don’t open at all and all of this happening while stage hands walk on to try to resolve them, much to the awkwardness to realize they are being seen.

This ethos of failure is the cornerstone to their comedy and it’s why they have become successful in bringing their premiere production, “The Play That Goes Wrong,” to Broadway in 2019.

But before their theatrical success, they performed a Christmas special titled “Peter Pan Goes Wrong" for the BBC in 2016, garnering rave reviews for their comic timing, stunt choreography and playfulness to engage the audience with the joke. The strength of this success allowed them to return a year later with a follow-up production, “A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong.” This special starred Shakespearean actors Diana Rigg and Derek Jacobi alongside the Mischief troupe as their performance garnered an audience of nearly 5 million viewers, similar praise that allowed them to create “The Goes Wrong Show” for the BBC in 2019.

So with a style of humor that borders on the wacky and self-deprecating, how does it hold up with carrying the theme of Dickens?

Having been blacklisted for the chaos of their Peter Pan performance, the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society decide to hijack the BBC’s live broadcast of “A Christmas Carol” and insert themselves into the set and costumes while trying to keep it’s original star, Derek Jacobi, out of the way. Trouble brews immediately when actor Robert Grove (Henry Lewis) is frustrated that he is not permitted to play Scrooge while Cornley’s director Chris Bean (Henry Shields) takes over the lead role. Upon hearing that Chris would have to become incapacitated for Robert to take over, Robert schemes throughout the show to take the lead role, much to the painful chagrin of his co-stars on the receiving end.

Meanwhile, Dennis Hyde (Jonathan Sayer) struggles to remember his lines so the crew has them written across the set to help him out to mixed results, cast members Sandra Wilkinson (Charlie Russell) and Max Bennett (Dave Hearn) have a slight falling out when an assumed affair is exposed between them and then there’s the matter of the BBC trying to take back control of their studio set.

All while things fall off the walls, the green screen fails to work properly, doors won’t open, actors struggle with the costumes or the crew keep getting seen in the background trying to stay out of sight to less success.

The slapstick may be hit or miss for people. Some people find it repetitive that comedy has to involve hurting other people to get a laugh, but for this acting troupe, it’s a complex game of timing and set up.

The pratfalls and slapstick are planned out, from a fake coffin landing on an actress to a fall someone takes down a hole in the floor. Yet one way this special keeps itself from growing stale is in how it spreads out its humorous scenes with establishing the set up to their jokes.

Take for instance Dennis’ inability to remember his lines. All around certain locations he’s put in, his words are written out for him to read them and they are not subtle at all. From literally putting them on walls to giving him a pair of glasses reading ���Bless you” that he reads backwards to reading every single grape on a table to read off his lines. It’s a joke that pays off and showcases his comic timing to seem inept until the moment where he suddenly remembers the lines intended for Scrooge.

Another running joke involves a cast member Annie (Nancy Zamit) picks up a prop gun with glue on it and finds she cannot remove the gun from her hand. Throughout the show, even when she dons multiple costumes, the gun is still in her hand. Near the special's end as the cast go to a corner mart to pick up some deli goose meat, the sales clerk thinks he's being mugged cause of the prop gun in her hand.

There’s an art to coming off as inept or making mistakes and Mischief Theatre has this nailed down. Crew mates who are trying to repair sets around them stand out and quickly attempt to escape the shot. There’s a scene where they mess up on the green screen that accidentally shows unflattering video of a wrap party where Chris insults his co-workers and an alleged affair between him and Sandra creates friction. For as much work as they put into coming off as inept, there’s a lot of creativity behind that. Take for instance the backgrounds when Scrooge sees a vision of the future, behind Scrooge and the Ghost of the Future, you can clearly see Scrooge’s counting house has been boarded up with flyers over it.

That’s not accidental. You can’t make a mistake on a detail like that as much as you pretend to be.

But for all the jokes, it’s what it has to say about the bonds they make that makes it special.

Sure, Robert is constantly trying to sabotage the lead actor throughout the show, but by the special’s climax, Chris giving Scrooge’s big “I will honor Christmas in my heart” speech when he starts to alter the dialogue to reflect on himself and his failures. His speech becomes an open apology to his cast mates and he willingly steps down to allow Robert to be Scrooge, much to Robert’s own surprise.

Even though they’re all acting, I think there’s something to say about the nature of surrendering your ego for others. To give up the chance of success, even when you have footage admitting that you think so little of the people around you. That's certainly more meaningful than a series of pratfalls would lead you to believe.

It’s funny, it’s heartfelt at times and it’s clear their humor is all about timing, Mischief Theatre takes the themes of A Christmas Carol and makes a story about egos clashing. For that, it’s certainly worth recommendation not just for fans of comedy but also fans of the holiday season.

“A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong” can be watched for free on YouTube.

Next time, Scrooge’s being haunted by ghosts, so you ya gonna call?

[styx-the-stick]

outtakes of the passing the phone vid 2: harry failing (again)

bonus: uncle sam harry by @smallbitterman

[imissthembutitwasntadisaster]

The best things about the Dennis Birthday Party footage in order are a. Dennis is the one having the party and there are a lot of people there indicating that outside of the context of theatre society he's probably the most normal of the lot of them, b. Chris' stupid drama student scarf and c. The setting reminding us that they're at uni meaning this wasn't just an amdram society breaking into the BBC it was canonically a student society breaking into the BBC which is infinitely funnier also why were they hired for Peter Pan in the first place.

[gracieblood]

*realising that i watched tgws before ppgw and ccgw* *realising that that is not the right order* *annoyed*