From the March 1st article "Invisibility cloaks, cardboard rockets, and flying orbs of light: Here’s
how Canadian theatre uses the art of magic" by Michael Kras at
Intermission Magazine:
Cursed Child is hardly an isolated case for this hefty use of theatre
magic. Plenty of prominent productions utilize magic design in considerable
ways, including the current West End hit
Stranger Things: The First Shadow (also featuring illusion design by
Cursed Child’s Jamie Harrison and Chris Fisher), which is already
planning to hit more stages internationally, with little doubt that Canada
will eventually be in the mix. Hit musical adaptations from the West End and
Broadway like Back to the Future (illusions by Chris Fisher) and
Beetlejuice (illusions by Michael Weber) are both slated for the
forthcoming Mirvish subscription season.
Of course, a common
thread here is that these are all imported, big-budget commercial
properties. But the beautiful thing about magic is that a relentless spirit
of ingenuity and creative problem-solving is far more important than a price
tag. The entire job description is about making the impossible possible
onstage, and the greatest magic is achieved by earthy, organic means rather
than high-tech gadgets.
One such homegrown example is Young
People’s Theatre’s Dora-winning The Darkest Dark, adapted by Jim
Millan and Ian MacIntyre from Chris Hadfield and Kate Fillion’s book of the
same name. Canadian conjuror David Ben – who also staged the effects in the
Stratford Festival’s Grand Magic last season — was tasked with
crafting magic that had a childlike spirit of play and imagination, with
sophisticated, memorable illusions built from humble cardboard boxes. On a
smaller-scale indie level, Eric Woolfe’s Eldritch Theatre is also known to
regularly feature sleight of hand in their spooky seasons of plays.
Read more.
