6 Aussies and 5 Kiwis have been cast in West End Comendy Hit

Civic Theatre Newcastle, 19 - 31 August 2025

Against all odds, Cornley Drama Society is returning to Australia very soon with its Olivier Award-winning comedy, The Play That Goes Wrong, and today we're pleased to announce the unfortunate cast who has been selected for the 10th anniversary tour madness!

This fast-paced farce packed with inventive theatricality finds the Cornley Drama Society on opening night of its newest production, The Murder at Haversham Manor. As the incompetent theatre troupe attempts to stage this 1920s murder mystery, their production devolves into madcap mayhem. Lost props, forgotten lines, and poorly constructed scenery conspire against the clumsy cast, who fight for the show to make it to the final curtain call. 

The cast includes JOE KOSKY who audiences might recognise from his acclaimed performance as Dewey Finn in the hit stage musical School of Rock throughout Australia and New Zealand as well as Shrek in Shrek or Oz in Come From Away. 

Bringing the laughs fresh from a sold out season of Baz Luhrmann's Strictly Ballroom at The Court Theatre in Christchurch will be JONATHAN MARTIN. Playing the pivotal role of uptight and nervous Chris Bean, the hapless, newly-appointed director of the Cornley 

Drama Society. Jonathan's previous credits include Something Rotten!, Little Shop Of Horrors, The Producers, La Cage Aux Folles, North By Northwest, Avenue Q, the Australasian tour of Madagascar the Musical and with Pop-up Globe. He also featured in the Netflix film Falling Inn Love.

Joining them as Sandra, is Stephanie Astrid John, a multi-award-winning singer, actor, teacher, puppeteer and improviser who originated the role of Genevieve Gryffindor in the 2021 Australian premiere of Voldemort and the Teenage Hogwarts: A Musical. She appeared 

in Damon Gameau's award-winning feature film, 2040 and tours nationally with the award-winning comedy group Ginger and Tonic.

Playing the role of once-terrified-turned stage boss Annie, is  Olivia Charalambous -- a creative hustler who's made an appearance in Chopper: The Untold Story, a director, voice-over artist, drag queen, and future winner of Eurovision (representing Cyprus). Her theatre credits include The Grinning Man, Ruthless - The Musical and Young Frankenstein.

Eds Eramiha, a former professional Muay Thai fighter (those skills will come in handy!) is playing TREVOR, Cornley Drama Society's stage manager. Having toured with Pop-up Globe's productions of Twelfth Night and A Midsummer Night's Dream as Puck and Curio he'll be punching above his weight in the laughter department. His previous film credits include The Legend of Baron To'a, Mahana and The Dead Lands.

Brodie Masini (feat. films Revive, Hidden Light; theatre Tick, Tick, Boom!, Next to Normal) plays Jonathan,  Sebastiano Pitruzzello (feat. films After Luke, I Want Back, The Killer Performance) is Max; Tom Hayward (feat. film Water; stage Happy Campers, Uncle Vanya) is Dennis; Anthony Craig (Woody Woodpecker Goes to Camp, Unbroken and Lone Wolf, Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar's Revenge); Kira Josephson (Power Rangers | Dino Fury (Jane Fairview), hit NZ Comedy Kid Sister (Bec Emanuel); theatre Strictly Ballroom, The Girl On The Train, Jesus Christ Superstar, Chicago, Legally Blonde the Musical,) and  Jack Buchanan (Power Rangers | Beast Morphers (Captain Chaku), Our Own Little Mess (Q Theatre), and Night of the Living Dead (Silo Theatre).

"You'll never have a better time in a theatre!" - Forbes

"Hilarious! Nonstop pandemonium" - Entertainment Weekly

"The funniest play Broadway has ever seen!" - HuffPost

"This gleefully silly, inspired homage to amateur theatre - and the wildly unpredictable, rewarding gift of live performance - will win you over" Adelaide Advertiser

"For a play titled The Play That Goes Wrong, this is a show where everything goes right." Time Out Melbourne

"The Play That Goes Wrong is guaranteed to leave you aching with laughter!" The Weekend Edition

"Totally hilarious. The Play That Goes Wrong is slapstick farce at its best…this will be the best production you see all year" Scenestr

Co-written by Mischief Theatre company members Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields and directed by Mark Bell, The Play That Goes Wrong is a highly physical comedy packed with finely-tuned farce and Buster Keaton inspired slapstick, delivered with split-second timing and ambitious daring. The Play That Goes Wrong, which started its life at a London fringe venue with only four paying customers at the first performance, which started its life at a London fringe venue with only four paying customers at the first performance, is now celebrating a decade of disasters on the West End.

Presented by GMG Productions and Stoddart Entertainment Group by arrangement with Mischief Worldwide Ltd, this fan favourite will be causing chaos in Wellington from 19 April '25 before travelling to Christchurch, New Plymouth and Auckland. Coinciding with its 10th Anniversary celebrations the show is sure to delight whether you are 9 or 99.

Full cast includes:

Jonathan Martin: Chris
Joe Kosky: Robert
Sebastiano Pitruzzello: Max
Brodie Masini: Jonathan
Tom Hayward: Dennis
Stephanie Astrid John: Sandra
Olivia Charalambous: Annie
Eds Eramiha: Trevor
Jack Buchanan: MALE US (Chris/Robert/Trevor)
Anthony Craig: MALE US (Dennis/Max/Jonathan)
Kira Josephson: FEMALE US (Sandra/Annie)

Mischief's The Play That Goes Wrong opened at the Duchess Theatre, London in September 2014, and is celebrating a decade of disasters in the West End. The production shows no signs of slowing down since its first performance at The Old Red Lion Theatre with only four paying customers and has now been performed to over 3.5 million people around the world in every continent except Antarctica. 

The show's many achievements to date include:

• Over 3500 performances of The Play That Goes Wrong at the Duchess Theatre. 
• During the West End run members of The Cornley Drama Society have been hit (by objects or each other) more than 125,545 times
• 106 actors have performed in the show's Duchess Theatre run.
• The show has won 11 awards, including an Olivier, Tony and a Moliere.
• There have been productions of the play in 49 countries and in every continent except Antarctica (where producers fear a frosty reception).
• More than 4,246,481 people have seen the show worldwide, and there have been 7,822 performances in the English language.
• An actor has shouted out for a ledger 54,747 times. (And that's only in English.)
• A total of 58,180 door slams in America alone.
• 8 million people watched the 2015 performance at The Royal Variety Performance, with a further 6.3 million seeing the clip on YouTube.
• 2,607 fire extinguishers have been used to put out fires in The Play That Goes Wrong somewhere in the world in these past ten years.
• Winston the Dog has been successfully located zero times.

Civic Theatre, Newcastle

19 - 31 August 2025

WE'RE VERY SOCIAL @PlayGoesWrongAUNZ

For media inquiries, contact Lyn Thurnham on 0418 490 989 or lthurnham@thurnhamteece.com.au

B-Roll footage and images from 2022 West End season - https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/5h983fasrxi1gxi0bmbdo/AHJuzgGMe6vsPv0nhystDGg?rlkey=xv8exf1fk74xr65ghnm9i9nxm&st=7ig5sela&dl=0

EDITORS NOTES

ABOUT MISCHIEF 

Mischief Theatre Ltd. was founded in 2008 by a group of acting graduates of LAMDA and began as an improvised comedy group. Mischief performs across the UK and internationally with original scripted and improvised work and also has a programme of workshops. The company is owned and controlled by its original members and is led by a creative group and its directors Henry Lewis and Jonathan Sayer.

Mischief shows can currently be watched all over the globe with their multi award-winning smash hit The Play That Goes Wrong recently celebrating 10 years in London's West End, and continues to perform to sell-out audiences in New York. Following its West End premiere Peter Pan Goes Wrong was nominated for Best New Comedy at the Olivier Awards, and in 2022 made its North American premiere in Canada at the Citadel Theatre, Edmonton. Peter Pan Goes Wrong played a limited engagement on Broadway from March-July 2023 starring the original Mischief company, before transferring to the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles. It regularly tours the UK with limited seasons in the West End.

Other hit stage comedies include The Comedy About A Bank Robbery, which played in London for four years, and Groan Ups, both currently performing across Europe.Magic Goes Wrong closed in London in March 2022 after a limited engagement, continuing to wow critics and audiences across the UK until the tour ended in May 2022. Returning to their comedy roots Mischief took 3 shows to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2022, Mischief Movie Night and 2 new shows Mind Mangler: Member of the Tragic Circle and Charlie Russell Aims To Please. Following sold out success in Edinburgh Charlie Russell Aims To Please performed in London for one night only in December 2022.

Mind Mangler: Member of the Tragic Circle toured the UK until March 2023, recently played a limited season Off Broadway in New York City and made its West End premiere at the Apollo Theatre in March 2024 before touring the UK. Good Luck, Studio opened October 2022 in the UK at the Mercury Theatre, Colchester before a short tour to Salisbury and Guildford. The Comedy About Spies, a new uproarious spy escapade, will open in London's West End in May 2025.

In 2017 Mischief Theatre, Kenny Wax and Stage Presence, the producers of all the company's West End productions, formed Mischief Worldwide Ltd. to manage the rights to all Mischief projects in all artforms. Mischief Worldwide Ltd., based in London, licenses copyrights, trademarks and other Mischief properties to producers, distributors, publishers and others around the world. 

Mischief was first seen on television in the Royal Variety Performance of 2015 and subsequently in two BBC One Christmas specials, Peter Pan Goes Wrong (2016) and A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong (2017). In 2018 Mischief Worldwide Ltd. and the Anthology Group formed Mischief Screen Ltd., an independent TV production company headed by CEO Hilary Strong. Their Royal Television Society award-winning BBC One series, The Goes Wrong Show, aired in December 2019 with a Christmas special, further episodes in early 2020, and a hit Nativity Goes Wrong Christmas special in 2020. The second BBC series aired in September 2021 on BBC One and iPlayer where the gang tackled a Downton-esque family saga and a US-style prison break drama, with predictably disastrous results. All shows can be watched on BBC iPlayer in the UK.

All the companies develop, create and perform under the single name of Mischief. Mischief is developing new works of comedy for theatre, TV, film and other media.

www.mischiefcomedy.com 

Mischief®, Mischief Theatre®, The Play That Goes Wrong® Mind Mangler® and ® are trademarks and registered trademarks of Mischief Worldwide Ltd.