Theatre Royal Bath review: Cluedo 2 is rip-roaringly funny

As the 2023 champion, Ellie swaps the glitterball she won with dance partner Vito Coppola to make her stage acting debut and reigns supreme in the world premiere production of Cluedo 2 playing Miss Scarlett with great gusto.

I went along to watch the performance at the Theatre Royal Bath on Monday, May 6 and was impressed.

It is a classy and assured performance as the mysterious heiress to a country manor not too far from London owned by Russell Brand-look-alike pop musician Rick Black, played by Liam Horrigan, who gloriously camps up the role before meeting an untimely end.

Appearing at the theatre until Saturday, May 11 as part of a nationwide tour, she proves to be outstanding in this production based on the Hasbro board game which is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, and the Paramount Pictures Motion Picture film, Clue.

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Cluedo 2: Hannah Boyce, Gabriel Paul, Jack Bennett, Liam Horrigan, Ellie Leach, Jason Durr. Photo: Alastair Muir (Image: Alastair Muir)

This new production will keep audiences guessing right up to the final moments and has some clever twists and turns along the way, as well as some lovely one-liners and a fair dollop of physical slapstick. It is rip-roaringly funny and well worth a visit.

As the bodies pile up, Cluedo 2's colourful characters - The Honourable Mrs Emerald Peacock, Colonel Eugene Mustard, Professor Alex Plum, Miss Annabel Scarlett, The Reverend Hal Green and the housekeeper Mrs White - move from room to room trying to escape the murderer and survive the night.

Budding detectives of all ages, from 8 to 80 and beyond, can watch for the clues and unravel the secrets, as they try to work out whodunnit… with what… and where.

Following the huge success of the critically acclaimed original play, which visited Bath in 2022, Cluedo 2 is back on stage with a brand-new, original comedy mystery, set in the swinging 60s.

Cluedo 2 is written by one of the UK’s most successful TV and stage writing duos, BAFTA Award-winning Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran, whose television and stage credits include Birds of a Feather, Goodnight Sweetheart and Dreamboats and Petticoats.

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Cluedo 2: Gabriel Paul as Reverend Green and Dawn Buckland as Mrs White. Photo: Alastair Muir (Image: Alastair Muir)

The American twang of Colonel Mustard, played by television and stage star Jason Durr sometimes grated on the ears, while Edward Howells’ portrayal of Professor Plum as a bohemian love interest to Mrs Peacock felt oddly forced.

The omission of specific actor attributions for the senior detective and advert director roles was disappointing, reducing them to mere "and others” and making it look like they had been added in as an afterthought.

However, amidst these shortcomings, one character stood out: the grizzly bear, beating even the flawless performance of the Butler, Wadsworth played by Jack Bennett), who is most definitely NOT a butler.

The bear, whether through impeccable timing or sheer hilarity, stole the show, earning uproarious laughter and thunderous applause.

The cast of Cluedo 2 is completed by Hannah Boyce as Mrs Peacock, Dawn Buckland as Mrs White, Tiwai Muza as PC Silver and Gabriel Paul as Reverend Hal Green, with understudies Kara Alberts-Turner, Audrey Anderson and Henry Lawes playing other roles.

Bringing the action of this hilarious whodunnit to life is director Mark Bell, whose previous stage credits include The Play That Goes Wrong, The Comedy About A Bank Robbery and Cluedo, so expect lots of laughs along the way as the characters get knifed, strangled, hit over the head, and shot dead.

To book tickets contact the Theatre Royal Bath Box Office on 01225 448844 or visit theatreroyal.org.uk.