Cluedo 2: The Next Chapter at Sheffield Lyceum Review
DISCLOSURE – TICKETS TO SEE THE SHOW WERE GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW
Reviewed by J Wright
Cluedo 2 is based on the Hasbro Board game which most of us know and some of us love. Following the original storyline produced by Paramount Pictures we could expect an entertaining evening with all the famed characters of the board game. Miss Scarlett – the femme fatale, Colonel Mustard – the upright and staunch. The set features a giant game board at the back of the stage, ready to draw us into an intrigue of moving around the Manor whilst a murderer lurks amongst us.
This cast boasts some known and skilled actors such as the talents of West End and TV star Jason Durr. You might remember him for his roles in Heartbeat and Casualty. Durr hams up the role of Colonel Mustard with ease, adding a dash of charm and suspicion to the character. Joining Durr is Dawn Buckland, who brings Mrs White to life on stage. Or should that be to death? I couldn’t say. The role of the cook folds into the mystery and mayhem, her portrayal woven into to the tapestry of suspects.
Liam Horrigan brought energy into the mix in his roles with some experience in stage and comedy performance. The script is penned by the award winning duo Maurice Gran and Laurence Marks, setting the original mansion with classic characters now in the 1960’s and the characters are anew, with convoluted back stories. The script is peppered with puns and seaside postcard humour. Perhaps in keeping with the era. Huge amounts of song lyrics were prepped as crack responses, all lost entirely on the younger elements of the audience and scarcely raising a groan with the older. Some of the jokes were rather done to death – though that wasn’t meant to be one of the murders I’m sure.
Mark Bell, an Olivier award winning director, is an industry genius having worked on some fabulous shows and creating an outstanding reputation for himself but even he couldn’t save this whodunit. It feels like there’s too much being crammed in, no jokes were edited and not all the cast were up to the task. All the elements should be there, but despite their efforts the show is a misfire.
I was also rather disappointed at the set. Whilst it was designed in such a way to add to the comedy it lacked the grandeur and possibility it might have offered, almost as important as the characters themselves. The mansion of the game and storyline hides secret passageways with no end of murderous potential. Sadly, the set is ill equipped to deliver on such promise and the creative transitions between scenes don’t help to build on the concept.
Whilst the show offers moments of entertainment it falls a little short of potential and expectation.
2024 is the 75th Anniversary of the game launch and as a game it has done incredibly well for most of those years, though I’m not sure this show will boast the same. Cluedo 2 is like opening the box and finding half the pieces missing, it’s disappointing.
The show runs Tuesday 14th until Saturday 18th May at the Lyceum Theatre.
Tickets are available online https://www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk/events/cluedo-2-next-chapter or at the Box Office on 0114 249 6000 priced at £15.00 to £47.00.
Rating: 3/5