First up is the illusionist Jean Robert-Houdin (Kwaku Mills), born in 1805. Inventively running the show in a bigger sense is director Tom Jackson Greaves, working to a translation by Waleed Akhtar.īut two of the characters here are real historical figures from the 19th century. “I am the spirit of entertainment,” he announces in one of his incarnations. Running the show onstage is a sort-of MC (Martin Hyder), who weaves his way through the plots, as ageless as a vampire. Audience participation isn’t called on, but you sense there would have been a rush if it had been. This warm, teasing rapport between cast and audience is built on throughout, as if we are at a cabaret where the aim is to have maximum fun. One, armed with a big broom (Rina Fatania, a force of nature who is excellent in all her roles), pretends to be a danger to the front row’s feet. These are unusually flirty workers, who coyly peep through curtains and admonish the audience with knowing smiles.
Before the action even begins, the audience have to decide whether the staff preparing the space are really staff. This requires a versatile cast of six to play multiple roles, some gender-flipped, typically signalled by a minor costume change – a hat, a skirt – or switch of accents. Its writer, Alexis Michalik, juggles three different historical eras at once, sometimes two simultaneously. Thematically it’s stretched a little thin at times, but as a performance it’s a tonic.
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