The Upper School’s rendition of the play Clue, directed by Justin Indovina and sophomore Miranda Cornell, was the walking, falling, singing, screaming proof of excellency produced by teamwork.  Mr. Indovina put together a multi- dimensional  play based off of the mysterious movie and game, Clue.  As tech member, Jamie Goodin said “It was really interesting to see everyone bring the board game to life.”  The entire team, actors, directors and tech, allowed us, the audience to enter into a world in which a single murderer or maybe many murderers needed to be discovered by putting together the clues.  From Wadsworth, the butler (played by senior August Rosenthal), to the mysterious Ms. Scarlet (sophomore Emma Newbery), we were all left until the very last minute unsure of who the murderer or murderers were.

In Clue, everyone had to work together.  In the very beginning of the play, certain actors stood facing the audience in semi-darkness and recited their lines without using visual cues so that their words flowed into one another, all the while keeping their eyes focused in front of them. Afterwards, as we were introduced to the “guests,” the music and lighting added to the mood, really absorbing the audience.  We all know how in movies the music, sometimes without us even realizing, greatly impacts our mood as does the lighting. The upper school tech crew this us live. It was the scenes to life but also the lighting music, and the masterfully crafted props and sets.

Something particular that was impressive was the use of accents by each of the actors.  They all showed their complete acceptance and interest in their own individual role through the way they spoke: the volume, pitch, speed, twang—all were different.  The physical appearance of each character (the color of costume, hair styling, etc) gave the audience a greater understanding and therefore feeling of unification with the characters.  Each unique in regard to their diction. Colonel Mustard’s (freshman Henry Pearson) stylistic walking choice differed greatly from Professor Plum’s (senior Emmett White). Senior Isabella Mastrogiacomo, who saw the show on Friday evening said, “Each actor completely took their unique character.”  Once we felt that we understood the individuality of the characters, we were able to feel an emotional connect, bringing the play to life.

In a school newspaper, we would all imagine that even if the play was horrendous the reviewer would give it five stars. This wasn’t the case with Clue, though. I, and all other audience members can honestly say that  Clue was brilliant!  The wild scream of sophomore, Tristan Gillia’s, Mrs. Peacock still resonates in my ears and junior, Eleanor Pearson’s rendition of Yvette still paints an image in my mind of the temptress French maid. There is no need to look through the mystery of clues as we did during the play.  Clue was clearly a terrific play.