From board game to stage: LHS preforms Clue for their spring play
From April 14-15 the theater department performed Sandy Rustin’s “Clue” at 7:30 pm in the auditorium. The play was directed by Mr. Christopher Thomas and senior student director David Joseph.
This spring was Joseph’s first-time student directing. He enjoyed developing the show through a new perspective and “getting to see people perform and add stuff on by their own fruition,” he said.
“Clue” follows six peculiar guests who are invited to a mansion by an unknown host. Upon their arrival, the guests, using colors for their names, sit down for a strange dinner. After the dinner, the guests are introduced to their host and blackmailer. Each of them then receives a lethal murder weapon and after the light briefly goes out, the host is killed. Now, the guests have to figure out who the murderer is before they become the next victims.
The play is filled with humor, mystery, and drama. As always, the theater department put on a spectacular performance, from lights and music to the set and props and of course, the actors.
The complex characters in the show demonstrate vastly different personalities that are forced to work together to solve the impending mystery. One character, Mrs. Peacock, played by senior Lucy Randolph, is a flighty and defensive old woman, more determined to exit the mysterious mansion than solve the crime. Randolph didn’t base her character strictly off the movie, instead playing with her own take, saying, “I kind of just did it on my own, just [making] her what I thought she should be.”
As the guests try to look for the murderer, they move around many different rooms in the mansion. As they entered the different rooms, viewers too were able to see the scene on the stage change right in front of their eyes. Set, lighting, and technical director Mr. Holly said that the crew had to practice moving the rooms in and out “The testers [wheels of the set pieces] don’t swivel, they just go straight back and forth. Sometimes they can get a little bit off”. Despite the challenge, the crew was able to pull off a spectacular performance.
The major plot twist of the show comes at the end when timid, anxious Mr. Green is revealed to be an undercover FBI agent, here to arrest all the guests including Wadsworth, who we have now figured out is actually Mr. Boddy in disguise. Faint-hearted Mr. Green ends up being the one to solve the mystery of the guests and saves the day, calling the police to take them all away.
Such a complex character takes a while to understand and portray. Senior Christian Montero, who plays Mr. Green, said, “I worked on the core of my character first, and then I worked outside. I started with the inside and then how he presents himself, just to get to know him better”.
The show was a riveting combination of suspense, thrill, and humor. There were many memorable moments in the production. “My favorite funny moment is Wadsworth’s entire death scene because it’s just so dragged out,” said junior Hope Wagner. The physicality of Wadsworth, as well as all the other characters, was what made the show so engaging. “The staging of all the physical parts was funny,” said Randolph.
The cast of “Clue” was smaller than in previous productions, but that did not stop the cast and crew from pulling off a great performance.
Montero said, “I think we all [the cast] felt pretty close and had a good time just being silly.”
