REVIEW: Cluedo 2: The Next Chapter at Mayflower Theatre 

Do you know whodunit? ‘Cluedo 2: The New Chapter’ has set itself up on the Mayflower Theatre’s stage and it is exactly how you would imagine a giant board-game in the flesh. Following the huge success of ‘Cluedo’, the first hilarious whodunnit, ‘Cluedo 2’ is back with a brand-new story, house, suspects, and well…    plenty of bodies (Shhh). Usually we’re talking about a book to stage adaptation, but this week we’re talking about a board-game to stage adaptation. Yes, this is obviously based on the classic family board-game, but it is also based on the Paramount Pictures motion picture ‘Clue’. In all honesty I was actually unaware that Cluedo had already been made into a movie, but I wasn’t surprised to find out at all. ‘Cluedo 2’ was written by BAFTA award winners Maurice Gran and Laurence Marks, and directed by Mark Bell (who has a very impressive back catalog: ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’). If you have ever played the game before, the layout of this play will come as no surprise. Likewise, if you have ever read an Agatha Christie novel, you will have some sort of idea of how the play will pan out. However, how does this work as a comedy? And will it work on the stage? 

I think the answer to that question is ultimately yes. It does work on the stage, and it does work as a comedy. But should they have maybe stopped after the success of the first ‘Cluedo’? Don’t get me wrong, I was thoroughly entertained, and I was laughing at points throughout the show. I just think that maybe some of the jokes/writing got lost and didn’t land as well as I think they should have. What the writers had to do can’t have been an easy job however. Trying to build on the success and expectation of the first ‘Cluedo’, whilst making the story new and exciting, but keeping with the recognisable characters and locations of what makes Cluedo, Cluedo – that’s definitely not an easy task. The direction and movement of the show was brilliant (we’ll get into more of this later), but it did feel like it was living in the shadows of shows like ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’. The movement is very similar (thank you Mark Bell), but the comedy was just slightly off. 

‘Cluedo 2’ was funny and stunning to watch.

This time round its the 1960s and the story is based around rock ’n’ roll legend Rick Black, who assembles a group of people to come to Graveny Manor and listen to his latest album. That is all until the bodies start piling up and mystery’s and secrets start pouring out… 

The cast had to be energetic and really bring their A-game, and I think that’s exactly what they did. It’s not a huge cast, but I always think that acting in a play is much harder than acting in a musical at times. This is because you now can’t rely on songs/music to grab the audiences attention, or to change the pace of what is going on. This is why a lot of people tend to use the word boring when describing plays. Boring is definitely not a word I would use to describe ‘Cluedo 2’. There wasn’t one moment that I thought the play started to drag, and the pace of the show was really good. In fact the pace of the show may have been too fast at times – possibly why a few of the jokes/lines failed to land?

As I said earlier, the whole cast brought the energy, and all of them gave a really strong collaborative performance. There were a couple of stand out performers that really helped elevate the show as well. Dawn Buckland as ‘Mrs White’ was fantastic throughout. From the very first time she stepped onto that stage, through to the very end, I thought her performance was full and quite frankly brilliant. Liam Horrigan as ‘Rick Black & Others’ was just hilarious. The ability to play multiple characters and them all be completely separate from each other is seriously impressive. To get laughs from all of these characters as well, well played! The best type of acting, is when you forget that you’re watching somebody pretend to be somebody else. This is exactly what Hannah Boyce and Jack Bennett did as they grew into their roles of ‘Mrs Peacock’ and ‘Wadsworth’ (Is he a butler?) throughout the play. The cast were at their very best when they were all collaborating together, I was seriously impressed by some of their movement scenes! Bravo!

When it comes to the set, before the show started I wasn’t too hopeful in all honesty. As you walk into the auditorium, you see the manor at the back of the stage on top of a Cluedo board, with the outlines of a Cluedo board framing the stage, and lots of black boarding. From seeing this, I was worried that ‘this’ was going to be the whole set. I’m incredibly happy to say that this was not the case however. The set was so creative. I loved the way that you could be seamlessly transported from one iconic room to the next just via few fly downs and the seamless movement from the cast. The cast would do all of the scene changes and it made what could’ve been quite a stale play, into an incredibly dynamic one. 

A big highlight that I’m taking from ‘Cluedo 2’ is the way they portrayed moving from room to room around the house. Moving set is one task, but moving characters whilst they’re all still on stage is even harder. Yet here it was seamless. The only way I can describe it is almost Scooby-Doo-esc. Moving on the spot whilst others moved the set to make it seem like they were travelling, to going off on one side of the stage and instantly appearing the other. And the ‘Scooby-Doo’ style fit in with the 60s theme perfectly. Seriously impressive! 

Seriously impressive! 

The lighting was also incredibly clever and effective. The board at the back of the stage would light up in all different colours, and then one of the rooms would be spotlit depicting what room the current scene was taking place in. I loved this detail so much. The lights from room to room were designed fantastically and really helped immerse where you were meant to be as well. The music that would play throughout the play at times was very 60s, not to mention the music in the auditorium during the interval and pre-show. 

Overall ‘Cluedo 2’ was very fun. It was funny, it was stunning to watch at times, and it did its job as a whodunnit – it made you think whodunnit, then change who you thought did it, then change that once again. Yes I definitely think it could’ve been funnier and it’s a shame that not all of the jokes landed, some of them I worry you had to think about too much. Or the timing was just slightly off, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t funny. The play is marketed for anyone from 8-80 years old, however I don’t think this is a play perfectly suited for kids. It’s extremely fast paced, and a lot of the jokes are aimed towards adults – if not directly then indirectly through innuendo. Yes it does still feature silly slapstick comedy, but it’s more to the Monty Python/Blackadder slapstick over pantomime slapstick for example. This doesn’t mean kids shouldn’t see this show, I just think that its more aimed towards an adult audience in both script and direction. 

If you’re a fan of whodunnits, detective comedies, or just of the board-game in general – you will love this play. I think it should also be noted that you don’t need to see the first ‘Cluedo’ to understand what happens in ‘Cluedo 2’. ‘Cluedo 2: The New Chapter’ is in Southampton until June 23rd before continuing on its big UK tour. I wish all the cast and crew the best of luck on their exciting run! Go and see if you can work out whodunnit…