CABLE-wires snapping, spotlights dropping from the heavens, scenery collapsing and actors throwing tantrums - or worse getting electrocuted - the chances of all these catastrophes befalling a production at once are slim to none.

And yet, what if the elements, not to mention bitter feuds off stage between a worryingly accident-prone cast, all conspired to bring down an already tentative amateur theatre show?

The show would probably go on; but at what cost?

As a LAMDA-trained actor, artistic director and playwright, Henry Lewis has asked himself this very question many a time.

“Originally my inspiration was working with Michael Green, he wrote a book called the Art of Coarse Acting," he explains. "It’s a fantastic book on how to be a bad actor. That was a big inspiration to finding the fun in what goes wrong. There is a lot less physical comedy around and we wanted to bring it back a bit more.

I wrote a short piece when I was 18 and that was the starting point for this show.”

Together with fellow graduates he founded Mischief Theatre in 2008, an improvised comedy group. Their first calamitous comedy The Play That Goes Wrong garnered huge critical acclaim, eventually winning the Whatsonstage Award for Best New Comedy 2014.

Following hot on the heels of The Play, Peter Pan Goes Wrong embraces the same formula- this time but with a much heavier dose of tribulations and flurry of inopportune technical faults.

“We wanted to do something for Christmas originally. But we thought Peter Pan had the scope for physical comedy, it has all these different sets and there’s flying – that sold it for us. It’s a bit more about the jokes this time and you don’t see much of what goes on backstage.”

Peter Pan Goes Wrong introduces the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society, who are bravely - it soon transpires - attempting to stage J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan. As the title suggest everything that could possibly go awry inevitably does as the thesps embark on their adventure to Neverland - all with hilariously disastrous results.

While a love triangle between actors threatens peace on set, the show comes apart at the seams courtesy of hopeless stage hands, an even more incapable flying operator with little clue as to how to operate wires. Mayhem escalates when Tinker Bell is electrocuted in the middle of the production.

“Everything that can go wrong goes wrong,” says Henry. “Relationships spill out on stage – the director and assistant director fight for power. Tinker Bell has a lit-up dress and spills water on herself - she gets electrocuted. There is a love triangle and you find out who’s been using who and not been very nice. It’s totally about these archetypes in theatre.”

While the most cringe-worthy slapstick incidents stem from Henry and co-authors Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields’ s overactive imagination, some were borrowed straight from real life childhood mishaps.

“There is a bit where Nana the dog gets stuck in a dog flap. That makes me laugh every time because it happened to me,” he confesses with a laugh. “When I was younger I forgot my keys so I tried to get in through the dog flap and got stuck. I had to be sawn out.”

Rehearsals were not without their share of drama and injuries but thankfully performances have been smooth so far. Surely in a disaster-plagued play, the audience would be none the wiser if things actually went wrong?

Not according to Henry. Perfectly engineered accidents bear no resemblance to real blunders.

“Even in a play like this, we found that if things do go wrong they’re quite noticeable.

“We have had a couple of injuries in rehearsal. The Christmas before last an actress broke her foot during. She wasn’t doing anything tremendously dangerous. She was just jumping up and down. It took her out for a while. We’ve had someone dislocate their shoulder a couple of times. No-one is safe.”

Peter Pan Goes will run from Monday, June 8 to Saturday 13 at the Wyvern Theatre. Tickets cost between £18.50 and £27.50. To book call 01793 524481 or visit swindontheatres.co.uk.