Cluedo 2 at The Alexandra, Birmingham - Review

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Tue 23 Jul 2024 - Sat 27 Jul 2024

When the original Cluedo play visited Birmingham’s Alexandra in May 2022 I described it as “an evening of madcap murderous mayhem”. That pretty much also describes the sequel, which is at The Alexandra until Saturday, July 27.

As in Cluedo, the action in Cluedo 2 is set in a large country manor house but the timeline has moved from the original’s 1949 to 1968. The house is now owned by rock star Rick Black (Liam Horrigan) who has invited various individuals to join him to listen to his newly recorded album.



Included in the party are his manager Colonel Mustard (Jason Durr), his cook Mrs White (Dawn Buckland), sound engineer Professor Plum (Edward Howells) and interior designer Miss Scarlett (Hannah Boyce). Also present are Rick’s wife Mrs Peacock (Kara Alberts-Turner), who retains the surname of her previous husband, and Wadsworth (Jack Bennett), an actor who is playing the role of a butler in a gin commercial being filmed at the manor the next day. A late arrival is Reverend Hal Green (Gabriel Paul), an American forces chaplain and former colleague of Rick’s.



It takes a little time to introduce the characters, but things begin to get interesting when Rick is found murdered (stabbed, shot, strangled and hit with a heavy object) in the study/studio. Everybody is a suspect, and it transpires that they all have secrets and things they’d rather hide.

It would actually make a very satisfying murder-mystery, but the audience is here for laughs – and that’s what they get, courtesy of award-winning writing duo Maurice Gran and Laurence Mark. With their TV sitcom history, including Birds of a Feather and Goodnight Sweetheart, they are masters of getting the best out of an ensemble cast. One-liners and running gags are second nature to them, and there are plenty of them in Cluedo 2.

Throughout the show, Wadsworth has to keep explaining that he is an actor, not a real butler. At one point he says: “For the 37th time – I’ve been counting – I am not a butler.” There’s also the repeated joke of Rev Hal Green being mistaken for the soul singer Al Green, which gives the excuse to include lyrics from some of Al’s famous songs and repetition of the misunderstanding of English words and phrases by Americans.



Director Mark Bell (best known for directing The Play That Goes Wrong) injects his trademark confusion and havoc as the characters dash from room to room, looking for clues or chasing suspects. Designer David Farley has cleverly done away with the walls and doors of the original play, replacing them with moveable props and furniture to denote the various locations, while some sixties tunes and original atmospheric music add to the experience.

The audience needs to stay alert for the frantic final scene, which proves to be mentally exhausting as who did what and why is revealed in dramatic fashion. Cluedo 3, anybody?

Rating: 3 out of 5


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