MAGIC GOES WRONG
Birmingham Hippodrome, Tuesday 25th May 2022
The team behind The Play That Goes Wrong, Peter Pan Goes Wrong and all the rest of them, join forces with master-magicians Penn & Teller to bring us this cavalcade of calamity. The title says it all. A hapless bunch of performers strive to raise funds for charity with a series of acts that each go awry in their own special way.
Our host is the increasingly desperate Sophisticato (Sam Hill) trying to preserve his late father’s memory. Sam Hill’s eyes get wider as the situation around him unravels. His act with doves is hilarious, and I’m assured no birds were harmed during making of this spectacle, although perhaps several humans were.
Rory Fairbairn as the Mind Mangler is hopeless, making wild stabs in the dark to guess our names and occupations. The joy of it comes from seeing through his cod mysticism, of being smarter than he is.
Kiefer Moriarty is delightful as The Blade, a daredevil act, ripping off shirt after shirt, and attempting dangerous feats involving spikes, a water tank, mousetraps… and never giving up no matter how much pain he inflicts on himself. It takes a lot of skill to do things ‘wrong’ – Think Les Dawson at the piano – and the timing across the board is flawless. It has to be.
Jocelyn Prah and Chloe Tannenbaum are a hoot as Teutonic glamour girls Bar and Spitzmaus, serving as assistants to the others and also as an act in their own right, involving gymnastics, contortionism, and a ‘live’ bear…
Valerie Cutko brings elegance and charm as the ill-fated donor Eugenia. Much use is made of a live video feed, and there’s the running joke of the woeful total of funds raised. The ‘In Memoriam’ section brings tears to my eyes for all the wrong reasons.
Organised chaos is the order of the day, with surprises and slapstick galore. Every now and then, the magic goes right, and this is just as surprising as the mishaps.
Relentlessly funny entertainment from a hugely talented team.
☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
Bum on a Seat 
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