Cluedo at Belgrade Theatre Coventry - Review

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Mon 14 Mar 2022 - Sat 19 Mar 2022

The popular board game Cluedo, which was invented in Birmingham, is given a new lease of life in this new play. Written by Sandy Rustin, the story is based on the 1985 American movie Clue and the original screenplay by Jonathan Lynn.

Taking place in post-war Britain there is a sense of nostalgia to the piece. Prior to the show starting, the audience hears radio broadcasts and music from the time and sees the stage – an empty hallway with closed doors leading into the various other rooms.



The drama begins with a crack of thunder and then in quick succession six people arrive at the door. All have been invited to an evening at Boddy Manor and have been told to come under an assumed name – Colonel Mustard, Mrs White, Professor Plum, Miss Scarlett, Mrs Peacock and Reverend Green. They claim not to know why they have been invited – but as the evening progresses we discover each has a secret they will do anything to protect.

The story is strongly rooted in the original game with the lounge, the billiards room, the library etc all being referenced or shown and the murder weapons being the rope, the lead pipe, the candlestick etc and the characters are never developed much further than their colour stereotype.

The show is billed as a 'thriller spoof' and it attempts to blend both Agatha Christie style whodunnit with classic comedy but the two bump into each other leaving the show a bit shambolic. Moving at a rapid pace, the bodies pile up faster than the audience can work out who the characters actually are.



Although Michelle Collins (EastEnders, Coronation Street) as Miss Scarlett and Daniel Casey (Midsomer Murders) as Professor Plum are given prime billing, the real star of the show is Jean-Luke Worrell as the butler Wadsworth. He hams up the part and plays to the audience throughout, one moment challenging the guests on their secrets and the next replaying the entire story at breakneck speed.

Directed by Mark Bell (The Play That Goes Wrong, A Comedy About a Bank Robbery) the show moves at a rapid pace, indeed sometimes so fast it is difficult to keep track of what is happening and who is accusing who of what. Indeed at times it becomes so chaotic, any story becomes subsumed under characters chasing each other round the stage and bodies dropping like flies. But it is hard to sustain interest in characters you have no sympathy for and a storyline which is so confusing. By the close I was asking less 'whodunnit' and more 'who cares?'

At Belgrade Theatre Coventry until March 19 and also playing Birmingham Alexandra on May 2-7 and Wolverhampton Grand on July 11-16. See cluedostageplay.com for full tour details.

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!date 14/03/2022 -- 19/03/2022
%wnbirmingham