Writers: Maurice Gran and Laurence Marks
Director: Mark Bell
A staple of family game nights and rainy caravan holidays, the board game Cluedo (known as simply Clue in the United States) is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. Over those years, the basic game has spawned spin-off games, video games, licensed versions (featuring everything from Star Wars to The Simpsons), merchandise, a short-lived ITV game show, and a feature film. The genius concept of a game where the object is solving a murder using a process of elimination and logic has always been elevated by the iconic original character names of the suspects, murder weapons and rooms within the house that the board represents.
So this brings us to the stage version of the game. Or more specifically a follow-up to the original stage version which toured the UK in 2022. However, the only links between that play and Cluedo 2 seem to be the producers, the director and the concept. This story starts from scratch with new versions of the characters trapped in a large house as a murderer lurks among them.
Its 1968 and we enter a large manor house, home to Mr Black (Liam Horrigan), an on-the-rocks rock star and his previous-name-retaining wife Mrs Peacock (Hannah Boyce). Also present is Black’s manager Colonel Mustard (Jason Durr), assistant Professor Plum (Edward Howells), housekeeper Mrs White (Dawn Buckland) and, employed by Black to oversee a renovation of the house, Miss Scarlett (Ellie Leach). The list of suspects is then enlarged with the arrival of Wadsworth (Jack Bennett), an actor who will be playing a butler for the filming of a commercial with Black the following day, and Black’s one-time writing partner Reverend Green (Gabriel Paul). With the pieces all in place, Black is brutally murdered and the bickering guests must work together to solve the mystery while avoiding becoming the next victim.
If this sounds a little convoluted, it is. Veteran writers of Birds of a Feather Maurice Gran and Laurence Marks script sets up a lot of background for the characters and their relationships, while never developing any of them beyond two-dimensional stereotypes. This wouldn’t be a problem if the script was sharp and witty, but instead the jokes are mostly weak and often old. The script even contains a “walk this way” joke, which even at the time the play is set in 1968, was a corny old gag. Add to that an over-reliance on running jokes (Reverend Hal Green being constantly mistaken for Al Green, Wadsworth’s frustrations at having to remind people that he isn’t a real butler). There are a few lines that land well including several panto-style local references but overall the cast are not equipped to spin comedy gold of this bale of straw script. The only true standout is Buckland’s Mrs White, whose cartoonish characterisation and easy charisma shines through.
Cluedo 2 presents itself as a comic whodunit but thanks to the lacklustre script the comedy element is strained, and although a few ‘clues’ are thrown in, the mystery is not set up to be solvable by the audience. There seems like there could have been a much cleverer way to present a stage version of Cluedo with the basic ideas that it offers, but this production waters down the beauty of the simple game by adding too many narrative complications, many of which amount to nothing.
Elevating this piece to being somewhat entertaining is Mark Bell’s strong direction, which puts great physical demands on the cast as they amusingly change scenery, run around the stage, break the fourth wall, and engage in all sorts of wild behaviour including a stand-out slow-motion fight. It’s crazy and over-the-top, sometimes too much so, but it does mean that this production is rarely boring to watch.
Like the board game itself, Cluedo 2 is a fine way to spend an evening. Just don’t expect to remember much about it once the pieces are all back in the box.
Runs until 1st June 2024
