Clue at Bridewell

Clue

Open 26/09/2023 – 30/09/2023

Venue Name: Bridewell Theatre, Bride Lane, Off Fleet Street, London EC4Y 8EQ

Venue Postcode: EC4Y8EQ

Website: https://www.sedos.co.uk/shows/2023-clue

Based on the screenplay by JONATHAN LYNN, written by SANDY RUSTIN

Additional material by HUNTER FOSTER and ERIC PRICE

Based on the Paramount Pictures Motion Picture, based on the Hasbro board game CLUE, original music by Michael Holland

Societies: Sedos

Sex. Money. Power. Murder. Clue. On Stage.

Based on the iconic 1985 Paramount movie which was inspired by the classic Hasbro board game, Clue is a hilarious farce-meets-murder mystery.

The tale begins at a remote mansion, where six mysterious guests - all with dastardly secrets of their own - assemble for an unusual dinner party where murder and blackmail are on the menu. When their host turns up dead, they all become suspects. Led by Wadsworth – the butler, Miss Scarlett, Professor Plum, Mrs. White, Mr. Green, Mrs. Peacock and Colonel Mustard race to find the killer as the body count stacks up.

Clue is the comedy whodunit that will leave both cult-fans and newcomers in stitches as they try to figure out…WHO did it, WHERE, and with WHAT!

Clue plays at the Bridewell Theatre from 26-30 September 2023. The running time of Clue is 90 minutes with no interval.

Clue is presented by special arrangement with Broadway Licensing, LLC, servicing the Dramatists Play Service collection. www.dramatists.com

Director Emma J Leaver says:

First and foremost the Clue film is an iconic comedy – that many have a nostalgic fondness for, and we all need a laugh at the moment. It was a camp family favourite and has generated more than its fair share of gifs and memes. Its got sight gags, slapstick, word-play and a ridiculous murder mystery plot. What’s not to like? Also, I love a challenge, and scaling back a mansion setting to the Bridewell stage is certainly that!

Secondly, as I’ve played more and more board games over the last few years, I wanted to think about how to bring to life the chaotic joy of the board-game player experience. It is creative, and unexpected, but also has to stick to certain rules and collaborative play to be satisfying. To that end, our ensemble not only undertake essential character roles with that move the plot along but are also the players of the game of Clue (or Cluedo). They, like many role-play gamers, create the world as they interact with that. Merging that concept, into a film-like world, is one that I thought would be a lot of fun.

Finally, the main story of Clue is set in the 1950s and in the height of McCarthyism and ‘the Red Scare’. This when to be ‘un-American’ was one of the worst accusations you could be tainted with; you could lose everything – in particular your reputation. Perhaps understandably in some cases, many were caught up in hysterical finger-pointing to accuse others to protect their own places in the world. But more often than not, accusations were unfounded and created for the sake of manufactured scandal. If the last few years are anything to go by, I’ve begun to wonder if those who are most publicly concerned with morality the private lives of others might be hiding something themselves. And this play holds a mirror up to that kind of hypocrisy – and cranks it up to a farcical level with some 'we love to hate them' villains. It is this ridiculousness that makes it so much fun, and a timeless classic.

More details and tickets: sedos.co.uk