We don’t want to give away too much, or raise expectations unfairly, but the Abington High Drama Club’s performance of Clue features a death scene that can’t be missed.
And there are a lot of deaths in Clue. That’s not a surprise. It’s a legendary board game-turned cult classic movie-turned-successful Broadway play and musical based on suspicious killings. Some of the deaths are dramatic, some are sudden, many are silly, but none are uninteresting. Particularly the big one we mentioned earlier.
“Both of us really wanted to do a fall play that was a comedy, and we thought this would be more engaging,” said Susan Mullen, who is directing the play along with AHS senior Molly Joyce. “We also really liked that it was a really small cast, so kids could actually work on their characters, because that’s not something we always get to do with a big cast and the spring musical.”
The Abington HIgh School Drama Club will perform Clue this Thursday and Friday night at 7 p.m. General admission tickets are $12 for adults and $10 for students/seniors and available at the door.
The play follows the adventures of Col. Mustard, Miss Scarlet, Professor Plum and others as they discover and investigate a series of murders, using an assortment of weapons, in various rooms across the Boddy Mansion.
Joyce said another reason they settled on Clue was the amount of technical direction involved. The play features dozens of lighting changes, set movements, and precise sound effects to bring the whodunit farce to life.
“I’m graduating next year, so I’m trying to kind of pass (my technical knowledge) foward, so it’s a really good show that I can use to teach the younger crew how to do this,” said Joyce, who has progressed up the ladder from the technical team, to stage manager, and now director. “That and it’s just a fun show.”
The Drama Club performed the show back in 2015 prior to the opening of the new high school with its state-of-art auditorium. That performance was done in a black box theatre style using a script adapted from the movie and a single table in the middle of the room. This updated presentation uses the script from the recent off-Broadway play and benefits from the auditorium’s full capabilities.
“This is a much more dynamic play; there’s rooms constantly coming in and out, so we’re very excited about that,” Mullen said.
Unlike 2023’s Carrie, which earned rave reviews in part because of its intense scenes, Clue is more farce than violent.
“I think people sometimes think it might be scary because obviously people are gonna die in the show. However, it’s such a farce that it’s okay,” Mullen said. “The kids do such a great job of still keeping it upbeat and happy versus like Carrie, which is actually scary and something spooky is happening. Clue is just very, very funny,”
Clue Cast List
| Wadsworth | Greg Fish |
| Yvette | Charlie Hernandez |
| Miss Scarlet | Natalia Maciel |
| Mrs. Peacock | Vangie McCleary |
| Mrs. White | Lucy Fish |
| Colonel Mustard | Jakob Khalil |
| Professor Plum | Arthur Sugarman |
| Mr. Green | Jake Martins |
| Cook, Singing Telegram, Backup Cop, Newscaster | Rebekah Salah |
| Unexpected Cop, Backup Cop, | Maxim Trucchi |
| Mr. Boddy, Motorist, Chief of Police | Zach Westhaver |
DIRECTED BY: Susan Mullen and Molly Joyce
PRODUCED BY: Meg Tomlin
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