There's an art to getting pushed, kicked, knocked out, dragged, carried and having your hair pulled at Weathervane Playhouse.

All those stunts and more are a big, important part of the wildly popular British comedy "The Play That Goes Wrong," continuing through Aug. 28 at the Akron theater.

The contemporary play that's been running in London since 2012 has become a global hit, including on Broadway as well as the production still running Off-Broadway. It follows opening night for the Cornley University Drama Society's "The Murder at Haversham Manor," a 1920s murder mystery where everything that could go wrong onstage does.

In this play-within-a-play, things go from bad to disastrous, with the leading lady getting knocked out, stuffed in a grandfather clock and re-emerging later to find the stage manager has taken over her role and won't give it back. 

What follows is a very funny onstage rivalry between Christina Katsaras' Sandra and Mia Tucker's Annie, which goes well beyond a catfight. The women whack each other with a big silver tray, knock each other down, jump through a large window, yank each other through the window and throw the other over their shoulder, and generally "pound" on each other backstage.

Creating all the well-controlled movement behind the mayhem is stunt coordinator Kevin Lambes, also the show's assistant director.

"It looks a little like professional wrestling but it's much more controlled," Lambes said of the women's extended fight scene, which includes 15 stunts.

Never fear: Each time the women fling themselves or the other through the window, they're landing on a big blue mat backstage. And they've been trained on their exact hand and foot placement as well as required eye contact to keep each of their stunts safe.

More:'Newsies' an exciting celebration of young underdogs at Weathervane Playhouse in Akron

Lambes, who also works as the theater's director of development and events, stressed that safety always comes first when it comes to stunt work on stage. 

At a fight call at the theater Monday, actress Katsaras' character Sandra looked like she was knocked out by an opening door. You could hear the loud sound of the wood door making contact with what you'd assume was Sandra's head. But Katsaras, behind the door, actually hit the door with her hand to make the sound mimicking a blow, a technique called a "knap" in the world of stage combat.  

Mastering these and many other moves took some special training. Full-cast rehearsals started with 2½ days of stunt training with Lambes, an intensive process he calls "show and tell."

"I assume that everybody knows nothing, initially," Lambes said of the cast's stunt abilities.

In this show, directed by Fred Gloor, nearly everyone in the 12-person cast does some stunt work.

They've learned how to give a stage punch and take a stage punch, fall backward and forward, fall and catch each other, pick up and set down another actor comfortably, drag people by their hair and also do some fencing.

"It's all through the story," Lambes said of the stunt work. "How good can you make it look without anybody ever having a chance of getting hurt?"

On Monday, Katsaras and Tucker went through their fight sequence at half speed first and then regular speed. When characters Sandra and Annie fight, Annie gets into some hair pulling. But Tucker isn't actually pulling Katsaras' hair at all.

"Make a show of it and put your fist against her head, and it's all her controlling what I'm doing," Tucker explained. 

More:Local Flavor: Merchant Tavern offers fun night out in Akron's Merriman Valley

Part of what makes this fight so much fun is that the formerly shy stage manager Annie has become like a wrestler, making threatening, guttural noises, tackling the leading lady and resorting to plenty of dirty tricks to stop her from taking her role back. Through it all, the two women are performing Sandra's lines simultaneously onstage.

In their final confrontational moment, the women "head-butt" each other and fall backward together through the window. 

"We don't actually hate each other," Katsaras said with a chuckle after she and Tucker finished their fight call.

Katsaras, a Cleveland State University graduate, said she's doing her first stunt work ever in "The Play That Goes Wrong," which is now her favorite show she's ever done. Tucker, a recent graduate of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York, had never done professional-level stunt work before.

"I saw it ["The Play That Goes Wrong"] on Broadway and fell in love with it," said Tucker, who's based in New York. 

More:Chowder House Cafe splendid place to indulge in fall food in Akron: Local Flavor

Lambes, who received his stage combat training through classes at Circle in the Square in New York in the late 1980s, said everything you do with stunts must be replicated for every show. And if the stunts don't further the story, they shouldn't be used. 

Stunt performers also should avoid relying on muscle memory for their stunts.

"You don't want to get relaxed. You want to know it and you want to know it really well," he said.

In this crazy play-within-a-play, described as "Noises Off" meets "Clue," things fall off the set wall and things break. That includes the entire "Murder at Haversham Manor" set by play's end, which comes falling down with one character actually "riding" the set.

More:‘Clue’ murder weapons call for design creativity at Weathervane Playhouse

Folks will have to see the show to see how Lambes and the cast pull that off.

"I'll tell you, I can't be more proud of the cast because they jumped on the task from the first rehearsal," Lambes said of the actors learning how to do stunts safely.

Arts and restaurant writer Kerry Clawson may be reached at 330-996-3527 or kclawson@thebeaconjournal.com.

Comedy: "The Play that Goes Wrong"

Where: Weathervane Playhouse, 1301 Weathervane Lane, Akron

When: Continuing through Aug. 28, 7:30 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 2:30 p.m. Sundays

Onstage: Jarrod Vullo, Keith Carr, Adam Alderson, Christina Katsaras, Dan Reichert, David Turner, Christian Achkar, Mia Tucker, Meghan Barylak, Elizabeth Flood, Noah Lee, Paul Means

Offstage: Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields, playwrights; Fred Gloor, director; Kelly MJ Andrews, stage manager; Richard Morris Jr., set design/technical director; Nick Tamburrino, lighting designer; Jasen Smith, costume designer; Tom Marquardt, sound designer; Laura Niehaus, properties designer; Kevin Lambes, assistant director/stunt coordinator; Rachel Watson and Patti Alderson, assistant stage managers

Information: www.weathervaneplayhouse.com or 330-836-2626