I’m sure you’ve all heard of Clue by now. It’s a classic board game and a classic film, but what you may not know is that it’s now been adapted into a play. It also happens to be one of my favorite plays that Centreville High School’s Theatre Centreville has put on. 

The best thing about the play Clue is that it doesn’t stray too far from the film (or screenplay, whatever). They took the best, most memorable parts of the film Clue (released in 1985, in case you wanted to know) and basically just adapted them for the stage. Personally, I’m glad they didn’t put on Clue: The Musical (also based off of the board game), because it is an inferior adaptation of the film, and sometimes I get sick of musicals, but I digress. Back to the play, while it was a pretty strict adaption of the film, there was also some uniqueness in the ending. With every showing, a different ending was presented to the audience (instead of showing every ending one after the other, like the film), with every ending being shown in the final showing of the play, which is a very interesting take on the “multiple possible endings” motif.

The lighting of the play also had a great part in the likability of the play. At many parts in the play, when a certain character was being focused on they (they being the tech-booth people who work special effects) would shine a spotlight with that character’s specific color on them (i.e. Colonel Mustard being yellow, Ms. Scarlet being red), which I thought was a subtle, but nice, touch.

Basically, when it all comes down to it, Clue was an all around solid play, and a great adaption of the film, which was an adaption of the board game. They really only had to get one fundamental thing right: live up to the film. The acting, set, and story combined did this as well as one possibly could, which is commendable. If you haven’t seen the film Clue by now, you should totally watch it, you won’t regret it.