The fact that tickets are still available in Cornwall for The Play That Goes Wrong is a mystery as big as the murder at Haversham Manor that lies at the heart of this comic masterpiece.

It’s a play within a play: we join the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society as they stage ‘Murder at Haversham Manor’. They have pretensions of grandeur which quickly come crashing - literally - down to Earth.

The team that created The Play That Goes Wrong went on to bring us catastrophic versions of Peter Pan and A Christmas Carol as TV hits over the last two Christmasses.

But this original comic invention remains an absolute masterclass in slapstick and timing: nearly two hours of gags so fast and funny you’re glad of the sublime awkward moments when everything paused, just to gather breath.

It’s at Hall for Cornwall until Saturday, April 21.

Stuart Fraser