Strictly Come Dancing star makes stage debut in Cluedo 2 at Theatre Royal Brighton

I’ve always loved a good whodunit (probably spurred on by watching a healthy dose of crime dramas with my nan and grandad when I was younger) and so it made sense that I’d always be up for guessing if it was Miss Scarlett, in the billiard room, with the lead piping or Rev Green, in the kitchen, with the dagger.

This love of murder mysteries meant when I saw Cluedo 2 was coming to Theatre Royal Brighton, I jumped at the chance to go to the opening night last night (Tuesday, March 19).

But it wasn’t quite what I thought it would be…

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Call me silly (lots of people surely do), but I just thought it was going to be a standard murder mystery-type play.

But it’s so much more than that, and all the better for it. It’s funny, it’s camp, it’s self-referential, it’s full of farce and folly. Of course it is! Because we don’t actually know anything about the characters or the story behind them, just that they were always committing murders in a mansion.

Playing it straight would have been such a waste of an opportunity to have fun with the premise that murder was turned into a light-hearted game for children.

When I got home after the show, my husband said ‘well, how did you think they were going to play it? I just assumed it would be a comedy’. So, wiser people than me knew the score, but my surprise at just how silly it was really was a good one.

This outing of Cluedo is set in the swinging 60s, at the home of fading rock star Rick Black. The colourful cast of characters are his hangers on, and we ultimately have to decide who had the most to gain if he was dead.

I won’t tell you, obviously, but it’s a riotous ride to find out exactly whodunit.

Get your tickets for the show HERE

Perhaps the biggest name in the show is Ellie Leach, fresh from winning last year’s season of Strictly Come Dancing with her partner Vito Coppola. I hadn’t realised, as she was fab in the role of Miss Scarlett – sweet and scathing at the same time – but it was her stage debut.

She was join by a cast including Jason Durr as Colonel Mustard, Rick’s no-nonsense manager, Dawn Buckland as cook Mrs White and Jack Bennett as actor-playing-a-butler Wadsworth.

I loved the way the cast changed the sets over as they went from room to room, employing some groovy dance moves to do so, and lots of funky walking around the stage holding picture frames. It’s a novel way to get set changes done, and worked really well in the humorous style of the show.

Turns out, this is the second outing of Cluedo on the stage, and there’s also been a Hollywood film starring Tim Curry (who knew?! Not me!). If, like me, you had no idea the loved board game had become quite the entertainment franchise, you’re in for a real treat. And even if you did, I urge you to go and see it, you won’t be bored and you’ll have a right laugh.