Cluedo

I must start this review by saying that upon arrival I was advised that there was double casting and that the principal female characters were performed by different actresses at different performances so my review is based upon seeing Yvonne Pummell as the Cook, Donna Dinley as Mrs. White, Julie Howlett as Mrs. Peacock and Katy Blessett as Miss Scarlet. I’m sure that Sarah Robinson, Jenny Slingsby, Wendy Green and Patsy Tams were just as accomplished in these respective roles at other performances.

This isn’t an easy play to stage as the scenes flow seamlessly from one room in Boddy Manor to another. The stage here at the South Holland Centre is quite wide and allowed for three opening labelled doors to be lined up on a diagonal and wheeled into the centre of the stage to indicate which room the characters were entering or leaving at any one time. The back drop was a room/hall interior and printed screens were moved on stage left or right as required to represent the interiors of various rooms, e.g. the Study, the Library or the Kitchen, and rather lavishly the Conservatory. There were several pieces of furniture and props etc. brought on to help dress the various room sets, this was all actioned very smoothly by a team dressed as servants who also took their own well deserved curtain call. The choice of incidental music played whilst the scene changes took place on a dimly lit stage was well chosen and quite in period, in the 1949 -1951 era.

We initially meet the rather tipsy French maid Yvette, played by Ruth Markham, giving us  early comedy moments which she kept up throughout the show, great accent with her  dialogue and lovely little looks, nods, flirts etc., she worked well with David Broughton as Wadsworth the Butler, David is the glue that holds the story together, the party in order, and gives order to the chaotic ending, this was an excellent performance and his madcap synopsis of the whole play at the end was deservedly applauded, dialogue and interaction with the whole cast was great, and a great slip into an American accent at the end. He now deserves a good rest.

The Ladies were all quite in character, well costumed which aided their appearance and mannerisms, Mrs. White who may or may not be a serial killer, Mrs. Peacock a neurotic politician’s wife, Miss Scarlet, both by name and nature, they were all played to the actresses’ strengths and were well spoken, good projection and had good stage presence. The male characters were Ryan Arnold as Colonel Mustard, strongly played rather humorously as a bit of a lecherous character, John Stevens as Professor Plum, a Casanova type of character, after the ladies and Jez Orbell as Reverend Green, a rather timid character desperate to hide his sexuality, but reveals himself as a police constable at Scotland Yards in his final reveal, all were portrayed with success. There was a lot of dialogue and a lot of action for all of these, getting to grips with running through doors, around the stage, there was a nice and well played opening scene where they were all sat at the dining table. A lot of comedy had been put into this scene and was well played. In fact, a lot of well-played comedy throughout the show, good timing and reactions from all, with a great deal of energy. We had some lovely cameos from Yvonne as the Cook, Peter Rogalla as Mr. Boddy, Lynn Stevens as The Bobby (who lost her moustache), Lina Rogalla as the Motorist and Annette Lowe as the Police Inspector and a burst of song from Sarah Robinson as the singing Telegram Girl.

There was some lovely directorial actions that gave humorous touches, the denial of each character as the Police came in at the final scene, the slowly descending chandelier, the scene in the Study where the ‘dead bodies’ were set to perform in a debauched party in the Study for the Police Bobby to find, the couples pairing off and having a dance before they searched the rooms, the way the doors opened and cast peered out, the trap door to the secret passage in the conservatory. This was a show that flowed with pace despite the logistics of all the scene changes, the humour was kept up throughout, good lighting plot and special effects, thunder, dogs barking etc. A most entertaining evening, well done to Chris and the very large production team, many of whom also appeared on stage.

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