Review: Cluedo 2 (Touring)

Tuesday, 12th March 2024 at York Theatre Royal.

⭐️⭐️

Cluedo (the stage play) is back with a second instalment, promising a brand new plot and a new take on the characters. This time? Writers Maurice Gran and Laurence Marks take us to a country manor house owned by a fizzling-out rocker, circa 1968.

And who’s who in Cluedo 2? We have Colonel Mustard (Jason Durr) as manager to our washed up rock star Rick Black (Liam Horrigan) who happens to be married to the snobbish and suitably shrill Mrs Peacock (Hannah Boyce). Black has new music to share and everyone’s invited to listen, including Professor Plum (Edward Howells), and Miss Scarlett (Ellie Leach). Newcomers Wadsworth (Jack Bennett) and Reverend Green (Gabriel Paul) join later and housekeeper Mrs White (Audrey Anderson) lingers on the outskirts to be bossed about.

Bennett and Anderson carry the comedy for the most part, with some strong moments from Boyce with her larger-than-life characterisation of the unhappy wife. Bennett has a great chaotic energy and lands snappy lines with plenty of drama, while Anderson gets the best character as the nosy, mildly scornful housekeeper – getting good laughs early on with a promising popping up running gag, which sadly doesn’t last the course.

At first, the characters seem bold enough to fit the spec for board game characters brought to life, and we prepare to track them through a twisting plot. Unfortunately though, the two dimensional nature of the characters soon wears thin. Having characters stand in static semi-circles in various locations, waiting patiently to say their line in turn, certainly makes cardboard cut-outs of them – but it also makes the production feel quite hollow.

That’s not to say that there’s no action or theatricality though – there are some pacy segues between scenes which see characters spotlit in turn while the famous locations from the board game take shape around them. There’s a nice sense of playfulness to this from director Mark Bell and movement director Anna Healey, and it’s definitely where we meet the sharpest, most successful visuals as characters pop their heads out in canon and offer synchronised movement.

David Farley’s designs set the tone well, making a game board of the stage and cleanly marking each character out with loud, tongue-in-cheek costuming. And the script also makes frequent references to the classic lines we instantly know from the game: “Name + object + room”, having us all take enjoyment in the shared familiarity.

This is a show which feels like it’s always trying to juggle a few too many elements and not managing to get them all in the air at the same time. When the script is at its funniest, the staging is too static and dull to catch the energy; when the cast are doing their best melodramatic reactions in unison, the lighting is leaving them frustratingly in shadow; when the cast are on good form, running through those energetic physical sequences, the sense of propulsion is lacking as they’re busy tackling set pieces. There’s a lot of great potential, for sure, it just feels like it’s not coming together as smoothly as it should.

Are there twists? Yes, and they’re pulled off well – particularly in the final segment. Is there comedy? Yes, albeit not so well crafted as anticipated. It’s a likeable cast and there are certainly things to recommend the production, but ultimately, Cluedo is back on stage but it isn’t better than ever.

Cluedo 2 is at York Theatre Royal until March 16th – more information and tickets can be found here.