By Graham Hiley.
On the face of it, Magic at Chichester Festival Theatre is about the friendship between Harry Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who have very different views on spiritualism.
But, like all good conjuring tricks, if you look beneath the surface, there is a very different reality.
It is about loss and longing and love; it is about hope and heartbreak, grief and belief.
Written by and starring renowned actor David Haig, Magic is utterly spell-binding. It is powerful, thought-provoking and yet with enough of a light touch to make it thoroughly enjoyable.
Based on historical fact, it tells the story of the conflict between the Sherlock Holmes author and the world’s greatest illusionist.
Doyle, superbly brought to life by Downton Abbey and Cobra star David Haig, is a firm believer in the psychic world. Like so many in the aftermath of the First World War, he is desperate to talk to his dead son.
Against him stands his pal Houdini powerfully portrayed by Les Miserables maestro Hadley Fraser. He is on a mission to prove that spiritualists are all frauds exploiting the yearning for closure from those so suddenly and savagely bereaved.
The author argues: “Exclude the impossible and what is left, however improbable, must be the truth.”
The illusionist counters: “It takes a fake to spot a fake!”
While the first half is a little pedestrian in places, the second half of the play is completely compelling as the pair battle through to a stunning finale.
The two main characters are flawless. Haig, who starred in his own play Pressure at the Minerva Theatre, is totally convincing as the grieving father seeking some kind of closure.
The pain is etched across his face in his desperation to know his son has gone on to a better world than the one which so pointlessly robbed him of life.
Fraser matches him with every bit as much fervour in his desperation to expose charlatans and con artists cashing in on the grief of those left behind.
He cleverly makes the distinction between illusion and deception, the first for the purpose of entertainment and the second for personal gain.
While somehow remaining friends, they remain intractable through a series of seances. It’s rare to find a medium that’s well done but Jade Williams gets it just right as spiritualist Mina Crandon.
With ingenious use of projections, the staging adds an extra dimension to the show along with a series of clever magic tricks well performed by Fraser.
These have Doyle convinced that Houdini has mastered the art of dematerialisation and my crystal ball shows that with a few first-half tweaks, this production could re-appear in the West End.
Magic will disappear from the Festival Theatre on May 16, watch the tickets vanish! cft.org.uk/events/magic
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