by Michelle Rawlins
Could it be Miss Scarlett in the study with the lead pipe, or Reverend Green in the library with the revolver?
This preposterous whodunnit, based on the cult 1985 film, Clue, and family favourite board game, Cluedo, endeavours to keep you guessing until the final scenes.
On a dark stormy night, the well-known characters are invited to a surprise dinner party. There, they discover they’re each being blackmailed by their sinister host Lord Boddy. He has collected a dossier of their salacious and scandalous secrets, which they would rather didn’t become public knowledge.
In a bid to hide his own somewhat questionable activities, he masterminds a cunning plan to kill off those who know what he’s been up to.
Very quickly more innocent inhabitants of Boddy Hall, as well as a poor unsuspecting visitor are murdered. But who is responsible?
This farcical, and at times (but not always), hilarious spoof, directed by award winning Mark Bell, known for his huge success with Mischief Theatre and The Play That Goes Wrong, is full of slapstick one liners and nonsensical capers, suitable for adults and younger members of the audience alike.
Unfortunately, this production isn’t on the same scale. It tries hard, but the pacing and timing often lets it down, and there were times when sadly, the scenes just weren’t that funny, particularly in the first half.
It’s a shame as the show boasts a host of impressive names, including former EastEnders star, Michelle Collins, who has already proved her weight on the stage, appearing in The Vagina Monologues, Calendar Girls and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Although Collins has all the ingredients to make for a perfect, hip swinging, handbag holding, tottering Miss Scarlett, with her matching lip stick and ‘finger to nose’ list of secret clients, there’s something in her swagger that doesn’t quite hit the mark.
Daniel Casey, the much-loved Sgt Troy in Midsomer Murders, is the perfectly pompous Professor Plum, but again the not quite fast enough script doesn’t have the energy to allow this intended mad cap production to reach top marks in comedy genius.
The second half, does however pick up pace, when Tom Babbage, aka Reverend Green, with his mock, and rather amusing clumsiness, which leaves him being knocked out several times, and Wadsworth (Jean-Luke Worrell) with his acrobatic theatricals, come into their own. A standout moment came when the local Bobby comes to investigate why there is an abandoned car at the end of the drive, and his fake moustache inadvertently falls off. The cast managed it well, and their ad-libbing added to the intended comical entertainment.
Credit must be given to the clever and ever-changing stage, designed by David Farley, which creates, just like in the popular board game, fast on-stage movement around the house to try and discover the killer. Behind every door another chaotic mystery awaits, including the poor cook who has been bludgeoned to death, and the innocent visitor, who also meets an untimely death. This is not serious theatre, but nor is it designed to be. It’s a fun filled couple of hours, created to make you laugh out loud as you try and keep up and guess who will be next to meet their fate, but is it theatrical comedy gold? I’m afraid not.
On Tour Until July 2022Tickets from Cluedo Stage Play