Before I saw this show, I was asked by a fellow audience member what it was about. My only answer was that it was about Houdini. That was enough for me at the time, but I learnt so much more while I was sat in the theatre.
Magical from the get-go, the show begins with a trick, taught to actor Lee Garrett by Roy Davenport, as the lead appears from an empty box in centre stage. You’d be forgiven at this point for believing that the show is going to be a replica of a Houdini performance, but this is not the case. This production is more than just a magic show and more than just a play – but a merging of the two, and a one-man show, for the most part, at that.
Houdini was the world’s first superstar, famous the world over for his magic tricks, ability to escape any binds and death-defying stunts. But as this production points out, no-one really knows much more about the man behind the showbiz.
In the guise of Houdini and with portrayals of people who knew him, Garrett tells the audience in a stylishly creative fashion stories from key points of Houdini’s real life – his immigration to America as a child, his beginnings in illusions and escapism, the death of his parents, an affair, and finally his timely death on Halloween 1926.
Educational entertainment mixed with the sheer light entertainment of a magic show, this production has you on the edge of your seat, never knowing what will happen next. The mix of tricks included participation from an eager audience, who were still speaking of it during the interval and after the show. Exceptionally performed by Garrett and with a remarkable concept, Houdini is a tribute to the original superstar and definitely an interesting ride
