Six strangers find themselves trapped in a nightmarish game of cat and mouse at a dinner party, when their host turns up dead and they are forced to find out who the murderer is.
Is it Colonel Mustard with the lead pipe?
Miss. Scarlet in the kitchen?
Mrs. Peacock with the knife?
Cranbrook Community Theatre (CCT) is rounding off their performance season with a stage-version of the classic family board game Clue, debuting April 19 at Studio Stage Door. Directed by Bob McCue and produced by Michelle McCue, the play brings timeless fictional characters to life, as they work together and against one another to try and solve the murderous mystery before the night ends.
The murder follows a candid discussion between the dinner guests and their host Mr. Boddy (Sanjay Fisk). Boddy threatens to divulge the group’s deepest darkest secrets to the police and the press if they don’t follow through with his diabolical plan.
The group attempts to escape, but quickly finds out that they’re trapped; the doors have been locked, the windows have been barred and vicious dogs prowl the grounds.
With nowhere to go, they are forced to confront their terrible moral dilemma, and as the group muses about their fate, Mr. Boddy’s plan goes awry and he ends up dead.
Tensions rise as the night progresses and the group members begin to turn on each other. They all begin to suspect one another, and take turns accusing each other of murder.
Professor Plum (Trevor Lundy) appears to be an accomplished academic with an impressive career in psychology, but he actually has a history of unscrupulous business practice. Could he have murdered the host to keep him from speaking?
Warm and motherly Mrs. Peacock (Erin Dalton) is all smiles, until it’s revealed that she has been bribing politicians to keep them quiet about her family’s missteps. Could she have had time to kill during her long bathroom break?
Mr. Green (William Nicholson), a nervous twitchy conflict-averse politician, is not as innocent as he seems, having betrayed his political party and his constituents. Would he betray someone else at the party?
Miss Scarlet (Stephanie Moore) is a head-strong self-made woman, but she’s also running an illegal business. How far is she willing to bend the law?
Colonel Mustard (Alexander Gilmour) is a celebrated war veteran who works for the Pentagon, but he has compromising photos that he doesn’t want leaked. Could he have dealt a fatal blow when he separated from the others?
Uppity and bossy Mrs. White (Shannon Edmonstone) was involved with a man who died under mysterious circumstances, and everyone in the group is scared to be in a dark room alone with her. Could she have murdered for the second time?
Or could it be someone else in the house entirely, like the French maid Yvette (Tessie Ward) who is a good shot with a handgun, the butler Wadsworth (Matt Van Boeyen) who hides keys from the party-goers, or the cook (Nikki Van Boeyen) who has bad history with one of the guests?
The lengths the characters go to to keep a secret when confronted with the imminent threat of legal justice, provides a fascinating look into their psyche and their worldview.
And while Mr. Boddy asserts the moral high-ground as the bringer of justice, he really is no better than any of the other guests, keen as he is on forcing them to commit a crime.
Ultimately, law and justice become twisted, bent to suit the needs of the person who breaks it.
The play runs on April 19 and 20, and April 25 to 27 at 7:30 p.m., and on April 28 at 2 p.m.