Aylesbury Waterside Theatre – until 26 February 2022
Reviewed by Susan Portman
3***
Back with their biggest comedy catastrophe to date, multi award-winning Mischief (The Play That Goes Wrong, BBC One’s The Goes Wrong Show) return to the stage at Aylesbury Waterside Theatre, with their hilarious new show created with magic legends, Penn & Teller. Raising the bar with their dare-devil stunts, jaw-dropping feats and irresistible comedy genius, Mischief’s Magic Goes Wrong comes directly from the West End. It should be noted that the Co-creators Penn and Teller do not appear onstage.
I was not at all sure what to expect from this show which is in essence a comedy play. In one sense, I am suspicious of people who seek to trick, confuse and confound their audience with illusions and magic – but then that’s the very nature of the show. Therefore I kept an open mind having never attended a ‘magic show’ before.
Well, what is the story here? A hapless gang of magicians are staging an evening of grand illusion to raise cash for charity (The Disasters in Magic charity fundraiser) but as the magic turns to mayhem, accidents spiral out of control and so does their fundraising target which vacillates into the black and the red depending upon how the tricks and illusions go.
A cast relatively small in number delivered the performance, playing more than one part when necessary. There was plenty of song, dance, magic and humour, and therefore something for everyone. There was a significant emphasis on card tricks, and lots of audience interaction although I felt that the people involved were ‘audience plants’ but that’s not a crime – the show has to run smoothly.
Sam Hill played ‘Sophisticato’ our compère and guide throughout the evening, and he also performed magic for our delectation. Never trust the man with doves is all I will say. He delivered in a deliberately lugubrious manner and I never quite knew where he was going next, but he gave a professional and polished performance, especially in a scene
where the character ‘Blade’ was drowning and he had to work with audience members (surely they were plants) to extricate him from a possible watery tomb. The timing and interaction between him, the onstage characters and the audience was first-class. There was something of the Laurel and Hardy crossed with Basil Fawlty about the scene, but I like slapstick, so it worked for me.
There were curious characters such as Spitzmaus (Jocelyn Prah) and Bar (Chloe Tannenbaum) a couple of excitable, flamboyant wannabe magicians, trying to perform their own tricks – often ‘badly’ (deliberately so of course). They were German, for some reason and this included a German joke which was completely lost on the audience and also my husband who lived there for several years! They performed a quick change sketch which I was most impressed with. Bar was at one point fired from a cannon but managed to survive thankfully, as she played a lesser speaking with skill and vigour with her ‘Ja Ja’s and her penchant for causing pain to others, including the unfortunate Blade. Spitzmaus was equal to the task and as a duo they worked very well, and again I had no idea what they were ‘going to do next.’
As for Blade, played by Keifer Moriarty, this character was a bundle of testosterone filled energy with an ego to match. Personally, I found his build-up to the tricks to be more impressive that the tricks themselves, trash talking and constantly ripping his clothes off! His tricks demanded perfect timing and credit is given to his skill here – especially with
mouse-traps, you have been warned. I was though not so fond of the character. I should note that there was nothing under-par about the way he delivered his part.
Then we had the hapless ‘Mind Mangler’ played with gusto I thought by Rory Fairburn. His sidekick was ‘Mickey’ played by Daniel Anthony and these two worked together very well – they were the stars of the evening for me. One scene where the Mangler tries to contact the dead was hilarious – and easily the funniest of the evening in my book. Valerie Cutko played ‘Eugenia’, a character who I could not get to grips at all. She was the matriarch if you will, overseeing the charity fundraising – making a substantial donation herself and to be honest it was with no little sadness when her character disappeared under egregious circumstances just before the interval. Again this was not a reflection on the actor, but the character itself.
I welcomed the interval, feeling a little disappointed by it all. I have no idea what the rest of the audience thought, but no-one seemed to be talking about it in the bar as people normally would. In footballing terms, they needed to bring on a substitute to lift the crowd for the second half. After a swift libation I returned to my seat and I should say that the
second half was indeed more enjoyable.
One or two people (were they understudies?) played ‘bit parts’ if you will – supporting the main cast with crowd interactions, and shooting live video onstage which could be seen on a big screen which dropped down from the ceiling occasionally.
The lighting, music and stage set were very clever, and credit must be given to the supporting team for this. The show revealed how one or two tricks were done but others remained a mystery. That was part of the fun and worked very well.
I was surprised by some of the language in the show. Not that I am a prude (far from it) but certain words and phrases I thought might not be appropriate for a youngster but the guidance for the show said 10+ in age, so it is up to the parent/guardian.
To conclude, I thought it was a good show overall. If you like magic you will undoubtedly enjoy it. It takes a certain skill (comic timing) to make things go wrong – as Tommy Cooper knew, but I felt that some of it was too contrived for my liking. It was hard work trying to figure out what was going on (and I don’t just mean the magic) as we jumped from a
seemingly poignant moment reading from a dead man’s wand to watching Derren Brown being attacked by a bear in a Market Square. Some of the scenes seemed almost superfluous, not to say bizarre to me, whilst others were the good, solid stock of comedy magic that we might all come to expect, such as being sawn in half and making people
disappear. I found it to be a bit slow going and it might have benefitted by being reduced by half an hour, with an injection of more fizz and pace about it.
I stepped out into the chilly inky-black night just a little underwhelmed. I felt strangely incomplete. Was I flummoxed or bamboozled? Did I come away saying ‘Wow, that was magic?’ No, I did not. The magic didn’t go wrong, nor did the cast or crew, all of whom were excellent in their roles and I appreciated their collective skill and expertise. However, the actual format of the show itself was the issue for me. It was a bit too long and disjointed.
It is a curious one, this. I like to write my review in such an honest and uncomplicated way that anyone who attends a show as a result of reading it might say ‘Yes, I can relate to that review in terms of what I just experienced.’ Yet, this is such a weird one to write, based on what I saw. Thus, I would urge the reader to go and see the show with an open mind and a lively imagination. If you do that, then the magic might just work for you.