Why does every theme or plug in install break?

I am trying to learn WordPress under the umbrella of a web development company that has simultaneously been helpful enough to set up a sandbox on their live server for me, but does not have the bandwidth to troubleshoot some persistant issues I’m having.

Long story short, outside of the preloaded themes, every single theme I try to work with causes a critical error. Whether its in the basic installation of the theme, or in attempting to install the necessary plugins, it does not work.

Is this an issue with their server? User error? Google seems to suggest the fix requires editing the php code which I am trying to learn but it also seems odd that this would be required for every single theme and plugin.

TIA!

 

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