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<b>by David Ladderman & Lizzie Tollemache, directed by Mike Friend
You Rung? Productions, Toronto Fringe Festival, Tarragon Theatre Extra Space, Toronto
July 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11 & 12, 2014
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New Zealanders David Ladderman and Lizzie Tollemache have created a wildly entertaining show in the form of <i>Mr. and Mrs. Alexander: Sideshows & Psychics</i>. The show is unusual in that it seamlessly blends theatre with magic so that the magic tricks do not merely stand in isolation but are vital contributions to the narrative. Ladderman and Tollemache have such panache as performers they could have simply staged a conventional magic show and everyone would have been pleased. Integrating the magic into a narrative strengthens the theatricality of the show and leads into a further mystery that only storytelling can evoke.
The action is set around the year 1888 in Auckland, New Zealand. Mr. and Mrs. Alexander, husband and wife magicians famed throughout Britain’s colonies in the souther hemisphere, are about to perform their final show. After that they disappear, never to be found. Ladderman and Tollemache thus grab us from the very beginning with a mystery, a narrative mystery that is not solved until the final moments of the play.
From that point they flash back to when the Alexanders first fell in love. For Mr. Alexander it was when he saw his beautiful future wife drive a nail into her face, a cringe-inducing stunt that Tollemache undertakes right before our eyes. For the future Mrs. Alexander, she fell in love with her future husband when she saw him perform the ancient cups and balls trick, which Ladderman executes to perfection.
The couple then tell us about the repertoire of the Alexanders and how it reflected current interests of the period in psychic phenomena like mind-reading and spiritual connections. Ladderman and Tollemache demonstrate both with use of volunteers from the audience. Unlike some modern magic shows where the volunteers become the butt of the magician’s jokes, Ladderman and Tollemache treat their volunteers with respect which creates a warm sense of camaraderie between the audience and the volunteers on stage.
Their final illusion requires a couple to impersonate the Mayor and Mayoress of Auckland, who were present during the Alexanders’ final performance. That evening the magicians performed their infamous Possum Trap illusion that makes use of a priceless necklace and a real possum trap capable of breaking any bones caught in its jaws. Quite a lot of fun is had when Ladderman tries to have the volunteer Mayoress test the efficacy of the trap by using a then new-fangled Austrian waffle cone cautioning her to hold the cone only by the very tip for safety’s sake. The trick also requires that Tollemache as Mrs. Alexander stop her pulse to enter into a trance, a fact confirmed by the volunteer Mayoress.
So cleverly written is this so that the Possum trap illusion leads to the solution of two mysteries – the one magical, the other narrative – neither of which I can reveal. What I can say is that the double conclusion is a real mindblower.
This is a show that is gripping from beginning to end. It both conjures up the rough-and-ready period in the colonies and the Alexanders’ relations with both the upper and lower classes, at the height of their fame being called in to use psychic powers to solve the murder of a government official. At the same time the magic tricks are made even more engrossing by the performers’ encouragement to have us see them as people would have done in the late 19th century. Ladderman and Tollemache step so easily into and out of their roles that only theatre aficionados are likely to pick up on the subtly metatheatrical nature of the show.
Like Rob Drummond’s <i><a href="perma://BLPageReference/9501671C-CD48-42B9-BF57-CA853EC20540">Bullet Catch</a></i> seen earlier this year, <i>Mr. and Mrs. Alexander</i>, by combining theatre with magic, creates a powerful amalgam that will appeal to lovers of both genres. Ladderman and Tollemache’s show opens up questions into the very reason why people so love mysteries that will leave you much to ponder along with the electrical frisson that courses through you long after the show is over.
<i>Mr. and Mrs. Alexander </i>is next off to the Winnipeg Fringe Festival playing July 16-26; the Calgary Fringe August 1-8; the Edmonton Fringe August 14-19; and the Victoria Fringe August 21-31. It’s a definite must-see wherever it plays.
©Christopher Hoile
Note: This is a <i>Stage Door</i> exclusive.
Photos: (from top) Lizzie Tollemache and David Ladderman; David Ladderman and Lizzie Tollemache as Mrs. and Mr. Alexander. ©2014 Nick White.
For tickets, visit <a href="http://fringetoronto.com">http://fringetoronto.com</a> or <a href="http://www.winnipegfringe.com">www.winnipegfringe.com</a> or <a href="http://see.calgaryfringe.ca">http://see.calgaryfringe.ca</a>.
<b>2014-07-13</b>
<b>Mr. and Mrs. Alexander: Sideshows & Psychics</b>