Brett Reeve as Mr Green and Ripley Hepburn as Mrs Peacock. Photos: Geoff Vivian.
Katrina McAleese’s stage play Clue is not to be missed.
The setting is a country mansion close to Washingon DC during the McCarthy era, when US politicians led a “witch hunt” of public figures thought to be communists or Soviet agents.
Mak Bailye as The Butler and Russell Baxter as Colonel Mustard.
In true Agatha Christie style, six strangers find themselves in the house with three servants and their mysterious host when the murders begin.
While most of the actors will be familiar to Bijou theatre goers, McAleese’s careful casting and coaching has brought out the strengths in each of the actors, allowing each of them to shine.
While the play is a farcical treatment of the Agatha Christie-style “whodunit” genre, she removes any notion of seriousness with her own choreography and self-chosen sound effects, bringing plenty of laughs from the audience.
Several out-of-town visitors sitting behind me were clearly delighted, with one gent admitting later that this was the first time he had seen a live play.
Although she has directed several shorts at the Bijou, the Sandy Rustin stage adaptation of the board game Cluedo is McAleese’s first full length production.
She is just hitting her straps as a director and I am predicting we will see a lot more of her work in the future.
