‘If it’s broke, don’t fix it’ could be a half-decent credo for those masters of chaotic theatre (and, latterly, television), Mischief Comedy.

They brand themselves as being ‘Serious About Silliness’, and they’ve certainly the plaudits, awards and longevity to back that up. Founding member Dave Hearn, currently starring in this touring production of Christmas Carol Goes Wrong proudly informed audience members at the end of the performance reviewed that their OG slapstick masterpiece, The Play That Goes Wrong, is currently celebrating its thirteenth year in the West End.

Next year sees their sold-out West End The Comedy About Spies go on tour, whereas previous detours have seen the troupe do everything they possibly can to see Peter Pan crash and burn, or teaming up with magician supremos Penn and Teller to present Magic Goes Wrong. Dickens’ Christmas Carol already provided itself a ripe target for their lampoonery in a 2017 BBC special, with no less than Sir Derek Jacobi and Dame Diana Rigg joining in the festive silliness.

There’s clearly a demand for their irreverent, deeply silly brand of theatrical anarchy.

And yet, for all of the fun, frolics and occasional inspired moments of Christmas Carol Goes Wrong, now touring the boards across the UK, it’s hard not to once again feel that Mischief have still yet to quite strike the same ingenious lightning as they did with their debut outing.

Let there be no mistake – Christmas Carol Goes Wrong is a fun and frequently funny piece of theatre. More narratively enmeshed than Play, it tells the story of the ‘Cornley Amateur Dramatic Society’, who are putting on a production of the festive Dickens favourite.

So far, so Mischief. Yet in something of a developing trend, there’s a lot more meat placed on the bones of the central production and its cast, with middling results. There’s fussy, self-important director, Chris (Adam Elliot), eternally optimistic assistant Annie (Dumile Sibanda), rambunctious Robert (Matthew Howell) who is determined to grasp a lead role and dweeby Dennis (James Akka) who just wants to make friends, amongst others.

The dynamics between the society as they undertake auditions, hold interminable production meetings and ready themselves to put on the show, is fun and frothy, but too often feels like fairly formulaic padding in anticipation of the main event itself – the titular production destined to go spectacularly wrong.

When Christmas Carol finally gets around to going wrong, however, Mischief are largely back on firmer and far funnier ground.

“Just wait and see what they do with the three ghosts and Tiny Tim in particular…”

There’s a lot of fun to be had, as ever, in watching the gradual unravelling of the society’s best-laid plans, with everything from a decidedly non-Dickensian box of Maltesers to a garishly colourful toy kitchen finding their way into the eventual production. Some of the interpretations and realisations of the story’s most iconic characters in particular are genuinely inspired, too.

Just wait and see what they do with the three ghosts and Tiny Tim, in particular.

It’s a lovely example of the kind of visual comedy at which Mischief excel, with Libby Todd‘s ingenious, increasingly unruly staging not only delivering plenty of laughs in and of itself, but also providing a playground for some equally impressive physical comedy from the company.

It’s daft, frequently inspired stuff, and once again, much of the joy comes from the increasingly desperate attempts of the Cornley team to maintain the illusion that everything is fine.

The performances from the tour’s cast are universally game, with Elliot’s increasingly exasperated Chris providing an excellent anchor for the lunacy, and Howell channelling his inner Henry Lewis with aplomb. Hearn, meanwhile, is an absolute hoot as Max, bouncing and grinning irrepressibly between a veritable revolving door of supporting roles, whilst Akka makes Dennis’ social awkwardness and inability to remember his lines endearingly funny and increasingly ludicrous.

Yet even amongst the very funny visual gags and occasional moments of genuine comic inspiration, there’s a sense that the formula is beginning to feel just a tad too familiar. The original Play That Goes Wrong was a lean beast (originally confined to the immediacy of London’s Trafalgar Studios), and at over 2 hours, Christmas Carol Goes Wrong feels like it could jetty much of its bookending fluff with little impact to the overall experience.

“…feels like it could jetty much of its bookending fluff with little impact to the overall experience.”

For sure, there’s something rather sweet about the attempts to give these hapless thespians a little more emotional dimension, and Chris’ own journey towards something resembling a Scrooge-esque epiphany lends the proceedings a suitably festive undercurrent of warmth. But it feels like decidedly lesser fare than the anarchic silliness that remains the company’s greatest strength.

But lesser Mischief is still, by and large, most enjoyable Mischief indeed. There’s just an irony in there, perhaps, though, that for a company whose entire raison d’être is making things go wrong, the biggest problem might be that things have become a touch too predictable.

Under Matt DiCarlo‘s direction, Christmas Carol Goes Wrong remains a colourful, energetic and even occasionally hilarious romp. There’s slapstick, silliness, some genuinely inspired stagecraft and a cast who throw themselves into the chaos with absolute conviction.

It might not recapture the lightning-in-a-bottle brilliance of that first Goes Wrong outing (it is far from alone in that), but as an exercise in unabashed theatrical daftness, there’s still a great deal here to enjoy.

And as for Cornley Amateur Dramatic Society?

And as for the Cornley Amateur Dramatic Society themselves? Well, they might be destined to never quite get things right, but long may they continue getting things so barmily, charmingly wrong.

God help us, every one.