Whether huddled at a kitchen table, sitting in a darkened cinema or watching a curtain rise, the world of Clue offers 3 distinct parts of detective work. What began in 1949 as a board game of logic and dedication has evolved into a cinematic classic and, more recently, a stage play that turns the mystery into a feat of physical endurance. With Bryant Production of Clue with the performances being on April 9, 10, 11 and 12
The board game of Clue was invented by a British musician, Anothony E. Pratt in 1943 during WWII, the game was originally titled “Murder”. It was manufactured in 1949 as Cluedo in the UK and Clue in North America.
The board game was adapted into a film in 1985, directed by Jonathan Lynn. While not a critical hit, it became a beloved classic for its multiple endings. Ending A or the first ending, Miss Scarlet did it. She is revealed as a mastermind behind the blackmailing operation, killed the cop, motorist, singer telegram girl, Yvette (the maid), Mr. Boddy and the cook. Ending B being Mrs. Peacock’s doing, she killed all listed before and prevented her husband’s corruption from being exposed, as he is a senator. The last ending, Ending C, is “The Real Ending” or everyone did it. All the guests committed murders to protect their secrets being Professor Plum killed Mr. Boddy, Mrs. Peacocks killed the cook, Colonel Mustard killed the motorist, Mrs. White killed Yvette and Miss Scarlet killed the cop.
The stage play, from 2017 to present, is an adaptation of Clue: On Stage was by Sandy Rustin based on Jonathan Lynn’s original 1985 screenplay. It first premiered in 2017 and has since become a successfully produced play in American high schools.
Each of them being the board game, film and stage play, takes place in a mansion with a cast of colorful suspects and a mounting pile of bodies. Each the board game, film and stage play demands something different from their audience: the game asks you to be strategic, the movie invites you to be a laughing observer and the play places you into a witness to the chaos of live theatre.
The board game is a masterpiece of logic and deduction because it functions as an elimination grid. By tracking where every card is, and isn’t, players use logic to find one true remaining. Every player starts with the same goal to narrow down the possibilities using a process of elimination.
The characters are blank slates; Colonel Mustard, Miss Scarlett, Mrs. White, Mr. Green, Mrs. Peacock and Professor Plum are characters that you and others can choose to play as while finding out the mystery of who killed Mr. Boddy. The real joy lies in the final moments where your deduction finally eliminates the last lie to reveal the truth. Winning requires more than luck, players must strategically spend their turns to lead opponents into revealing specific cards, slowly getting the information needed to solve the case.
The 1985 film takes the blank characters of the game and gives them personalities. The movie follows six strangers who are anonymously invited to a secluded mansion on a far and stormy night. They are met by the butler Wadsworth, who assigns them color coded identities to protect their actual identities. The group soon discovers they are all being blackmailed by the host Mr. Boddy. When Boddy and others start being murdered, the guests must go through the mansion to find the killer before the police arrive.
Unlike the game’s singular logic, the movie famously featured three different endings, capturing the “it could have been anyone” spirit of the board game while leaning into the absurdity, over the top way the characters react to the escalating bodies, of the situation they are put in. It’s less about who and more about how they all ended up in this mess of mysteriously appearing dead bodies, and finding who the murderer actually is.
Out of these 2, the movie has to be the closest to the play. The play is a direct adaptation of the film. Both rely on the same rapid dialogue, physical comedy, and the characters becoming increasingly practical about hiding a mounting pile of bodies. They both also begin with the guests arriving at Boddy Manor on a dark and stormy night to later figure out they are facing a blackmailer. The climax of both involves the butler, Wadsworth, frantically running through the house to recap how each murder happened. But, the stage play only had one ending, which was the film’s Ending C, where they were all the murderers.
Ultimately, whether you prefer a strategic board game, a sharp and witty film or the frantic energy of the stage, Clue remains a classic. The result is always the same, a reminder that investigating a murder is never more entertaining than when it’s full of comedy.
