Saying anything critical of Cluedo 2 is a little like slapping a Labrador puppy – it’s so bouncy and eager to please that it seems entirely inappropriate.
The cast of Cluedo 2: The Next Chapter | Photo © Dave Hogan
And many aspects of the production showing this week at Theatre Royal Bath are deserving of praise – except, sadly, the script.
Cluedo the board game is now 75 years old, and its seemingly endless popularity has led to excellent movies such as Clue and Murder by Death, and then a stage play.
But it appears Professor Plum, Miss Scarlett and friends did not all die in that, for they have now returned for Cluedo 2, which this time is set in the Swinging Sixties.
The set (a strikingly surreal, versatile and colourful design by David Farley, dominated by a giant game board behind) is a manor house owned by fading musician Rick Black, played by Liam Horrigan channelling real Russell Brand vibes.
Rick has invited guests over (you can guess which ones!) to hear his new track which he hopes will bring him new fortunes. But sadly each one has a motive for murder and it doesn’t take long for Rick to become the first – but very much not the final – victim.
The familiar Cluedo characters keep their names but are playing different characters; for example, Mrs Peacock (a strutting Hannah Boyce) is Rick’s money-hungry wife. They are joined by Wadsworth (a limber-limbed Jack Bennett) who is the butler – or is he…?
So far so good, and the snappy direction by Mark Bell keeps everything suitably frenetic. He is aided greatly by the polished technicolour fusion of set, costumes and Jason Taylor’s excellent lighting design.
The suspects move seamlessly through the endless rooms via moving doors and furniture (where do they keep it all backstage?) and there is very slick movement direction by Anna Healey, bringing some great visuals and humour in the scene changes.
The humour is, alas, the element that feels very missing – or at least very dated. This clearly aims to be a laugh-a-minute spoof, but chuckles are few and far between as the jokes feel as though they have been cut and pasted from tired 70s sitcoms and are still hoping to amuse.
And there is much repetition of dated gags (e.g. a frustrated actor being endlessly mistaken for the butler) which are rather hammered home.
But maybe people go to a play like this exactly for the familiarity and nostalgia, and so these types of jokes would suit just fine.
Either way round, with this twisty-turny show, if you’re still trying to work out whodunwhat towards the end as the bodies pile high – good luck!
Cluedo 2 is at Bath Theatre Royal until 11th May. Box office: 01225 448844.
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Reviewer: Steve Huggins
