Chris Bean

Chris Bean (Henry Shields) as Inspector Carter in TPTGW

**Chris Bean** is the Director of Cornley Drama Society. The Murder At Haversham Manor was his directorial debut, and he is the longest running member of the society.

## Personality

**'Chris Bean'** is a prominent character in the show goes wrong, acting normally as the 'Director' (especially in the Goes Wrong Show). Chris is passionate about theatre, making him one of the better actors CDS has. He is, however, not immune to the unfortunate events that befall all CDS productions, and has often gotten into problems on stage with props and confusing lines.

He thinks of himself as a very serious actor, and can lose his temper easily when things do not go as planned, either through lack of talent (Dennis, in particular) or deliberate insubordination, (particularly by Trevor the stage manager (they have been known to exchange rude messages on the scenery), Robert (who thinks he knows better) and Max, who simply likes to mess around to wind Chris up. In both productions of The Play That Goes Wrong and Peter Pan Goes Wrong, he breaks character to yell at the audience for laughing during serious scenes, making his production a pantomime, or booing him. Chris takes himself and his art incredibly seriously, despite the many shortcomings of both. This is seen in "Peter Pan" when he insists that the play isn't a pantomine but a traditional Christmas vignette and gets upset when the audience tries to start a "Oh yes it is" chant amongst other heckles.

## Relationships

### Trevor Watson

Trevor and Chris have known each other for a good amount of time, meeting first in university. After The Play that Goes Wrong they enter a very on and off again relationship and the on screen relationship is often rocky. But they have settled into a relationship during season two and their behaviour often resembling a couple bickering, as seen in To Be Contineud.

### Robert Grove

Chris and Robert have known each other for a long time, and are friends. They have had rivalries in the past, especially during the events of A Christmas Carol. Chris made cutting remarks towards Robert and Robert attempted to grievously injure Chris, but they made up by the end, although Robert was somewhat annoyed that Chris had been seen snogging his sister, apparently planning to leave the group and start a new life with her ("I've got the advert job - we'll never have to work with this bunch of freaks again"). They are also the only characters that have canonically worked together outside the scope of the CDS.

Chris and Robert's rivalry comes to the fore in the second series of the Goes Wrong Show, where Robert successfully mounts a coup to replace Chris as director. During "Summer Once Again", Robert repeatedly gives Chris embarrassing and self-insulting lines. However, Robert eventually falls in a wheelbarrow of manure, which Chris is smug about. In the next episode, Chris regains control of the society and forces Robert into a non-speaking part. Robert amends this by adding lots of lines, a backstory and a song for his character. In the end, a series of accidents to other cast members result in Robert's character being the only one left alive and so the narrator has to change the ending to make him King. Later in the series, Chris offers a Drama Festival to prevent another coup from happening.

In "The Cornley Drama Festival Part 1" Robert runs an acting class where he lines up the rest of the Society's from best to worst based on their acting skills. He at first marks Chris at number three but keeps moving him further down the line until he is second last, above only Trevor. During the festival he brings out a gun as an example of Chekhov's gun and ends up shooting Chris during the dance number.

### Dennis Tyde

As director, Chris is the member of the group who is most frequently affected by Dennis' antics, which tend to push him to the limit, leading him to break character (openly shouting at him in a number of live performances.)

### Max Bennett

Chris seems to tolerate Max, and keeps him around in the society mainly as a source of funding. He has made fun of Max behind his back, but after the events of Carol has a change of heart towards the society and starts treating the cast slightly better, Max included. He does get annoyed when Max misbehaves, for example by speaking his lines in a silly voice ("Most Lamentable") or by repeating a line or gesture which got a reaction from the audience (Harper's Locket).

### Sandra Wilkinson

Chris and Sandra seem to have an alright relationship, although Chris occasionally gets annoyed at her. In "Christmas Carol" most of the cast mistakenly thought that Chris and Sandra were having an affair.

### Robert Grove's sister

In a "Christmas Carol" a film clip is accidentally played which revealed that Chris was in a relationship of some kind with a woman later identified as Robert's sister (although initially mistaken for Sandra), and that he was planning a new career away from Cornley which also involved her in some way.

## Roles (Acting and Directing)

* Inspector Carter - The Murder At Haversham Manor
* Mr Darling/ Captain Hook - Peter Pan (with Robert as Assistant Director)
* Scrooge - A Christmas Carol

### The Goes Wrong Show

* Mr. Snowman - The Spirit of Christmas
* Lieutenant Rufus James Heal - The Pilot (Not the Pilot)
* Jack Inwood - A Trial to Watch
* David - The Lodge
* Baron Edwin Graves - Harper's Locket
* Herb Burgess - 90 Degrees
* Narrator - The Nativity
* Gavroche (Manure Boy) - Summer Once Again\*
* Prince Richard - The Most Lamentable...
* Billy Wheeler - There Is No Escape
* Himself/Caterpillar - The Cornley Drama Festival Part 1
* Himself/Miguel/Charles, Prince of Wales - The Cornley Drama Festival Part 2

\*Not directing

### Unseen Productions

* Rapunzel (director)
* More Horse, the sequel to War Horse - in this show, he performed a Jamaican accent, which received heavy criticism.

## Trivia

* It is known that during his school life, he was bullied and called 'Baked Bean', 'Green Bean', 'Runner Bean', and potentially more that were not named

## Actors

The role of Chris Bean was originated by Henry Shields.

Both The Play That Goes Wrong and Peter Pan Goes Wrong are live performances, and there are a number of actors that have played the role of Chris Bean throughout the years.

### List of Actors

* Henry Shields
	+ Portrayed by him in the original and Broadway cast of The Play That Goes Wrong and Peter Pan Goes Wrong (Both BBC and West End Productions), A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong (BBC), and the Goes Wrong Show.
* Ross Green (West End)
* Jake Curran (West End & UK Tour)
* Evan Alexander Smith (US Tour)
* Matt Harrington (Off-Broadway)
* Chris Lanceley (US Tour)
* Mark Evans
* Harry Kershaw
* Laurence Pears
* Nick Simpson-Deeks
* Matt Mueller