Rating: ★★★
Venue: New Victoria Theatre, Woking
Cast: Jason Durr, Ellie Leach, Jack Bennett, Hannah Boyce, Dawn Buckland, Liam Horrigan, Edward Howells, Tiwai Muza, Gabriel Paul, Kara Alberts-Turner, Audrey Anderson and Henry Lawes
Cast: Jason Durr, Ellie Leach, Jack Bennett, Hannah Boyce, Dawn Buckland, Liam Horrigan, Edward Howells, Tiwai Muza, Gabriel Paul, Kara Alberts-Turner, Audrey Anderson and Henry Lawes
Following the huge success of the smash hit original play, Cluedo is back with a brand new hilarious whodunit - CLUEDO 2 - The Next Chapter! Set in the swinging 1960s, we meet a host new suspects, a new house, and lot of new bodies, in this all new tale of murder, mystery and secret passageways.
This show is based on the much loved game, Cluedo, which to this day I still play myself, so I was excited to be asked to review this stage performance. Having not seen the first Cluedo, I was concerned it may be linked to the first chapter. However, this is a brand new story, so if you missed out on seeing the first chapter, this won't affect your experience of the show.
Rock and roll artist, Rick Black, has not had a successful album or hit song in years and is now broke, but he has recently moved into a grand mansion called Graveney Manor and poor Rick is desperate to be back on top to revive his career and reclaim the fame he has lost. While working on his new music, he gathers his supermodel wife, Emerald Peacock, his manager, Colonel Mustard, long time friend Professor Plum, his housekeeper Mrs White and a new trusted interior designer Annabel Scarlett. As the bodies start to pile up, we must uncover the mysteries and secrets of each character's past as they dart from room to room trying find whodunit before they become the next victim.
The story is set in the swinging 1960’s with a new house, new suspects and a lot of new bodies - and of course, featuring all the notable game characters. Like the first Cluedo, this show was directed by Mark Bell; director of The Play That Goes Wrong, which is why I had such high hopes for this production.
In regards to the plot, I’m of course sworn to secrecy, but beware that the clues to the killer may not always be as clear cut as they seem to be. My child and I very much enjoyed sitting down in the interval trying to figure out the clues and pin point whodunnit from the first act. Without giving any spoilers, all I'll say is, I ended up being correct with my guess. The twists within this show ended up being very revealing and riveting, and for this reason, I much preferred the second act of the show.
The staging and transformation of the rooms by David Farley was very cleverly done, and gives the audience time to observe the stage for any clues. You really do feel as though you're a detective! The cast were brilliant and each of them brought their character to life and portrayed them how you would expect from the board game. But for me personally, Mrs White, played by Dawn Buckland stole the show. While I didn’t laugh as much as I thought would have, Mrs White definitely stole most of the laughs I gave.
One thing's for sure, they definitely did a great job of having you guess whodunit...right to the very end.
I have to say we were really disappointed with this show. Like you we had high expectations (I think based on some effective marketing), but right from the off it just didn't seem funny. Maybe the first Cluedo was better than this script proved to be. Or perhaps it's just a very old fashioned type of humour - if you liked Birds of a Feather and Goodnight Sweetheart by the writers then maybe you'll enjoy this. But The Play That Goes Wrong it certainly isn't!
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