Samo Theatre masterfully murders “Clue” on stage
Hawene Alomayehu, Staff Writer
On Nov. 5, Samo theatre presented “Clue,” directed by theatre director Katherine Barraza, to the stage! Since the pandemic, live performances at Samo have been postponed. However, since students are back at school, Samo received permission to put on live performances on campus.
Based on the board game of the same name, “Clue” follows six blackmail victims who are brought into the mansion of their blackmailer, though none of them know why and where they are. After introducing themselves to one another, each guest is handed a murder weapon. All of the sudden, the lights turn off and once they are on, they see their blackmailer dead. The guests have mere hours to find the murderer before the police show up and they are all found guilty!
The inspiration behind the play starts with Barraza. After experiencing hardships during COVID-19, Barraza found it necessary to bring laughter on the stage.
“I think people want to laugh and then get swept away in a story and enjoy it, rather than something dramatic or too heavy,” Barazza said.
It was the actors who truly brought the play to life. Employing a mixture of sarcastic jokes and well timed physical movement, the cast accentuated Clue’s comedic edge. To do this, these actors dedicated much time to understanding characters from the inside out. Learning about their characters’ personalities allowed them to properly address, respond, make decisions and actions all in the way their characters might. Ben Bekele (’23), who played the mysterious Mr. Body, explained how he discovered his character and learned how to become him.
“When I first got my script I saw that Mr. Body was a very intimidating and confident character. As soon as I learned more about him, I put my spin on the character, so that getting into character wasn’t hard. I saw aspects of myself in Mr. Body, like his confidence factor,” Bekele said.
Rehearsal for these actors consisted of reading over lines together, understanding ques, movement of props and then going through movements all over again. Their time commitment was huge but contributed to their strong chemistry and the immense success of the play.
“We just spend a lot of time together and with our characters… and bonded on and off the stage to the point where I just felt comfortable exploring our characters between each other,” Bekele said.
On and off the stage the actors created friendships like no other. This new circle of friends all share a similar goal: to put on a great show.
“Tech nights are long, and they’re there together a lot of the time; they’re in the project together. And I think that bonds people when they’re trying to do something and they’re all in it together: they have to support each other,” Barraza said.
Besides its actors, an essential part of putting on this play lies behind the stage and in booths, in the student lead stage crew. The stage crew played a crucial role in putting on the show, assisting in the production of music lighting, costume design and attending the long rehearsals. Though they are not seen and always dressed in black, the little things and big things behind the stage are always taken care of by them.
With hard work from all ends of the theatre program, these students were able to put on a magnificent show and certainly brought a smile to their audience’s faces.
Hawene Alomayehu / The Samohi