Postby Q. Kumber » December 16th, 2013, 6:10 pm
Sounds like it is infinitely better than the Houdini plays/musicals that have been around the UK in the past few years.
A friend of mine posted this review of the version that appeared in Dublin last October which also toured the UK.
Coming towards the last bit of the Dublin Theatre Festival;. Two shows today - Neutral Hero in the afternoon and then THE RAPE OF LUCRECE at night. Saw great great theatre during the fortnight. With one HUGE EXCEPTION. That appalling, indescribably awful HOUDINI at the Gaeity. I know, I know it was not part of the Festival, but to give one of our major theatres over to this shambolic mess: Awful script, dodgy premise, a set that looked as though it had been cobbled together from bits and bobs backstage. As for the illusions - save my blushes! Met with Pat Fallon and Joe Hoey and Friend during the interval, all in a state of shock. All the money seemed to have gone on the publicity which was slick, gorgeous and utterly mendacious. Never have I been so angry with a theatre production in a long life of theatre going. I have adjudicated at amateur drama productions in the remotest parts of our country and even the worst of them would give this a run for its money. Do you know what the saddest thing is? The subject of HOUDINI is rich territory for mining an abundance of dramatic stories, and these were thrown away in a meritricious digging up of the sibling rivalry between Houdini and his brother. The production was mercifully short.
