Thursday, 28 March 2024

Comedy Cluedo review (Melbourne International Comedy Festival)

A murder has taken place. Specifically, Lucy Henderson's. And she's been given one more hour on Earth - as a ghost - to solve her murder, with the help of her audience. In Comedy Cluedo, Henderson shares anecdotes of her life as we try to piece together the puzzle of who killed her, where and with what.

Henderson has designed a creative slide deck of the locations, suspects and weapons, with each one serving a unique story and jokes that provide clues to her untimely death. It's unfortunate that tech difficulties prevented Henderson from displaying this on a screen and instead was projected on a brick wall which made the images and words close to impossible to decipher.

When her University Classroom is selected by her "detectives" as an option to investigate, Henderson recalls her time studying an economics degree and the harsh burn given to her by one of her classmates. But is that enough for murder? When another person selects Glady Berejiklian as a person of interest, Henderson shares some DM’s that she sent to Gladys, but who is stalking who?

Comedy Cluedo is advertised as an interactive show and while that is technically true, the level of interactivity is quite limited with audience simply picking people, places and weapons from the screen. Due to the nature of the show, the clues and material all depends on what is selected by the audience, so the structure can be very different night to night.

On this night, Henderson has some interesting tales to tell including why her parents got divorced and the perks of sleeping with a Contiki bus driver, but the delivery could be more animated. As there are no sound or lighting cues, the stories begin to bleed into each other so changing how these stories are told would strengthen the show. The finale is also missing a sense of excitement and it feels like we're simply going through the motion of revealing the answers.

Henderson has a pleasant stage presence who is confident in engaging with her audience and responding and reacting to what they are saying. There is promise with Comedy Cluedo but like the 1985 movie Clue, maybe another ending would help make it all come together.

SHOW DETAILS

Venue: Bard's Apothecary, 7/24 Crossley St, Melbourne
Season:
 until 6 April | Mon - Sat 6:45pm
Duration:
 60 minutes
Tickets:
 $25 Full | $20 Conc | $18 Tightarse Tuesday
Bookings:
 Melbourne International Comedy Festival

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