Cluedo 2, now showing at Guildford’s Yvonne Arnaud, is a new comedy mystery, inspired by the board game Cluedo which celebrates its 75th anniversary this year. Written by BAFTA Award winners Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran, it is directed by Mark Bell, the director of the original hit UK production of Cluedo and the global hit, The Play That Goes Wrong.
So, it has good credentials. I wasn’t really sure what to expect, having not seen the first Cluedo. I imagined a Marplesque, old fashioned comedy whodunit, set in a big house with suspects to a murder or murders committed using a candlestick, lead pipe etc. I was half right…
The play starts loudly, with a young cast and fairly youthful characters. The dialogue is quick, and with a variety of strong accents, is a little hard to follow to start with, such is the pace. It wasn’t what I expected and I was a little unsure to start with. Happily though, it soon settled down and turned into an extremely enjoyable farce.
The set is basic but turns into the rooms of the house by the actors who dress it between scenes. For this sort of production, it works. We have the usual suspects, with Miss Scarlett ably played by award-winning actress and Strictly Come Dancing champion Ellie Leach and West End and TV star Jason Durr as Colonel Mustard. An excellent turn from Wordsworth, the ‘butler’, played excellently and very enjoyably by Jack Bennett and also Dawn Buckland, who has great fun as the cook, Mrs White.
It’s all a little slapstick, rather frenetic and all the more enjoyable for that. From a slow start, it gets into its stride, especially in the second half, and becomes a rollocking ride to the end. It makes you laugh out loud quite often and sometimes that really is all you could ask for on a wet, rather miserable October evening.
It is running at the Yvonne Arnaud until Saturday 5th October.
yvonne-arnaud.co.uk/whats-on/cluedo-2
