What a foolproof idea for an enjoyable evening: a play based on the board game Cluedo and, even better, a second play, Cluedo 2.

By Angie Millard

Photos by Alastair Muir

The play is pure fun as the characters race through a huge house (owned by Rick Black, a Rock musician), moving  from room to room to avoid the murderer. Will the next victim be Miss Scarlet, played by Ellie Leach, making her acting debut, or the nasty manager Colonel Mustard, Jason Durr? Will they be done to death by a lead pipe in the conservatory or a candlestick in the dining room? Or will it be multiple weapons?

The script, written by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran, who also wrote The Play That Went Wrong and other hits such as Birds of a Feather, has a comic formula which succeeds. It is fast paced and packed with jokes and farcical situations. No need for analysis or debating solutions and the audience seemed fine with that. The Director, Mark Bell, creates the momentum and a slick style to sustain the energy required.

The play is set in the 1960s. Mrs Peacock (Hannah Boyce) provides brittle sophistication while ‘Professor’ Alex Plum (Edward Howells) offers humour as a stoned hippie. Reverend Hal Green (Gabriel Paul) is an unlikely survivor of Vietnam and Mrs White, the housekeeper, played by understudy Audrey Anderson, appears unexpectedly around every corner. In other words, there is a complete cast of all the stereotypic characters required, including an unexpected butler (Jack Bennett) who is an actor looking for work but has the role of butler foisted on him, and, naturally, a policeman played by Tiwai Muza.

The set is cleverly designed by David Farley who creates the impression of 17 rooms by using pieces of furniture which are flown in or pushed on by the actors. Lighting is by Jason Taylor, sound by Jon Fiber, and movement, which is crucial to the flow of the action, is directed by Anna Healey.

Caveat Emptor for those of you who appreciated the clever situational surprises of Sleuth by Anthony Shaffer. This piece is a case of what you see is what you get, so don’t go searching for clever denouements.

Cluedo 2 is being performed at York Theatre Royal from 12 to 16 March 2024.