Cluedo: The Play Review, A Hilarious Whodunnit
- 5 days ago
- 2 min read
Theatre Royal’s Cluedo: The Play delivers slapstick chaos, clever set design and nostalgic fun. Check out our full review!
Take a bit of Agatha Christie, some British sitcom humour, and loads of camp; add a smattering of Vaudeville and slapstick, stir together and pour the mixture onto a cleverly designed set, and you have Cluedo: The Play.
With its characters and premise based on the perennially popular board game, Cluedo (Clue in the US), this play gives audiences, many of whom will be familiar with the game, an easy entry point. It also allows for lots of wink, wink “in” jokes.
The script is a refreshed version of the screenplay for the 1985 film, Clue, by Jonathan Lynn. Sandy Rustin’s stage adaptation retains the over-the-top characterisations and manic pace, aided by Luke Joslin’s crisp direction.
If you’ve ever played the game or seen the film version, you’ll remember that the characters move rapidly and frequently to different rooms within a very large mansion. That would present quite a challenge for the average set designer, however, James Browne proves himself to be far beyond average.
Browne has devised a devilishly ingenious series of moving panels, suspended props and roll-on furniture that allows for quick scene changes into convincing new spaces with little interruption.
Also the costume designer, Browne has dressed each character — all named after a colour — in attire that obviously references that colour but also perfectly depicts their personality. It helps that the characters has been so well cast, too.
There’s lots of slapstick and plenty of sight gags in this relentlessly paced romp. The plot, which is really quite thin, is helped by some wonderfully choreographed routines, reminiscent of slick comedy set pieces of early film, or even cartoons.
The ensemble cast works beautifully together and in various combinations.
In review, Cluedo: The Play is a fun, easy to enjoy, not too taxing on the brain, 90-odd minutes of silly sleuthing.
The play Cluedo: The Play slope run at Theatre Royal delivered a performance that was both humorous and nostalgic, making the audience feel as if they were stepping into a classic board game right on stage.