Longtime THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG Cast Member Chris Lanceley to Depart

Longtime Mischief cast member Chris Lanceley will play his final performance in The Play That Goes Wrong on July 12th after over seven years with the show.  David McElwee will join the cast as “Chris Bean” from May 28 – July 1, covering a planned absence, and assume the role full time beginning July 13.

Lanceley has been starring in The Play That Goes Wrong since it opened off-Broadway in 2019, and played a stint on the national tour the same year. He has played various members of the Cornley Drama Society in the show, including “Robert” and “Jonathan”, but has largely portrayed the role of “Chris Bean”, the director and leading role of the “show within a show”, desperately trying (and failing spectacularly) to keep his show from falling apart. At the time of his final performance, he will have played over 2,000 performances as a member of the Mischief company.

Lanceley is the current host of the ninth series of MISCHIEF MAKERS podcast, celebrating nine years of The Play That Goes Wrong in New York City. The new series launched on May 15, and dives behind the curtain with the cast and creatives who keep the disasters running night after night. From original company members to stage management, replacements, producers, and beyond, each episode uncovers firsthand stories from nearly a decade of mayhem on Broadway. Listeners will discover what it takes to keep a show on track when everything is going wrong — and why, at Mischief, anything can (and absolutely will) happen. A new episode featuring David McElwee is now streaming.

David McElwee’s select credits include: NYC: Philadelphia, Here I Come (Irish Rep), How To Transcend a Happy Marriage (Lincoln Center Theater), The Wayside Motor Inn (Signature Theatre Company) Regional: Kitchen Theatre Company, Actors’ Theatre of Louisville, Florida Repertory Theatre, CATF, Guild Hall. Film: Bluebird. TV: “Boardwalk Empire,” “Law & Order: SVU.” Training: Florida State University. Teaching Artist at Manhattan Theatre Club. 

Co-written by Mischief company members Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields, The Play That Goes Wrong is a riotous comedy about the theatre. The play introduces the ‘Cornley University Drama Society’ who are attempting to put on a 1920s’ murder mystery, but as the title suggests, everything that can go wrong… does, as the accident-prone thespians battle on against all odds to get to their final curtain call.

Awarded the 2015 Olivier Award for Best New Comedy and the 2014 WhatsOnStage Award for Best New Comedy, The Play That Goes Wrong celebrates over 12 years of performances in London’s West End at the Duchess Theatre. The show’s success is a testament to the hard work and determination of a group of drama school graduates who became friends, set up a company under the name “Mischief” and created an extraordinary body of work.  The Play That Goes Wrong shows no signs of slowing down since its first performance at a London fringe venue with only four paying customers. Since then, it has played to an audience of over 4 million people around the world, with productions in over 50 countries on all continents except Antarctica (where producers fear a frosty reception).