Interview: Jonathan Sayer, The Play That Goes Wrong

Conducted by Emmie.

As The Play That Goes Wrong celebrates its remarkable 10th anniversary in London's West End, we had the opportunity to sit down with Jonathan Sayer, one of the original creators and performers of this hilariously chaotic comedy. 

Since its humble beginnings, the show has captured the hearts of audiences worldwide with its slapstick humour, unexpected mishaps, and endearing charm. In this exclusive interview, Jonathan reflects on the show’s incredible journey, the lasting appeal of physical comedy, and what it's been like to see the play grow from a small-scale production to an international sensation over the last decade. 

What inspired The Play That Goes Wrong? Was there a particular moment or idea that sparked the concept?

There were a few. Henry Lewis worked with Michael Green at youth theatre and he wrote a book called The Art of Coarse Acting. He would encourage his class to write short plays featuring deliberate performance errors. This led to the foundations of The Play That Goes Wrong, which began as a drawing room murder mystery with a butler and a corpse on a sofa and that’s where it's built from.

But then I’ve always been super interested in silent comedies and those big set pieces and physical pieces that kind of initially started off on music hall and vaudeville stages, and then kind of found their way onto the screen. I found it really fun to try and write stuff where you can bring some of those moments back onto a stage. 

Mischief started out as an improv company. We’ve always loved doing that and recently touched on that again with the Mischief Movie Night. We’ve always loved the sense of wobble and wheels might fall off, and so that it feels like a one night event. Our different passions came to the table and that’s where it came from. 

The play thrives on perfectly timed chaos. How did you begin writing and structuring those elements into your work?

There’s a small army of people who make sure that everything that happens is incredibly health and safety conscious. I suppose back then that the show moved through different versions, from the Red Lion Theatre doing the late night slot to the Trafalgar Studios, then Edinburgh etc. We’ve been lucky that each time we’ve been somewhere different, we’ve been able to rewrite something, have a little rehearsal, have an R and D process, keep workshopping, and keep listening to audiences. 

It does come from doing that show a lot, thinking about that show a lot, and having those little moments when the show stops and there’s time to be like, well how can we fill this moment even more? 

There’s also more than one of you leading on the creative process. Was it a collaborative process throughout and how did that work?

Mischief is a super collaborative company, so it’s not just the three of us who write the show, we’ve always worked with the same unit of people and it has helped in how the show has developed. When we first did The Play That Goes Wrong we were kind of all on our feet together, sussing out, you know, what's the funniest version of this and how's the best way for me to carry this person in? We found stuff together. 

A really good moment being the bit where Dennis comes back in and with the poles and the fabrics gone, I think, from what I can remember, you know, that was just a moment that we found kind of in the rehearsal room, and we were trying to work out, what's the funniest way for us to lift Dave up. It was the flip. I think when we flipped it, that was, that was just totally found in the room. From a writing point of view, we've never had like roles. It's just that we sit down and we just, we just write the show. So we do a little bit of a planning session about what's the kind of story of the murder amateur Manor, and where do we want to get to? And then after that, we just, you know, one person will type, while the other two people kind of improvise and talk about it.

What is it about The Play That Goes Wrong which you think has been successful over the last 10 years?

I think that the idea that people really seek escapism and the value of just laughing a lot for two hours is something that has remained the same. I became a father for the first time last year and I’m already starting to understand just how tremendously amazing it is when you can take your kids to see something that you also enjoy and the whole family can enjoy. You can go on a date, a first date or a 50th date and it’s genuinely inclusive for audiences to access.

You’ve also developed into other projects over the last decade like Peter Pan Goes Wrong which retains your style of work? How have you done that?

I think what is really useful is that we’re a team. In the industry where you are known as an actor, as a producer or a writer, you are kind of on your own trying to make something happen. A really lovely thing about Mischief is that you’re always trying to make things happen. 

And then I think that we like comedy is good in the sense that, like, there's a binary like comedy is great, because ultimately, you're trying to make people laugh. So if you're in the writing room, or you're in the workshop room, or you're in the rehearsal room, like you are guided by, is there laughter there? And I think if you keep going towards the laughter is like again, the work stays tremendously good fun to do. 

We've just done our improv show. We've been doing it for, I think since 2009 was the first time we did that show in some way. And like, you know, so we've been doing it for a good while. I have laughed so much this month, like so much and it means you come up with ideas. You feel really creative. You feel really safe with the people that you're working with. You feel really curious. So I think, just like we've, we've tried to do things pretty similar to how we did it at the start, and not get too distracted by any kind of noise. 

For those who haven’t seen the show, why should they come and see The Play That Goes Wrong? 

It’s really funny and you’ll have a good time. I think at the moment, we all need a good laugh and we can guarantee that.

The Play That Goes Wrong is playing at the Duchess Theatre until 1 February 2026.