SOMETIMES all you need in life is a good laugh.

While The Play That Goes Wrong may not have the big numbers or special effects Liverpool Empire audiences may have been used to in recent weeks, it does do exactly what it says on the tin.

Everything goes spectacularly wrong but the results are side-splittingly funny.

The show follows the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society's attempt to put on a 1920s murder mystery.

The accident-prone theatre group struggle against all the odds to make it to their final curtain call as the show literally collapses all around them.

From the corpse who keeps moving to the ham actor who notices over exaggerated arm actions get him a bigger laugh, this chaotic comedy is a slapstick masterclass and perfectly executed by the cast.

Bobby Hirston does a brilliant job playing the bouncy and excitable Cecil Haversham while Benjamin McMahon had the audience guffawing with each mispronunciation of the script playing bumbling Perkins.

Kazeem Tosin Amore, who plays serious thespian Robert, also did a great job contortioning his body to hold the set together while also answering the phone.

At times it's the kind of physical comedy that actually hurts to watch - wincing as another character is hit by a part of the set or a jealous understudy, straining your ears as you try to hear the next line over the laughter and clutching your stomach after another belly laugh over the latest farcical twist.

The show has been so popular, the creators have also written follow-up The Comedy about a Bank Robbery which was nominated for an Olivier Award and heads out on its first UK tour this autumn.

If it's even half as good, it's sure to have audiences howling from start to finish.

The Play That Goes Wrong will be at the Liverpool Empire Theatre until Saturday.