This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:01] Greg Tannahill: Hello there! I am Greg Tannahill.

[0:03] Jonty Peach: And I am Jonty Peach. Hello, and thank you for joining us for Elevenses, to celebrate 11 years of The Play That Goes Wrong in the West End. Wow.

[0:16] Greg Tannahill: So, yeah, I guess we just crack on with our very civilised tea and, well, water and cupcake.

[0:25] Jonty Peach: Can I ask you a first question?

[0:27] Greg Tannahill: Yes, do that. What was your first role on stage?

[0:32] Jonty Peach: My first role on stage. So, my first role on stage since graduating, finishing drama school, so a fresh page in a role, was, I can't remember the role names, because there were a few roles. I played, like, a German, a cook, an officer and a painter in a show called Events While Guarding the Beaufort's Gun at the Finborough Theatre.

[0:58] Greg Tannahill: Right. And, yeah, it was a great job. It was a great first job out of drama school. And it was set in World War One or Two, I think One. And, so, we were all, and it was in the winter, so everyone had, like, these, like, thick, like, you know, World War jackets and stuff.

[1:19] Jonty Peach: However, we did the play in the height of summer at the Finborough, and so it was everyone on stage going, oh, it's really cold.

[1:27] Greg Tannahill: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[1:28] Jonty Peach: Well, dripping sweat. You've got the flu or something.

[1:31] Greg Tannahill: Yeah, yeah. But, yeah, so, yeah, it was a really good job that. There were good people on that. Did you know each, did you know you were going to be playing all of those characters when you got the job, or did they just keep adding?

[1:41] Jonty Peach: I'm pretty sure they told me at the beginning. You were playing everyone.

[1:44] Greg Tannahill: Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was, yeah. And I even had to do a bit of pre-show as well.

[1:49] Jonty Peach: Which was like, I was a painter, just kind of painting things.

[1:52] Greg Tannahill: Yeah. And I remember on the first night, I was meant to be, like, painting things, and I had things to do, so I pretended to be asleep while the audience came in.

[2:01] Jonty Peach: It's got to know about that the following day. But my first role on stage as a kid, I'll never forget, was a for sale sign.

[2:11] Greg Tannahill: What?

[2:12] Jonty Peach: I was in a show called, I can't remember how old I was. Young, young. But it was for a play called something like The Seven-Sided Dice, and it was something about kids travelling through loads of different board games to fight the evil witch or something like that.

[2:27] Greg Tannahill: Okay.

[2:28] Jonty Peach: And, yeah, and I was in the Monopoly section. Maybe others as well, I can't remember. But I just had the sandwich board on me, and it was a for sale sign.

[2:36] Greg Tannahill: Did you have a line?

[2:37] Jonty Peach: I had a song.

[2:38] Greg Tannahill: You had a song?

[2:39] Jonty Peach: Well, me and others had a song, it wasn't just me.

[2:40] Greg Tannahill: Okay, yeah.

[2:41] Jonty Peach: But I can remember how some of the song went. Monopoly, it's all about property. Monopoly, it's all about property. That's all I can remember.

[2:50] Greg Tannahill: And you thought, at that point, your parents or whoever was with you thought, natural.

[2:55] Jonty Peach: This guy's going places.

[2:57] Greg Tannahill: Amazing, amazing. I kind of want to know your first role on stage as well.

[3:01] Jonty Peach: Okay, well, I'll do two like you, so I'll do...

[3:04] Greg Tannahill: Oh, that is my question. That is my question for you anyway.

[3:06] Jonty Peach: Oh, perfect.

[3:07] Greg Tannahill: Oh, there we go. What was your first one? There we go, great.

[3:09] Jonty Peach: That makes sense. My first, as a child, to copy you, I think I did an Easter workshop with a local youth theatre where every kid had a different coloured top, and we just did loads of songs.

[3:24] Greg Tannahill: And I think it was a very sweet, actually, story, because my mum was chaperoning at the time, backstage.

[3:29] Jonty Peach: Oh, yeah.

[3:30] Greg Tannahill: And the only memory I have from it, maybe it's just because I've been told it so many times, we were doing a few songs, and I was there in jeans and a coloured top, and we were there to go and sing Food, Glorious Food or something.

[3:39] Jonty Peach: And I'm there, and I'm kind of like, really revving myself up there. And then my mum was like, Chaunty, come back a bit, and I was just like, oh, I'm just so excited to get out there.

[3:47] Greg Tannahill: And I was there, me at like, eight or nine years old. So that's my first moment on stage.

[3:53] Jonty Peach: So keen straight away.

[3:54] Greg Tannahill: So keen, just like, I really want to go sing this song. Which is very sweet. So any time that I think I need to be reminded how much I love it, I think that's a good story to go to.

[4:05] Jonty Peach: That's great.

[4:06] Greg Tannahill: And then my first role out of drama school, I did an outdoor theatre tour of Romeo and Juliet. There were about six of us in the cast. And it was very sweet, because my girlfriend at the time, and still now, played Juliet.

[4:22] Jonty Peach: Oh, wow.

[4:23] Greg Tannahill: Which I think also was quite useful for saving money on rooms.

[4:26] Jonty Peach: You were together before you did the job?

[4:29] Greg Tannahill: Yes. So we went around for about seven weeks, which was a really amazing experience, because I think it's very rewarding, the places you go to, these castles and stuff. But then also, it's a bit of an acting badge of just like, you know, digging in and setting up the thing and taking an hour and a half and then setting it down and the rain comes.

[4:49] Jonty Peach: And I vividly remember, I think about two weeks in when it felt like we were only in sun for the whole time. And then suddenly we finished a show in this forest in this gorgeous, gorgeous outdoor arena. And we put everything into the van, and the van was in some kind of thick mud.

[5:04] Greg Tannahill: Oh, no.

[5:07] Jonty Peach: Five minutes go past, ten minutes go past, and we get to about an hour in of just different, trying to push it and stuff. The producer, bless him, started to cry, started to be like, no, no.

[5:16] Greg Tannahill: Oh, God.

[5:17] Jonty Peach: But then the complete euphoria of suddenly everyone just like, with all their might, just like, we will push this one. And then it going about 10 metres out of the dirt, everyone like, yeah.

[5:26] Greg Tannahill: The music swells.

[5:27] Jonty Peach: Yeah, exactly. Fantastic. But it felt very kind of, you know, old school, going around with an acting troupe and going to some cool places.

[5:35] Greg Tannahill: That really makes you appreciate the jobs where you don't have to do any of that stuff.

[5:38] Jonty Peach: I know, I know. Suddenly going then to do something indoors was like, oh, my God. It's raining, but it doesn't matter.

[5:45] Greg Tannahill: How long have you been playing Jonathan for?

[5:47] Jonty Peach: Ah, OK. So, oh, Jonathan Harris. So, I first, so I guess like since 2013, I guess.

[5:59] Greg Tannahill: 2013.

[6:00] Jonty Peach: 2013, I guess. Because, but yeah, but when I first came into the company, because the show had actually happened for the first time without me when it was called The Murder Before Christmas.

[6:15] Greg Tannahill: And it was originally written as a Christmas show.

[6:18] Jonty Peach: And it was one act.

[6:19] Greg Tannahill: It was one act, yeah. That's kind of the reason why there's like snow and stuff.

[6:22] Jonty Peach: Yeah.

[6:23] Greg Tannahill: It's because it was Christmas.

[6:24] Jonty Peach: Ah, OK. There used to be this section with like bringing, Perkins bringing in mince pies.

[6:27] Greg Tannahill: Nice, yeah. Anyway, that whole thing. And I went to see it because I lived with Jonathan Henry and stuff, you know, Palsfeld Drama School and stuff like that. And I went to see that one and loved it.

[6:37] Jonty Peach: But, but it was when they did it again and renamed it Play If It Goes Wrong, that's when they came to me to say like, oh, can you come and help us out for, I think like four weeks or something.

[6:48] Greg Tannahill: I was like, yeah, sure, I'll do this for like no money, you know, kind of like you were saying with the kind of you really get it.

[6:53] Jonty Peach: Yeah, you liked it again.

[6:54] Greg Tannahill: It used to be that we had to like, there were sections of the play where people were like opening the doors and stuff, where like part of our track would be like, OK, you need to brace this bit of the stage, you know, just like all that stuff.

[7:06] Jonty Peach: But originally, I came in and I played Robert. That was the first role I played in the Play If It Goes Wrong.

[7:13] Greg Tannahill: Wow.

[7:15] Jonty Peach: I mean, we'd be outrageous if I went into the whole like timeline of it all. But because Play If It Goes Wrong, it finished a run and then came back and then went to Trafalgar Studios and came back.

[7:25] Greg Tannahill: And like I did, I didn't do the first bit of Trafalgar Studios. But when I didn't do the first bit of Trafalgar Studios, that's when Henry Lewis took back the role of Robert.

[7:35] Jonty Peach: And then when I came back into it, I did Jonathan.

[7:38] Greg Tannahill: So was he just in a kind of creative position? He wasn't in it for a while?

[7:42] Jonty Peach: No, he was still in it. Because he originally played Robert. But when the casting changed or whatever, the person who was playing Jonathan beforehand wasn't part of the...

[7:53] Greg Tannahill: When back, Henry Lewis was like, I'm going to have a go at Jonathan.

[7:55] Jonty Peach: No way. Amazing.

[7:56] Greg Tannahill: So he was playing Jonathan and I was playing Robert.

[7:58] Jonty Peach: Oh, that's so funny.

[7:59] Greg Tannahill: Back in the day. And there was even one point where I was rehearsing to be Max as well, to be ready for that as well. But I never went on as Max.

[8:07] Jonty Peach: Do you think that you could have done the other characters once you were a year in or however you'd been with the show?

[8:14] Greg Tannahill: Do you think that if someone said, you're on, would there be a character that you...

[8:19] Jonty Peach: Do you know what? I think definitely at a point, yes. I think all of us could have gone on and done a version.

[8:26] Greg Tannahill: It would have been quite fun.

[8:27] Jonty Peach: Yeah, yeah, yeah. That kind of would have been fun if we all just went...

[8:30] Greg Tannahill: I'm about you.

[8:31] Jonty Peach: Yeah, yeah. Just went for it.

[8:34] Greg Tannahill: But yes, Jonathan, for like, yeah, 12 years, 12 years? I don't know how long it's been. I don't know. Someone else can correct me.

[8:43] Jonty Peach: Yeah, on and off as well, of course.

[8:46] Greg Tannahill: So what's the difference for you between performing musical comedy and comedy in a play?

[8:52] Jonty Peach: For example, as was in Stranger Things, you started in Stranger Things, and Operation Mincemeat?

[8:58] Greg Tannahill: That's a good question.

[9:00] Jonty Peach: Wow. I think there's similarities between whether there's music or not music, because I think especially in a play that goes wrong, there is a rhythm and a kind of... you can hear how the jokes work the best, or you can hear the rhythm of how it goes.

[9:15] Greg Tannahill: I think the difference obviously then is with music, there is, I guess, a tighter kind of... you can't go outside of it in any way.

[9:26] Jonty Peach: I think the difference in just without music is that you have more chance to listen to the audience, or if something does happen or change, then there's a new rhythm introduced that you're allowed to pick up on, which in musicals, unless it's in a scene, obviously, which both of those shows do have lots of moments that are really reliant on the audience.

[9:46] Greg Tannahill: But when it's the whole way through is without music, I think you have more availability and readiness to if someone's got a weird laugh or someone shouts out something, to clock in on that and allow that to be part of the rhythm of the show a bit.

[10:00] Jonty Peach: To adjust and recover or whatever.

[10:02] Greg Tannahill: Yeah, completely. Or if something drops or smashes that wasn't supposed to smash, then there's a new bit that happens.

[10:07] Jonty Peach: Whereas I think with musical theatre, you're trying to completely swan across this water and look like everything is completely fine in those musical moments, whether it's dance or song, because the moment has happened, the story's happened, and you have to keep on pedalling and just keep on sailing on top of the horse kind of thing.

[10:26] Greg Tannahill: So there is a lot of similarities, but I suppose, yeah, that would be the main difference, is having a more awareness of the audience and then being a bigger player.

[10:37] Jonty Peach: In those other shows in the musicals, did you have any moments where it was like, oh God, we need to recover from this and get back on stage?

[10:42] Greg Tannahill: Yes, some lovely moments that I think because the barrier to something being able to penetrate a musical is higher, if that makes any sense, or whatever the audience reaction is.

[10:53] Jonty Peach: The things that do penetrate are often the moments that are brilliant, like there's a bit of a ballet sequence of these telephones getting wired up and confused.

[11:03] Greg Tannahill: And on one of the shows, there was a brilliant moment where Sean Carey, who is an alumni of Play It Goes Wrong, he dropped this telephone and it just smashed on the floor and they're still tangled in this moment.

[11:16] Jonty Peach: And he had this big eruption of laughter and he's playing this Spanish man and he's like, it's about to get a lot more complicado.

[11:24] Greg Tannahill: It's amazing moments where that does and has happened.

[11:29] Jonty Peach: He's the best as well, aren't they? When suddenly something comes out of something random.

[11:34] Greg Tannahill: A different kind of life, as you were saying, a different kind of life.

[11:37] Greg Tannahill: What is it like returning to the role over the years?

[12:07] Greg Tannahill: Jonathan Sayre, the writer, one of the writers of the show, about the character of Jonathan Harris, throughout the Cornley goes wrong history or whatever, show-wise, Jonathan can be a bit more of a utility role.

[13:31] Greg Tannahill: Jonathan Sayre, the writer, one of the writers of the show, about the character of Jonathan Harris, throughout the Cornley goes wrong history or whatever, show-wise, Jonathan can be a bit more of a utility role.

[14:01] Greg Tannahill: Jonathan Sayre, the writer, one of the writers of the show, about the character of Jonathan Harris, throughout the Cornley goes wrong history or whatever, show-wise, Jonathan can be a bit more of a utility role.

[15:27] Greg Tannahill: Jonathan Sayre, the writer, one of the writers of the show, about the character of Jonathan Harris, throughout the Cornley goes wrong history or whatever, show-wise, Jonathan can be a bit more of a utility role.

[16:51] Greg Tannahill: Jonathan Sayre, the writer, one of the writers of the show, about the character of Jonathan Harris, throughout the Cornley goes wrong history or whatever, show-wise, Jonathan can be a bit more of a utility role.

[17:19] Greg Tannahill: Jonathan Sayre, the writer, one of the writers of the show, about the character of Jonathan Harris, throughout the Cornley goes wrong history or whatever, show-wise, Jonathan can be a bit more of a utility role.

[18:45] Greg Tannahill: Jonathan Sayre, the writer, one of the writers of the show, about the character of Jonathan Harris, throughout the Cornley goes wrong history or whatever, show-wise, Jonathan can be a bit more of a utility role.

[19:15] Greg Tannahill: Jonathan Sayre, the writer, one of the writers of the show, about the character of Jonathan Harris, throughout the Cornley goes wrong history or whatever, show-wise, Jonathan can be a bit more of a utility role.

[20:03] Jonty Peach: Anything new you've discovered about him over the course of that time?

[20:55] Greg Tannahill: Jonathan Sayre, the writer, one of the writers of the show, about the character of Jonathan Harris, throughout the Cornley goes wrong history or whatever, show-wise, Jonathan can be a bit more of a utility role.

[21:56] Jonty Peach: Or on the days that maybe it's a bit of a quieter show or a less full show, then oh, the difference, you're like, oh, no.

[22:05] Jonty Peach: Favourite funny memory from your time playing Jonathan?

[22:25] Greg Tannahill: Now, there's been so many over the years.

[22:29] Jonty Peach: Sounds like you're about to go into a song.

[22:30] Greg Tannahill: Oh, yes.

[22:32] Greg Tannahill: I mean, quite often we've talked about, I think in loads of interviews and stuff, we've talked about this infamous Raspberry story. In fact, I don't know if you've heard this.

[22:46] Greg Tannahill: Back when we were doing the Play That Goes Wrong Tour, the first time it was a two-act version, we toured it. And one of our understudies, Chris, was fantastic.

[22:58] Greg Tannahill: You know, in the top of Act Two, when the curtain comes up, it's chaos, and it comes back down. We used to be a bit more kind of, people would do a bit more kind of random things.

[23:07] Jonty Peach: Nice, yeah.

[23:08] Greg Tannahill: I can't remember specifically all the stuff. Some stuff was always the same.

[23:10] Jonty Peach: Fun.

[23:11] Greg Tannahill: So, one day he was...

[23:14] Jonty Peach: Just sitting on the chaise with a punnet of raspberries and then we were all caught and then whenever when everyone has to run off he can't write any trips or gets knocked or whatever, just the way he moves the raspberries just go all over the stage and so for the rest of act two it's people who hadn't been on stage yet as well just kind of everyone was like on stage at that moment just trying not to laugh and like there's raspberries everywhere and everyone coming on after that just realizing something's a bit different but also raspberries could stay in dangerous.

[23:56] Greg Tannahill: Oh yeah, so like people had all these kind of raspberry stains all over them and people of course like we're finding it harder and harder to kind of keep it together.

[24:00] Jonty Peach: Yeah, yeah, yeah, so that yeah that's what we talked about a lot. I've also got, I'm gonna tell a few, there's also when we're doing the one act version where Jonathan, who was playing Dennis, his handcuffs broke when he was meant to be attached to the chaise long, but rather than hide them he went, "Oh, he was free!" and he just ran off stage.

[24:20] Greg Tannahill: But in the one act version especially where we have like limited space and with the flat falls at the end like it's all anyway but wasn't he still needed for lines or...

[24:27] Jonty Peach: Well, you I think in that version maybe all he had to do was like take the chaise off and then come and then like be in the doorway, you know, whatever.

[24:34] Greg Tannahill: Well that might mean other things but that's hilarious. So the show's carrying on in the kind of chaotic finale with people kind of wide-eyed like we need to get rid of the shades and then Nancy playing Annie just starts screaming, I think it was after like a hit on Sandra or maybe throwing, she's going, "Oh!" and starts hulking out, just picks up the shades by herself, just kind of shoves it off stage and we carry on.

[25:03] Jonty Peach: I don't know, I'm pretty sure my reaction was very genuine like, "Oh!"

[25:10] Greg Tannahill: Yeah, it's crazy.

[25:16] Jonty Peach: Yeah, who are these people and what's going on?

[25:20] Greg Tannahill: Yeah, um, so yeah those are some funny moments but also another moment which I don't think I've talked much about in interviews over the years and stuff is there was a, which is a Jonathan thing, maybe less funny more just like an interesting story, is we used to have every now and then like problems with the platform falling how it was meant to just every now and then.

[25:32] Jonty Peach: Oh yeah.

[25:37] Greg Tannahill: And we didn't have all our contingencies like set in stone I don't think. And anyway there's one show where the platform only went like it was jammed on like one of like one or two, I can't remember, so it hadn't fallen away so therefore couldn't do the truss swing properly.

[25:50] Jonty Peach: Right, yeah.

[25:54] Greg Tannahill: So backstage like what do we do? And then I was like, "Don't worry, I'll just do it. I'll just, I'll just do something. I'll pretend to slip and it's fine, I'll fall off work."

[26:02] Jonty Peach: And uh, so yeah, so the truss swing I came out pretended to slip, rolled down the platform and this was deliberate, I decided this was the right thing to do, rolled down the platform and off and just landed on my back.

[26:13] Greg Tannahill: It's still up!

[26:17] Jonty Peach: Yeah, yeah, it was still like a little bit tilted so it'd gone as...

[26:22] Greg Tannahill: So you rolled, that's still about what, seven feet?

[26:28] Jonty Peach: Yeah, yeah, and I just decided, "Yeah, I'm just gonna fall." And uh, yeah, fell clumsily kind of like, well I tried to control it and land, I think I landed on my back somehow or whatever, it was a bit winded but we carried on.

[26:32] Greg Tannahill: But I was just, me as I did, I was like, "That was dumb."

[26:38] Jonty Peach: Yeah, when you got to the floor and you'd landed, did you think, what were you in pain or were you just like...

[26:42] Greg Tannahill: I think it worked. I think it was so long ago now but like I think I was a little winded but we didn't stop the show.

[26:47] Jonty Peach: Yeah, we had the same moment of like that happened, yeah let's keep going and I could stand up and stumble over.

[26:53] Greg Tannahill: I love that.

[26:59] Jonty Peach: But yeah, I wouldn't recommend that.

[27:04] Greg Tannahill: Yeah, if that happens I think I respect that kind of like bravery to the show just being like, "No, don't worry, I've got an idea."

[27:12] Jonty Peach: Yeah, just eat yourself off the platform. But as the years have gone on like definitely used to do that a lot more like, "It's fine, we'll do this."

[27:18] Greg Tannahill: Yeah, it's fine, we'll do this. But now we're very much more like, "It's not fine, yeah, let's stop the show, let's like maybe like save our bones and our bodies and stuff."

[27:23] Jonty Peach: It's absolutely fine if we stop the show.

[27:29] Greg Tannahill: That's so funny just to go off in contrast now the contingency for that.

[27:34] Jonty Peach: Oh yeah, which maybe the fans will enjoy but rather than rolling yourself off a platform onto the floor then Jonathan has to come on pretend to send a telegram on the thing, make the leave and then walk off again which when we did the rehearsal for that contingency I think that was probably one of the funniest things that's ever happened because going from doing the trust swing and then just walking on now it's in that telegram and then walking off, that is fantastic.

[28:00] Greg Tannahill: So I think, yeah.

[28:06] Jonty Peach: Oh yeah, because you know I think our contingency used it was just like I come through the door go, "Whoa!"

[28:12] Greg Tannahill: That's way better, that's great.

[28:17] Jonty Peach: It's funny, it's like totally on a tangent here, not totally on tangent but like it used to be that Max would go up, used to be like, um after go, um get the, um and it wasn't even about sending a telegram, it was like fetching something, the safe, the safe is still there.

[28:31] Greg Tannahill: Yeah, because that used to be like a working safe thing and he used to go, he had to go up there and take some papers from it so it used to be that Max would come out go, "Whoa!" and like be balancing on the top like in a world position while still having to get papers out.

[28:43] Jonty Peach: Oh, I see, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[28:46] Greg Tannahill: It's funny how things change.

[28:50] Jonty Peach: Oh, so many memories.

[28:54] Greg Tannahill: All right, my turn or your turn? I can't remember whose question that was.

[28:57] Jonty Peach: My turn, I think I just did funny moment.

[29:01] Greg Tannahill: Yeah, funny memories.

[29:05] Jonty Peach: Oh yeah, so yeah, you got a funny moment?

[29:07] Greg Tannahill: Yeah, yeah, um now I'm gonna be while you're talking and be rude.

[29:12] Jonty Peach: Yeah, okay.

[29:16] Greg Tannahill: Well I've only got three months on you here so I feel like mine maybe might be more diluted than raspberries and rolling off platforms but there's been a few. I think the first time, I mean I don't know how you handled it but there's a moment where Jonathan is spat on very early and then bolts upright because of this cold water and then very quickly has to lock eyes with Sandra like right up there which I think that's a bit of a problem apart from then there's been a few times where there's just been this perfect spit, if I can say that phrase, all right then bolted up and then just like a perfect trickle of water just slowly coming down the face and then it's seeing in Charlotte's eyes that she is noticing this amazing thing going down my face and having to be completely still and then that kind of like pain but enjoyment I think is just will forever be a really enjoyable part.

[30:01] Jonty Peach: But outside of that I uh there's a moment where the pillar comes off of the platform and then it's passed back through the window at the back and as a mat there to just step on over and usually you know just take the pillar and move it's completely fine, it's a fleeting moment of panic but usually it's all fine but there was a moment about three or four weeks ago where I don't know what I did but I went to step up to take the pillar and as I did my left leg started to trip and I just started to slowly go, "Oh no!" and I was kind of looking and I had to put and then the pillar weight was taking me backwards and there was this really embarrassing pathetic slow fall and I think I just kind of just said, "Oh!" really quietly and then rolled off backwards leaving poor Tom and Tesh on stage to have to deal with that and then instantly them cracking up and then I think in the moment of it's like did the pillar not like smash into the, like no it was just, it was kind of like this big, yeah this wow spear thing that was kind of able to go around the window and I rolled off backwards into the curtain and then even though I was off stage and the audience couldn't see me I hid, I went to the corner and kind of just as if I just done that knock door run or something and I just, I was so, oh my god I can't believe that's just happened but that was amazing.

[31:05] Jonty Peach: And then um my one last one that's come to mind is kicking the door a few months in and kicking it but with a bit of oh yeah and a wood chipping like a panel of the thing about about an inch across just landing over the shades almost like there was a violin playing just like the door that's like gorgeous thing which then is obviously like the funniest thing ever because there's four people on stage just being like, "Well surely you just saw that."

[31:30] Greg Tannahill: Oh man, the doors in Mr. shows they take a beating.

[31:36] Jonty Peach: Yeah, I think yeah my Jonathan time broke a few doors.

[31:40] Greg Tannahill: Yeah, they're like this, do they still have the extra reinforcement that you get?

[31:47] Jonty Peach: Oh they do have that, yeah that's useful, that's to aim for.

[31:52] Greg Tannahill: Yeah, yeah, yeah, bless those doors. I mean even the slams they get, oh man, yeah testament to the set.

[31:57] Jonty Peach: Yeah, there you go, very well made, Olivier award-winning.

[32:02] Greg Tannahill: Yeah, exactly, exactly.

[32:06] Jonty Peach: I mean like going back to the one-act version where we have to like I was telling you we all have to brace the set while people slam doors and stuff and the reason we had to do that was because if it was the set was slightly off its marks for the final window they wouldn't because it was one act step set and much smaller, the room for error for the Buster Keaton like Manny through the window thing was much smaller, right? So like if they had shifted too far could clock and that never happened thank god.

[32:34] Greg Tannahill: Yeah.

[32:40] Jonty Peach: If it did I can't remember.

[32:43] Greg Tannahill: So yeah, that's quite like slamming doors which was necessary but also like oh for god's sake.

[32:50] Jonty Peach: Oh wow, when you were bracing them could you feel like the shock?

[32:54] Greg Tannahill: Oh yeah, the shock, did you wear gloves or anything?

[32:57] Jonty Peach: Oh, I don't think it's just, I think it was just more like stay there shift and then you might have to, so like okay maybe you'd have, you'd kind of see the set shift a little bit the other way again as you like finding them.

[33:02] Greg Tannahill: Yeah, because it used to be a bit of a simpler set obviously it's like just kind of door window five days, no door window something like that.

[33:09] Jonty Peach: Right, I'm old now.

[33:12] Greg Tannahill: Amazing.

[33:18] Jonty Peach: Oh, are we on fan questions?

[33:21] Greg Tannahill: We're on fan questions now, okay, all right, I think these are to both of us I guess.

[33:25] Jonty Peach: Yeah, so um I'll start, I'll start. So um since you play a corpse for most of the show, most of them don't spoil us, what's your biggest corpsing moment? Corpsing is breaking for you Americans out there.

[33:32] Greg Tannahill: Yeah, yeah, good question. Um there was a, oh I love this moment so much but it was right at the end of the show and the plot is trying to get to its end and we hear that someone's been poisoned and as I'm looking over to Robert and I'm kind of saying that you know where do you think the poison is, someone in the audience went with quite a lot of warning in her voice just went, "There's poison in it!"

[34:03] Jonty Peach: Oh god, there's poison in it!

[34:14] Greg Tannahill: Which I think it was just, it was a lot of care and kind of like I figured it out which I think when you suddenly hear someone kind of actually say words, yeah, um I think that that was the biggest moment and then obviously as soon as my cheek starts to go, yeah, and then you're kind of having to turn it in trying to turn it into a laugh or something and then I think the worst thing is the five seconds after moments like that, I don't know the same for you but you can kind of take the shock whatever and then the five seconds of kind of that just happened starts going away and then you go into the ten seconds and you start reliving, yeah, what's actually just happened and then you look at someone else's eyes and you go, "Oh my god!"

[34:52] Jonty Peach: I got to the last speech of The Play and I was holding so hard and then I heard Tom behind me, who's playing Maxis Point and he's hiding behind a thingy, a wall, and he just goes... And that was just enough. And then I said, the murder! And how... A strong video. It was so strong. Oh God, so that was really painful. But whoever that lady was that said, there's poison in it, you really got me. So thank you for that. What about you?

[35:29] Greg Tannahill: I think generally, I don't know if my fellow classmates will agree with this, but generally I'm quite good at holding it together, but I'm not a mortal. In The Play That Goes Wrong, I can't remember any specific moments, but I'm sure there were some. But recently in the comedy about spies, we went into the run, I hadn't caught maybe a smirk here or there, but I don't even know why it happened. There's bits in the show where I suddenly surprise Henry Lewis. Dr. Woodbeed? Mr. Woodbeed. Because once it happened once, it happened a few other times in those moments. We'd like broken the seal, you know?

[36:22] Jonty Peach: Oh yeah, that's it. You're gone. And I can't remember what triggered this, because it happens a few times, but Henry's mouth started to go, and we were just both audibly, blatantly laughing on stage. And then, I might be mixing the occasions up, because they happened all at the same place, but then there was another moment where I surprised him with my presence, and I decided, I'm not going to look him in the eye, I'm just going to look at the tie. And of course, as soon as I did it, I was like, this made it worse, because he's suddenly very aware I've made a different choice to stop laughing, which made him laugh, and then I laughed. So it just becomes this absolute battle. Even though you see us laughing on stage, there's also a real battle happening. You shouldn't be laughing!

[37:10] Greg Tannahill: It's a very fun feeling. I think because it's so playful, it's nice to keep that silliness, and wanting to try new things. It's a very funny feeling when someone comes off stage, and would just be like, I just got Greg. I think I got it just in his eyes, I could see something was moving.

[37:26] Jonty Peach: That's naughty though, that's naughty. Actors should be looking for the corpse. If it happens, fine, but don't look for it.

[37:33] Greg Tannahill: It's good fun. I can imagine there being lots of very strange things that maybe went wrong that weren't supposed to go wrong.

[37:42] Jonty Peach: Oh yes, definitely. I'm just thinking of another moment. I have another one where, with Henry Shields' character in the Comedy About Spies, we have a long, tense moment where I'm slowly raising my hand to my mouth to do this cough. It's silly, see the show when it comes back. We foolishly had talked about it before, just me, Henry and Adele. We had talked about that moment in general, and I mentioned how that's the moment where I don't look him in the eye, I just look between his eyes or his forehead or something. Then it looks like I'm looking him in the eye, but I'm not really, and it makes it easier for me to hold. But because we had talked about it and we were all aware of it, as soon as I started it, Henry's eyes, you could just see something else in his eyes.

[38:32] Greg Tannahill: And again, just this horrible infection, it's like bounce, bounce, bounce, and Adele's going, oh he's going, we're going like this. It's this invisible thing. As soon as someone's been infected with it, it's so dangerous. Even at them genuinely trying to root themselves and not look, it's even funnier because you just see them panicking. Just being aware of those active choices of trying to hold it together.

[39:03] Jonty Peach: Any tips on how to time an entrance for the hardest impact?

[39:08] Greg Tannahill: Oh, okay. This is something I would even ask you now for myself.

[39:11] Jonty Peach: So that was from Cam underscore H underscore 51. On the previous question was from Luke L4 W Rents.

[39:22] Greg Tannahill: Luke Lawrence. So thank you for these questions, you guys. Any tips on how to time an entrance for the hardest impact?

[39:29] Jonty Peach: That's interesting because there's so many factors that can affect that.

[39:34] Greg Tannahill: Yeah, that's hard. So my first thought that comes to mind is, generally, I'd probably argue it's best to come at the end of a line rather than jarring a line. Because then the audience can jar the performance and the audience is like, oh, we need to readjust. Whereas at the end of someone's line, it's kind of like a jumping off point rather than a stumble and here we are. Or like I'm pushing someone over and here I am.

[40:11] Jonty Peach: Yeah, my bit.

[40:12] Greg Tannahill: Yeah, exactly. I know this is the first time I've properly thought about this, so someone might completely disagree with me. Because I'm sure there's a context where smashing in the middle of someone's line could be absolutely fantastic. In the world of a play that goes wrong, it's just, yeah, come in hard and confident.

[40:39] Jonty Peach: That's a lot of it, isn't it? If you're going to make that choice, if that's your choice, then you're unashamedly coming in. You have no preconceived ideas that it's wrong at all. As you said earlier, there's so many factors that play a part of it. And we speak a lot as a company and I'm sure lots of other companies and you guys when you were setting it up spoke about how everyone has a job to play in every moment. Whether it's setting up the tension in the plot or we're actually doing all right now and then now we're not all right again. Because if it was a bit tentative and something in the scene is a bit weird and then there's an interruption with someone coming in wrong, it's funny but it doesn't have the same no factor. Or if people's eye lines or where the focus is of where the problem is aren't all kind of together. There's so many moments that I'm sure in the play that require so many factors as you said.

[41:34] Greg Tannahill: There's not one bead of information. Jonathan's entrance just wouldn't be as funny. I'd like to see it because I've been proven wrong but if he just came in apologetically. Not much of an impact there. It's just like boom, here I am. Then deal with the consequences.

[41:55] Jonty Peach: So thank you Cam underscore 51. Well that's all our questions. I was going to ask one last thing of the trust swing at the end. When did that get added in? Were you pioneering that? Was it your idea or did someone just say to you we want you to swing off that?

[42:19] Greg Tannahill: Well no actually. Interestingly, originally it was meant to be Max. And I'm sure Dave won't mind me talking about this. I'm sure we've probably mentioned it before in other interviews. So it got added in for the West End. No, we didn't deal with it at all. That must be why we had Max going up. I was talking about getting the things later. Sorry if I'm getting all these details wrong. So the trust swing, we definitely wanted to put it as an idea if we were putting it in the Duchess in the West End. But originally it was meant to be Max going up there and rather than getting the papers he would do the swing. But in the training for it, going to a circus space and stuff, I've seen the video of this happening.

So crash mats, safety stuff, swinging whatever trapeze thing. There's a video of Dave swinging, letting go, landing on his arse safely on the crash mats. And the guy at the trainer there sitting at the side, I remember in the video he goes, So how was that? And Dave just looks at him and goes, My shoulder's just come out. And he goes, What? And then the video ends.

[43:35] Jonty Peach: So Dave's had a lot of shoulder problems throughout history. His shoulder's popped out during the One Act version and stuff. And a whole other story. But because of that, because of that injury and stuff, there was a rethinking like, Oh maybe we give it to Jonathan instead. And yeah, so that's how it came about. So I got a phone call at one point saying this has happened and would it be up for doing it? And go in for training for it. And I was like, Yeah, sure, sure, whatever the show needs. And then yeah, we stuck with that. And no offence to all the Max's out there and Dave and all that, but I think it's quite nice that it's Jonathan that gets to do it. Max gets plenty of limelight. So it's quite nice that Jonathan has that little extra, well a stunt, a fun stunt to do.

[44:22] Greg Tannahill: Yeah, it is good fun. So how do you feel about doing it?

[44:26] Jonty Peach: Good fun, yeah. I think it's a very, I remember when we went to, we were in the auditions, and we went to the Dupree school. And I remember being stood at the top of the audition.

[44:38] Greg Tannahill: Oh, that was part of the audition process?

[44:40] Jonty Peach: Part of the audition process, yeah. So we did kind of stunts, we did material, and then we went into physical stuff and we did stunts, just to kind of see, just to check if your shoulder's going to pop out.

[44:51] Greg Tannahill: Exactly. Or if you didn't fancy it. And I remember being stood at the top of this trapeze, probably about half ten, eleven in the morning, with kind of things coming, ropes and things, and just thinking like, what am I doing? What am I doing? Which is quite funny because I was doing Operation Mincemeat at the time, and then in the afternoon I was then going to go and play a 50-year-old lady for two and a half hours. But then being in the morning stood at this trapeze like Tarzan.

[45:19] Jonty Peach: Versatile, versatile.

[45:21] Greg Tannahill: Well, thrown into random things. But no, really great fun and a good challenge. And I think sometimes a really cool thing about acting is when you get the opportunity, you just find yourself in really weird situations doing weird things. So that was really good fun. But no, it remains part of the show.

[45:40] Jonty Peach: Yes, we all cross the road! Do you have a moment like by the door? Do you have a ritual?

[45:45] Greg Tannahill: I had a kind of a thing where I'd always get to the door and I'd be like, breath, here we go. Yeah, hold on to the side, listen for the right bit, don't go too early. Why not where my feet are so I don't open and just kind of fall down. But no, good fun.

[45:58] Jonty Peach: Well, there we are. The things we do for entertainment. Well, what a lovely elevensies this has been. Shall we cheers?

[46:06] Greg Tannahill: Just cheers. Cheers to us and the play that goes wrong.

[46:10] Jonty Peach: Eleven years.

[46:12] Greg Tannahill: Yeah, next up, twelvesies.