Hello! Just watched comedy about spies, and it was great! There was an understudy for Henry Shields though, and he was amazing but I did want to try for stage door with Shields. You’re the main mischief authority I know so I thought I’d ask if you knew anything about how the understudy rotations work? Is there any way to find out who’s going to be on when? Thanks!
Also, I think goes wrong show season 2 is up on daily motion! Might split some episodes into a couple parts but is available ^^
Hi! Glad to hear that you had a great time at Spies! I believe that you saw the wonderful Matt Cavendish in the role of Bernard (Shields's character). Matt played Max in Peter Pan Goes Wrong on Broadway and the West End back in 2023 :) Anyway, I do not know how understudy rotations work. My best guess is that it depends on the actors taking planned time off or having something come up last minute so the understudies step up. For example, earlier today Chris Leask unexpectedly couldn't perform due to an injury and so the amazing Allie Dart learned the role in two hours and took over for him!
A way to find out if an understudy would be on would be to check out the West End Understudies social media. They give updates about which understudies will be on for various West End shows, including The Comedy About Spies, though the announcement is usually on the day of. You can find them on instagram and twitter
Otherwise, the best way to find out is to check the actors' socials to see if they will not be performing that day (the Mischief cast are mainly active on instagram I think). Sadly, this does not help with finding out about Shields's schedule since he barely posts online haha, but other actors like Nancy Zamit and Chris Leask seem pretty good about posting if they are not performing that day. The other option is to politely ask the actors themselves either at stage door or online. There is no guarantee that they will tell you but it could be worth a shot if there is a specific actor that you really want to see.
TLDR: There is no concrete way of finding out which actors will be onstage on a given day. The best options are to check the actors' and West End Understudies' socials.
Hope that helps! Please let me know if you have any further questions :)
P.S. And thank you for the heads up concerning S2 of The Goes Wrong Show being up on Dailymotion. I have full episodes of the show on Google Drive, so if you or anyone are interested in links then please let me know and I'd be happy to share them :)