An ominous murder, an abundance of secrets, a mysterious host and an unsolved mystery. These elements make for a classic, suspenseful story hooking the audience from start to finish. The treater department will be bringing this familiar mystery to life with their fall performance of Clue.
Written by Sandy Rustin, the comedy whodunit mystery takes the audience through a fascinating murder story involving six guests at an odd dinner party: Miss Scarlet, Professor Plum, Mrs. White, Mr. Green, Mrs. Peacock and Colonel Mustard. The story takes a turn when the host turns up dead and the guests become suspects. Clue leaves audiences on the edge of their seats guessing at the future twisted ending.
A multitude of factors came into play when picking the show this year. Theater director Matt Mckay wanted to select a production students could not only engage in, but also by which to be pushed.
“We try to make sure that we have a variety of plays for the students to engage with, I’m always looking for ways for the students to learn new things about theater,” Mckay said. “My whole goal was to really challenge the actors.”
While Clue is a murder mystery, it is also a humorous story. One of the things that the theater department is focusing on with this play is the importance of good comedic acting.
“This was a smaller and tighter cast that needed to get off book [memorize their lines] fast so we could work on comedy. Comedy is largely about the timing and you can’t do that if you’re worried about what to say next,” Mckay said. “Comedy is all about doing something over and over again but making it look like it’s the first time it’s happened. The moment of discovery of a joke or an unintended connection between lines. The actors want to make sure they’re doing a good job with that.”
The comedic feel of the show is entertaining not only the audience, but the cast as well. Senior Sevi Cullum eagerly awaits performing for the community.
“I’m looking forward to having the audience react to all the things we have been doing and everything we’ve been preparing for the past ten weeks. Getting to hear the laughter and everything just reignites the passion,” Cullum said.
Students are having a grand time portraying the interesting figures and delivering exciting plot twists. Junior Race Mashburn plays Mr. Green and is enjoying the creativity that is incorporated throughout the play.
“[Clue is] really different from what we usually do. When you think of Northview plays you usually think of Shakespeare and so this is really outside the box for us,” Mashburn said.
Mashburn hopes the performance brings the audience a sense of suspense.
“It is a murder mystery and comedy so I hope people will find it funny and the jokes come across like we intend them to. There are a lot of really funny moments in the show and us actors find ourselves laughing on stage, and breaking character,” Mashburn said. “I hope people are on the edge of their seats and are excited to learn more, as well as see all the plot twists.”
The actors have recognized the challenges that come with putting on Clue. The main protagonist of the story, Wadsworth, a role that stretches an actor in the performance, is played by Cullum.
“This specific role has pushed me a lot. [My character] is very proper and reserved and there’s a lot of different depths going on because he’s really someone else but he’s pretending within,” Cullum said. “It has been challenging but fantastic. That’s the reason I wanted this role specifically because I looked at the cast and I wanted one that challenged me as an actor.”
The rehearsal process is running smoothly as the department is continuously working hard to polish the show.
“I’m proud of the actors for getting off book as quickly as they did. Typically in high school one of the challenges is to get them to learn their lines. We said it from the beginning if you don’t know your lines this show doesn’t get any better. They all rose to the challenge and got off book quickly,” Mckay said. “The past few weeks have just been trying different ways of saying lines, trying different things, giving notes and perfecting our jokes and timing. We are in a much better place than we would have been if they were still struggling with their lines.”
Since the department is performing a famous mystery play well known by the fans, Mckay is taking into account what he wants the audience to feel.
“It is based off of a movie that a large portion of the audience have already seen. Some of those mysteries aren’t really going to shock them, for them it’s about seeing all of the moments that lead up to those endings,” Mckay said. “For an audience who has no clue of what is going on, [the story] is going to be a fun ride for them.”
The cast also hopes to make the audience feel engaged as they are performing a mystery show.
“I hope [the audience] will feel suspense, feel interested to learn more and get to the end of the story. I hope they are interested in the characters and the depths of the characters as individuals because they all have their own little quirks going on,” Cullum said. “Also I hope they have fun watching it because that’s really all it is, people are supposed to have fun. I hope everybody laughs.”
The theater department will be performing this evening, November 10, at 7 p.m. and tomorrow, November 11, at 3 p.m. Come by to support our young thespians and watch the mysteries unfold.
