Festival Theatre, Malvern – until 4 May 2024
Reviewed by Courie Amado Juneau
5*****
Cluedo 2, as the title suggests, brings the much loved classic boardgame to life once again, with a brand new story from the reliable pens of Maurice Gran and Laurence Marks.
Before the actors entered, the backdrop of the manor house with the classic Cluedo board behind it, at a skewed angle (thanks to Designer David Farley) was a perfect exemplar of scene setting. As was the fantastic ‘60s soundtrack (lots of lovely Beatles tunes got my boat afloat toute suite).
Not wanting to give the game away re whodunnit, with what and in which room (man, that feels good), I’ll just say that the entire cast was superb with Jason Durr (Colonel Mustard) and Gabriel Paul (Reverend Green) giving us a brace of Americans with the requisite larger than life bluster and convincing accents to boot. Meanwhile, Liam Horrigan brought rock star Rick Black (and several others) to psychadelacolour life. Jack Bennett as Wadsworth the butler delivered a standout performance with a manic, pedantic and joyously twisted character to die for (or is that to kill for?). Truly thespianic – he is an actor you know…
The ladies of the cast were all wonderful and an equal to the men, with Ellie Leach leading as the iconic Miss Scarlett. Hard to believe it is her stage debut! The scenes between her and Mrs Peacock (Hannah Boyce) had a frisson of cattiness that was a joy to behold. Mrs White’s “fruity” interjections (delivered with relish by Dawn Buckland) in the kitchen was possibly the funniest moment of the evening and her character was my favourite overall (alongside the aforementioned, marvelous, actor/butler).
Great costumes bringing that most stylish of periods (1968) to life; Debbie Bennett (Costume Supervisor) excelled herself. I thought the use of music, used especially effectively for the transitions between rooms and the “searches/chases”, gave proceedings more than a touch of Scooby Doo – with some wonderful hilarity involving pictures/picture frames. A faithful homage that obviously emanated from a place of love and respect and took one back to simpler, happier times. Anna Healey (Movement Director) and Mark Bell (Director) gave us some lovely allusions to Strictly, cleverly woven into several action scenes. I’m a massive sucker for a slo-mo vignette and the cast did this so well tonight.
Comedy was very much to the fore with lots of breaking of the fourth wall (especially either side of the interval). The theme of English idioms being misunderstood by the Yanks was a rich, recurring seam of comedy gold. The first half was fun, the second half took off like a rocket and didn’t let up till the numerous superb twists in the tale rounded things off most satisfactorily.
Anyone who saw Cluedo in its original run will know what to expect and will love this new tale from the same universe. With all the clever wordplay from the writers, whose vast pedigree precedes them, and some delicious Play That Goes Wrong moments there’s something for everybody. I cannot recommend this show highly enough – it’s murderously good fun! The actors dunnit, with the script, in the theatre – and will be doing it again until Saturday night, so don’t miss it as they dunnit so well!