Cluedo: quick links
Cluedo: game become film becomes stage show
Based on the screenplay by Jonathan Lynn and adapted for the stage by Sandy Rustin, Cluedo draws on two pop-culture classics: the fan-favourite 1985 Paramount Pictures film Clue, starring Tim Curry, and the 1949 Hasbro board game Cluedo, which has sold more than 150 million copies worldwide.
Whether the play leans more heavily on the film or the game is almost beside the point. It sits squarely within the current trend of adapting beloved pop culture products for the stage. A play based on a game based on a film (or vice versa), Cluedo may be theatrical Inception, but it is undeniably commercially savvy, with successful productions staged previously in the United States and United Kingdom; now, it’s Australia’s turn.
Set on a dark and stormy night in New England, 1949, the story unfolds as six guests arrive at Boddy Manor for a dinner party, none of them knowing quite why they’ve been invited. Each guest adopts a pseudonym, masking who they truly are, until it becomes clear they are connected by the fact that they all are being blackmailed by the same man.
Within the first 30 minutes of the production, one person is dead and the evening turns into a race to uncover whodunnit. What follows is a board-game-night-turned-comedy-thriller, as the characters move room by room, hurling accusations, dodging suspicion and avoiding being murdered themselves. With a steady stream of slapstick routines and sharp comedic wordplay, this fast-paced mystery keeps the audience guessing until its final moments.
Cluedo: murder mystery meet screwball comedy
Director Luke Joslin balances dark undertones with screwball comedy, ensuring the focus never stays too long on one character so the mystery doesn’t settle too early.
The cast largely adopts English accents throughout, with a few deliberate exceptions when certain characters reveal their true selves. However, the setting of the play, like the film, is a New England manor in the United States, complete with references to Washington, D.C. But this production also retains UK-specific references from the British stage adaptation, including mentions of the Tory party and Winston Churchill.
The result is, technically, an Australian production of a British stage adaption, based on an American play of an American film, inspired by a British board game. This layering of geographical and cultural influences adds an unnecessary level of confusion to the production. Or perhaps that’s the point.
Cluedo: characters and strong performances make the show
Once characters are introduced like a deck of cards, the plot goes around in circles like a board game, to the point of making one feel dizzy as we spiral to the end of the play. Ninety minutes to solve the mystery is a stretch, but it’s not the plot we’re here for. It’s the characters.
Cluedo is a true ensemble piece, with every routine and transition expertly choreographed by Movement Director Danielle Evrat and brilliantly executed by the 11-strong cast. One ill-timed door slam or unscripted scream may have toppled the whole production, but the cast clearly understand the rhythm of farce, allowing the humour to land cleanly while maintaining narrative momentum. The energy of the performances never drops.
Among the standouts is Grant Piro as Wadsworth, who holds the pace in the palm of his hand. Just when your head is spinning from who’s killed who, Piro retells the evening in a quickfire sequence that on opening night received a well-deserved round of applause.
Laurence Boxhall’s embodiment of Reverend Green is a delight to watch. From crab walking across the stage with a gun and playing limbo with a chandelier, to pulling evidence out of every nook and cranny of his costume, his physical comedic timing hits the mark every time.
James Browne’s set design is intricately detailed and cleverly conceived, echoing the rooms of the board game itself. Rooms slide in and out like drawers, forming a shifting maze of possibilities, as Cluedo quite literally comes to life before the audience’s eyes.
The costumes lean into exaggeration, caricatures drawn from the game’s iconic palette. The colourful costumes representing characters’ names (Mrs White in white, Colonel Mustard in yellow) inject brightness and clarity to a confusing plot, reinforcing the production’s playful tone. The female cast fully embrace this, allowing the costume to enhance the persona.
Sound by Sean Peter and lighting by Jasmine Rizk help to maintain the fast pace with perfectly timed transitions as well as thunder and lightning accenting certain moments throughout.
Being its first week of a four-month Australian tour, there will be a few kinks to iron out, but if you don’t get too caught up in origins of the work, it’s an escape from the everyday and a fun night out for all.
Cluedo, written by Sandy Rustin and based on the screenplay by Jonathan Lynn, is presented by John Frost for Crossroads Live. The production plays the Playhouse, QPAC, Brisbane until 1 February before touring to Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney.
