Director Casey Hushion’s cast has great chemistry and punchy comic timing.Evan Zimmerman/Supplied
Title: Clue
Written by: Sandy Rustin
Performed by: Jennifer Allen, Mariah Burks, Donna English, David Hess, Sarah Hollis, Jamil A.C. Mangan, John Shartzer, Jeff Skowron, Mark Jude Sullivan, Elisabeth Yancey and Evan Zes
Director: Casey Hushion
Company: Mirvish Productions
Venue: Royal Alexandra Theatre
City: Toronto
Year: Until June 8, 2025
It’s 1954. McCarthyism is running amok across Washington, where no one is safe from investigation – not the politicians greasing the wheels of American power, not the cooks and maids keeping their homes and certainly not their wives and escorts.
It’s a tense time, and in Clue: On Stage, Sandy Rustin’s terrific theatrical adaptation of Jonathan Lynn’s iconic 1985 screenplay, the game is, as they say, afoot.
The play is relatively faithful to both the film and the board game that inspired it, a mystery predicated on cheesy sight gags and – you’ve been warned – a veritable murder of puns.
When six D.C. power players find themselves at the home of the mysterious Mr. Boddy (Mark Jude Sullivan), his cook (Mariah Burks), his maid Yvette (Elisabeth Yancey) and his butler Wadsworth (the fabulous Jeff Skowron), they soon realize something‘s not right. Before long, there’s a murder, and, à la Agatha Christie, it’s up to them to figure out whodunit.
Of course, you know these colourful party guests well. There’s the bumbling Colonel Mustard (David Hess), who takes things so literally even Amelia Bedelia would be impressed. Mrs. White (Donna English) has a suspicious number of dead ex-husbands, while Mrs. Peacock’s (Jennifer Allen) life partner is a powerful senator. Mr. Green (John Shartzer) is a nervous Republican who may or may not have voted blue in the last election, and Professor Plum (a Stanley Tucci-esque Evan Zes) has an even more lurid secret of his own. And Miss Scarlet (Sarah Hollis) seems to know one or two of these men from the D.C. nightlife scene – which is bad news for them, if word gets out.
Director Casey Hushion’s cast has great chemistry, punchy comic timing and a strong sense of physicality – an important trait in a slapstick comedy such as this one, which frequently sees the party guests tumble over each other like puppies in pursuit of murder weapons and brass keys. Rustin’s script, too, preserves the campy political smarm of the film – you can expect more than a handful of jokes at the United States’ expense. (Elbows up, could-be murderers!)
It’s a shame Clue‘s touring set, designed by Lee Savage, is a bit flimsy – slammed doors rattle the entire Boddy estate in a way that doesn’t seem to be intentional, and the Royal Alexandra Theatre’s narrow proscenium makes for a few sightline issues when murders happen at the very edge of the stage.
The company of the North American tour of Clue.Evan Zimmerman/Supplied
When London’s Grand Theatre co-produced Clue with the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre last year, Brian Perchaluk’s set was wildly imaginative, a spinning, two-floor dollhouse spring-loaded with secrets. Savage’s set isn’t bad, but theatre fans who saw Perchaluk’s – which at the time seemed firmly anchored to the stage without any sightline concerns – might feel a touch shortchanged here.
That’s a minor complaint, though, for a production that lives up to its marketing materials: Clue really is fun for all ages. The McCarthyism of it all is sure to make the adults in the room chuckle – same goes for the raunchy jokes about 1950s prudishness and secrecy – while the wacky accents and proximity to the board game will easily sate the more bookish kids in the audience. The breakneck 80-minute runtime, too, ensures there’s not much room to get bored.
Plus, on the design side, Jen Caprio’s costumes are just gorgeous – Miss Scarlet’s plunging, form-fitting evening gown, in particular, has been tailored to perfection.
Performance-wise, it’s worth singling out Skowron, whose performance as Wadsworth was just right on opening night. Without any spoilers, the seemingly buttoned-up butler is written in a way that might become tiresome in the hands of a less agile actor. (His final monologue, in particular, has the capacity to become exhausting for both actor and audience.) Skowron doesn’t overdo it, and the end result is truly entertaining. His accents could use some work, but hey, it’s Clue, not Shakespeare – a missed word or two in RP dialect is no cardinal sin.
All this to say: Clue is an utter delight. Mystery solved.