CLUE

From the table to the stage, from tokens to people, the ICSM Drama Society's performance of Clue was a sweet escape from academics.

Interestingly enough, my high school had performed this play leaving me with some sort of expectation.

Arriving, I was greeted very warmly by the cast and crew. Even from the moment I had my hands on the program, I could see that the show was produced with fun. You could feel that everyone involved in this play put a lot of laughter, inside jokes, and heart into this production.

The play opened with Wadsworth, the key character of this play - played by Alex Zhou-who had a consistent and engaging performance throughout. Yvette, played by Ai Niimura, was a hilarious character in general and I appreciated her antics. Out of all our suspects, I think Krithika Nag's performance as Professor Plum and Flurina Briner's performance as Mrs Peacock were the most outstanding. It is not easy to be funny, and it is even harder to be funny whilst on stage; they deserve an extra applause.

This is not to say the other members of the cast weren't charming. I think Alving Chung who played Mr Green stole the stage at the end of the play when he revealed that he was an FBI agent among them all along. Two other small yet notable performances were delivered by Chad Lakhanpal, who played the cat, and Frances Jin, who was the Singing Telegram Girl. Their addition to the play is proof that even a small role can add a lot to a production.

I could see that the show was produced with fun.

One thing that prevented this play from reaching its full potential was the pacing of the actors. It really took away from a lot of the one-liners and the comedic potential was unfortunately not reached. I also think that the blocking of actors was ineffective and poor during some parts of the play.

There is a lot to praise and some to improve regarding the technical side of the production. I thought that the different colours of light representing the characters was brilliant. The lighting in general was helpful for immersion in the suspenseful environment of a murder house. However, I must admit that the ending of the play wasn't very well executed. It felt very repetitive. The changes between scenes were unfortunately very long and thus distracting. As much as I can understand that the change of props are a burden for the backstage crew, I think the Union Concert Hall (UCH) stage could've been utilised much better.

Overall, I don't think it was the most intellectually stimulating play I watched, but at the same time I don't think anyone should've gone into the UCH with that expectation; it is a play based on Cluedo, a board game. However, I do think that the team would have benefited from having one more week of rehearsals because some parts did feel unpolished.

Nevertheless, at the end of the day, it was a college production and it felt like a college production: it was sweet, welcoming, not fully professional, but enjoyable regardless. I would like to use this space to thank the ICSM Drama time who kindly invited me to this play and I am looking forward to seeing their upcoming performances.