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Impossible
The Noel Coward Theatre,
London
August 2016
Reviewed by Quentin Reynolds
Not
having seen any of the recent illusion shows in London or on tour, and having
heard mixed reviews from people I know, I went to see Impossible which is
now in its last days of a seven week run.
Being a Tuesday night, I was surprised at the size of the house, not packed but
very full with a family audience.
Before the show announcements are made, by Chris Cox, for people to fill in a
card with things they want him to do, pop the card in an envelope, and post
those in a box on stage.
The show opened on time with the escape from the spiked table where the spikes
are set on fire, Josephine Lee, having been strapped to the table, the sheet is
pulled in front of her and with lighted back projection we see her trying to
free herself before the spikes drop. They do. Is she dead? No, the cover pulled
back and she is sitting on top of the spikes. Performed very quickly, no mention
of the performer and I think the audience, with a moment's reflection would
figure out a method.
Straight into Ben Hart telling a story about a trick performed in the Monsoon
season in India (the Diminishing Cards). He tells what happens in the trick and
then performs the trick using a regular playing card to emphasise each change.
The cards transform to dust at the end, one of the few moments in the show where
the audience’s surprised reactions could be felt.
(It's an interesting concept - fully describing the exact effect before
performing it, and worth exploring).
Ben walks upstage to be covered by a large circular red certain which comes down
and when it is later raised we find Jonathan Goodwin’s Bed of Nails. Of all the
performers Jonathan has the best and most convincing speaking voice. He invites
a lady up from the audience and she is invited to sit on the bed of nails. The
main bed is lifted away leaving just one long and menacing nail protruding
upwards. Jonathan lies back on it, has a block placed on it and it’s smashed in
two with a sledge hammer.
When Jonathan comes on he is wearing a large watch on his right wrist. I don’t
know why. Every time he moves his arm it catches the spotlight and reflects on
the backdrop. At first I thought there were moths flying. It’s distracting.
Magical Bones next, a rapping, breakdancing street magician. A lady is invited
up and seated at a table stage right. A £20 note is borrowed from a man in the
audience which, after the lady writes down its serial number, is torn up and
burnt with amusing tongue-in-cheek patter. The lady writes her name across a
chosen card which is shuffled back, the cards sprung into the air, Magical does
a backflip and amongst all the cascading cards catches the chosen one. He then
removes from his jacket a full champagne glass which he drinks. Maybe I imagined
it but I thought there was a round object in the glass, like a lime. I thought,
“The £20 not will be in the lime.” But I was wrong. It was found in a Crunchie
that was in a box on the table. It would have been far better theatrically if it
was found in the lime.
Incidentally Bones also wore a watch that kept catching in the spotlight. I’d
also like to see him do a bit more breakdancing.
Jonathan Goodwin comes on next to host the Water Tank Escape. Frankly there are
far too many references to Houdini in this show. Josephine Lee is wearing a
miniature camera so that we can see what’s happening in the tank, along with a
camera that is in the bottom of the tank. However once the tank is covered, and
the way the projection screen is done, I don’t think anyone believes that what
we are seeing is actually what is happening. After Josephine hasn’t made her
escape, the curtain is pulled back revealing an empty tank and Josephine appears
from the back of the theatre.
Next Chris Cox whose stage persona is a nerdy superhero who has been ingesting
far too many e-numbers. His ability is to pick up on the thoughts of people by
touching them directly or indirectly. His character is consistent throughout and
he does a very entertaining piece where he duplicates the same outfit as
selected by a lady from the audience. It’s not easy making mentalism visual and
colourful and he succeeds at both.
Back to Ben Hart, finishing the first half dressed as a Victorian sideshow
barker with long Sherlock style coat and carrying a cane, which really suited
the character he was playing - which he plays with gusto. A paper aeroplane is
thrown out to find a random audience member resulting in a lady being invited on
stage to take part in a transportation illusion. I’d seen this on the ONE TV
show and it looks terrific. The set looks intriguing with two large cylindrical
looking birdcages and lots of Telsa looking electrical equipment. The lady is
put into one cage and is transported into the other. However as she is exiting
from the cage there is a bang, something ‘apparently’ has gone wrong, there is a
blackout and the curtain drops for the interval. There is one word to describe
this ending to the first half. ‘dreadful’. What should have been a thrilling and
magical finish with a potential standing ovation is killed. Ben, who did a great
job doesn’t get to take any applause. I suspect the producers were trying to
mimic the Paul Daniels Iron Maiden finish that he did on live TV. Well, if so,
they shouldn’t. A much better finish would be Ben producing a rose, giving it to
the lady and then standing solo in just a spotlight and I'm pretty sure he would
have gotten a SO.
The second half opens with Chris Cox doing the sealed message reading routine
using the sealed envelopes that had been placed in the box. Cameras are used to
film the reactions of audience members, who are also handed a microphone. I’ve
done a Q&A routine myself and know the most important thing is the revelation of
information in a way that keeps everyone interested. Chris does this
exceptionally well and it was a highlight of the show. Superbly executed.
Annemann would have been proud..
Sabine Van Diemen has a man and woman up on stage and proceeds to perform a
version of the Selbit Sawing, except now it is man to be sawn and she uses the
cameraman from the show, who unlike the rest of the stage crew (all in black) is
dressed in blue jeans and a beige sweater. She plays the part as a dominatrix
getting revenge for all the years females have been sawn. She did a great job
but the routine did not get the gasps it should have done. More on that in a
minute.
The set now changes to what appears to be an old silent movie starring Ben Hart
performing the Billiard Balls. Ben appears to emerge from the movie but you are
still left with the feeling he is still in it and performs a billiard ball
routine. The whole piece felt like I was watching Marcel Marceau. The whole idea
and setting was delightful.
Escaping upside down for a strait jacket isn’t new but the performer being set
on fire while escaping is. Visually it looked amazing but the problem is the
performer has to get out very quickly, so this was the shortest escape I’ve seen
which does tend to diminish it’s effectiveness. The alternative is a crisp
performer.
Each seat in the house had an envelope with four pieces of paper, each of which
had the poster of a famous magician. We’re in to the Woody Aragon routine where
pieces are torn, mixed, thrown away and with two eventually matching. While
Magical Bones did it well, there wasn’t the reaction at the end you would
expect. It is more like, “Oh, OK.”
Josephine Lee returns where there is one of those props that look like a Ferris
wheel with a partition in the middle and she vanishes from one side and appears
on the other. Both Sabine and Josephine were refreshing additions to the
otherwise all male cast but it is a pity both were doing illusions. Romany would
have been an excellent choice for one of the female roles adding colour, charm
and comedy.
Recent Britain’s Got Talent winner, Richard Jones, was, I presume, added to the
bill as a box office attraction. How would he hold up against the other six,
considerably more experienced performers? The answer is, very well indeed. His
style is both quiet and engaging, contrasting well with the rest of the show. He
does three routines, the first, Percy Naldrett’s Phantom Artist, cutting out the
face of a celebrity chosen by an audience member. In this case it was The Queen.
A boy is invited up and seated. Richard does a card printing routine where the
deck transforms into Perspex cards in the boy’s hands in a puff of smoke.
Richard’s banter with the boy was engaging and funny. He finished with a T&R
poster (poster of the show) talking about his dream of being a magician and that
nothing is impossible. I’ve seen American performers do this kind of thing and
it normally comes over as schmaltzy bullshit. In this case it came over with
sincerity.
Jonathan Goodwin comes back with his crossbow act shooting arrows into balloons,
through the stem of a flower and the edge of a sheet of newspaper, then while
blindfolded bursting a balloon on his wife’s head. The frame into which the
arrows landed is turned around only to find another female assistant inside and
we see the arrows landed around her head.
The final spot is a laser act in almost complete darkness. I’m not sure which of
the female performers was doing this spot and at one time she levitated but I’m
not sure the audience even noticed.
The show concluded with the performers coming on and taking disciplined bows.
Overall the audience well got their money’s worth. The show including the
interval lasted just over two and a half hours. The stage crew did a great job
with all the set changes, and on the ball to collect an extending stick used by
Chris Cox. Musical effects were added where needed and with spot on timing.
However the show badly needs a director who understands magic. Many of the
climaxes of effects were killed by lack of pointing and timing. Performers not
being given the opportunity to take their applause, and occasionally not knowing
how to take the applause.
© Quentin Reynolds, August 2016