CLUEDO AT THE ARTS THEATRE
Edward Howells Dawn Buckland Ellie Leach Jack Bennett Jason Burr and Gabriel Paul
‘Cluedo’ is so clever it could never be anywhere but on the stage. Nowhere else, could produce the stagey, corny collaboration of actors on their top form - and turn it into comedy. Do not expect nuance. Nor originality - from the opening welcome to the Graveney Manor House ‘No one will leave here alive” to “ We gotta get out of this place” it was packed with cliché, And by the second half the production picks up enough pace for real hilarity.
Edward Howells Dawn Buckland Jason Burr and Ellie Leach
The set is a star in this show. Designed by David Farley it opened up the entire Manor House - the characters did a brilliant job walking around its long portrait lined corridors. They carried their own ingenious props. Genius direction sped up the play until the characters fell over each other in a harum -scarum chaos. a comedy based on a board game has to be hard to create - but the writers did a brilliant job. True every gag didn’t come straight off the bat, but they had fun with all kinds of comic genres, from pantomime to American/British word play.
Liam Corrigan’s revolting rock star Rick was super repellent as a spoiled brat, Hannah Boyce as Mrs.Peaccok made the most of a stereotypical role to reveal her daring past and hilariously realised native accent. In fact no one was who they claimed to be. Jack Bennett as Wadsworth the Butler ( or was he?) really lifted the entire comedic tone and breathed life and confidence into the entire show. Dawn Buckland as Mrs White made the character believably down to earth - or as near to it in this crazy compote of coincidence. Latecomer Gabriel Paul as Reverend Green had a superb back story and convinced us he was a real live American serviceman with a dark past in Vietnam.- Colonel Mustard, hugely stylish Jason Durr, is the tough -talking Texan manager, rock star manager (sometimes with an accent a bit too impenetrable) .Ellie Leach starred as Miss Scarlett but in a one-dimensional role veered towards cardboard cut-out dimensions. Still she came through for a truly epic second half come -back as a truly convincing character .
Relax and kick back to really enjoy this romp. Admire the split- second timing, the under- tow of minor jokes, the colour and the absurdity of a very British night at the theatre. From the flat footed police duo (well done Itza Muza ) this is stylised stage work with roots in centuries- old farce.
