A new exhilarating and captivating play is set to come to Dublin’s Gaiety Theatre this October.
“Houdini” tells the story of the life of two of the greatest performers the world has ever known – the Houdini Brothers, Harry and Theo, who were stuntmen, illusionists and magicians.
Though the play focuses on the astonishing career of the great Harry Houdini it also taps into the more personal elements of his life like his relationship with his brother and his devoted wife Bess.
Starring Jamie Nichols as Harry, Stuart Brennan as Theo and Evanna Lynch as Bess, Her.ie sat down with the show’s cast to find out more about this iconic illusionist and what it was like to take on such a huge project like this.
“You know it’s a real privilege, whenever you’re telling someone’s life story you have huge responsibility” said Stuart, who as well as starring in the show also wrote the script.
“To the family and to the people involved but to the fans as well because often they’re more passionate than anyone else about getting it right. And so with this, we really just wanted people to know more – we wanted people to understand the madness behind the man.”
Stuart Brennan as Theo Houdini
Houdini to most is a name that many people across the world know but there are few who know about his life, said Stuart.
“What we did is explored his early years as well as his later years and that’s really where the play sits.”
The play, he said, is about two brothers who set out together and one of them rises to become the great Harry Houdini whereas his brother Theo somewhat fades into the background.
“There’s a lot of conflict and emotional issues that get explored and of course there’s Bess Houdini, who is the loving wife of Harry, who was in the middle of this storm of this incredible – almost hysteria really.”
“So, we wanted to tell Harry’s story and we wanted to explore the issues that we can all relate to which is; family, brothers and love.”
Three of the main themes that are centrepoint to the play are jealousy, bitterness and sacrifice said Stuart. He stressed that often it was the wives and husbands who had a hard time when it came to fame.
“They’re always on the sidelines a bit” said the actor, “I did a boxing movie and I used to love talking to the wives of the boxers, because hearing their side of things was probably the most thrilling.”
“What’s happening in the ring is directly related to their life and their livelihoods. If the husband doesn’t win, that means they’re not going to be able to pay rent next month. And if their husband gets hurt, well that’s the heartbreak.”
Jamie Nichols as Harry Houdini
Did the cast know much about the characters themselves before they took on the role?
“I didn’t know anything” said Evanna who plays Harry’s wife Bess.
“I just think all those people and icons like Houdini and Elvis – you hear about them and that’s just a name and you do some research and it just becomes more and more incredible.”
She described the characters as very “three-dimensional”, and emphasized that “the whole thing about them being great from the day they were born is such a myth”
“The people around him helped shape him [Houdini]. It was interesting to find out who those people were.”
“She’s quite stubborn” said Evanna of Bess’ character, “I’m very stubborn!”
“She’s independent and I definitely like to do my own thing. But I always get that with characters, there are some things that I can relate to that I don’t have to work on and then there are things I do need to push on a bit more to explore.”
The actress said that she believed that Bess just simply wanted her husband to succeed and be happy.
“There’s a line in the play where she says, “You want the world to love you, I just want you too”, and that’s all she wants out of life” said Evanna thoughtfully, “She kind-of has a torturous existence because the job is sort-of the other woman for him. She has to share him so much with that and be ok with that.”
Evanna Lynch as Bess Houdini
No doubt it wasn’t easy for Houdini either, as well as juggling relationships he was constantly training heavily for his stunts.
“He took great pride in his appearance because he knew that a lot of his stunts he’d eventually have to strip down completely naked” said Jamie who plays Harry.
“He took great pride in looking physically capable” he said while revealing that Houdini had been training since the age of 15.
The actor admitted however, that it had been difficult to maintain both strength and flexibility while training for his performance. “Two very difficult things to make go hand-in-hand so I’ve found!” he said, laughing.
The play itself will be a surreal mix of magic and story, with a whole variety of incidental magic throughout.
“We’ve tried to get the spirit of Harry throughout so it’s not just about the big numbers” said Stuart.
But it’s far from safe tricks.
“We do two of the most dangerous acts on stage you could possibly do” he said.
“We do the bullet catch and Harry’s water torture cell. We’ve both been in the gym at about 5.30 in the morning, putting in a few hours and watching our diets and things to be capable to be performing these feats.”
Everything about the show is real stressed Jamie and the danger was definitely there, but was he ever scared of something going wrong?
“If there was an ounce of doubt that I would be capable of doing it, I wouldn’t be here now” he said.
“A lot of people have said to me, “are you nervous” or “are you scared?” but I’ve trained too hard, I’ve prepped too much to be worried.”
“The most important thing about us really is that we’ve both got each other’s back.”
Stuart noted his appreciation of for other magicians such as Dynamo and Jonathan Goodwin.
“We enjoy them! It’s really interesting now when you can work out how they’ve done things. That’s really cool and I guess that’s one of the privileges of the craft.”
For Evanna, certainly this element of sorcery is no stranger to her having being part of the Harry Potter series, but did she find this role more appealing because of its magic touch?
“It’s not like I’m like “no magic, no good!” It just came up” she said, laughing.
“I would gravitate to things like fantasy a little bit, like surrealism, things that are different to real life. So when this thing came up I definitely jumped at the idea – I didn’t even think when I was auditioning I was thinking about doing the tricks or anything. Afterwards I got excited – and I get to do a trick!”
What would entice people to go see the show? Well, according to Jamie, the illusion is vitally important and will captivate the audience.
The actor quoted the famous line from the film The Prestige saying; “’The secret impresses no one. The trick you use it for is everything.’ That’s what made Houdini so special.”
Houdini is directed by theatre giant Peter Snee with a creative team that include costume designer Fraz Roughton, sound designer Daffyd Gough, and composer Tord Brudevoll.
The play will be in on in the Gaiety Theatre from October 7th – 12th. Click here for ticket information.
