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We all know, or are at least vaguely familiar with, the story: Six colorful guests arrive at a dinner party only to find out that the host has been murdered. Who did it? Where? With what? From the classic murder-mystery board game first published in 1949, to the endless spin-offs and the hilarious ’80s film, there is no doubt that Clue has become a pop culture staple over the past few decades.
Nate Silver ’10, director and organizer of the production, admits to being a huge fan of the film, which was inspired by the board game. “I’m trying to remember the first time I saw it,” he said, “but whenever it was, I immediately became a fan. Whenever I stayed home sick from school, it was always the movie I rented to watch.” Silver, a drama major, has wanted to create a stage version of the movie for a long time, and in his final year at Vassar, he has decided to make his idea a reality. “I’ve wanted to do a stage version of Clue since I was in high school,” he said. “Once I got heavily involved in theater, I realized how fun it would be to translate the film to the stage. I had been waiting for the right opportunity to produce it, and once I became a senior, I realized I was running out of time and that I better do it soon.”
The stage version is not an exact replica of the film; it merely takes the film as an inspiration and starting point for a one-of-a-kind, interactive performance. “The film,” explained Silver, “serves as a skeleton to this production—the characters and the plot are similar, and some of the dialogue is the same.” What promises to make this performance exciting and unique is its interactive nature; as the plot develops, the audience will choose which character they want to follow around Main Building, which for a few days will be transformed into the Hill House Mansion.
“I was walking through Main one day and sat in a parlor,” Silver explains. “I realized how perfect it would be to stage the play promenade, with the audience moving from space to space, following the action.” Indeed, it is easy to see the resemblance between Main Building and Hill House Mansion. This simiarity, along with the play’s hard-working costume and set designers, will help the audience lose themselves in the glamorously mysterious world of “Clue,” if only for a few hours.
“We will essentially be using most of the second floor—the Rose, Jade, Faculty and Gold Parlors, the catering kitchen, the Villard Room, the President’s Conference Room and a women’s bathroom. During the production, Main House will become Hill House in the sense that we will leave our perceptions of Main at the door and enter into a 1954 murder mystery that takes place in unfamiliar ways,” explained Silver.
One of the challenges of creating a stage version of Clue has to do with the nature of the transitions between scenes in the film. This is where improvisation comes in: “Because film has the ability to quickly cut from scene to scene and in our production those transitions have significantly more duration,” Silver remarked, “the actors have worked hard to flush out those moments and incorporate improvisation into the production.” This makes the production all the more exciting, as the characters truly come to life and take over Main Building in their search for the murderer, he explained. “I love this production because it is so interactive.” said actor Seth Biberstein ’10. “With the audience following us around ‘Hill House,’ the spontaneity of the actors is heightened, and we’re required to utilize our improvisational skills. It’s fun to take a script and add our own comedic impulses.”
But just as the actors are fully immersed in the world of “Clue,” so, too, is the audience. “When the actors split up,” explained Silver, “no one will be able to see everything, so folks will have to choose among following Yvette and Mr. Green upstairs, following Professor Plum and Mrs. Peacock downstairs, staying where they are to keep an eye on the impending murders, etc…The audience will have to take an active role into how best to experience the production and make decisions about which principle narrative to follow.”
“Clue” guarantees a truly immersing, fun experience, as actors and audience alike will try to unveil the mystery of the Hill House murder. “Never knowing where they will be heading next,” Silver said, “the audience will be kept in suspense, trying to piece the entire story together.”
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