M a G I C September 2001
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78 M A G I C • september 2001 BY DAVID BRITLAND hile cinematic wizards Georg e on that one job. “I’d be really scraping to pay “Ken had a notion of how things might Lucas and Steven Spielberg were for rent and food, but I thought it would be work and was sure it could be done. His busy painting digital dreams for gr eat to do.” favorite expression was ‘we can always jig it audiences all over the world, Grea t Ken Hill had been artistic director of the out of a bit of ply.’ Nevertheless, he was com- B r i t a i n ’s theatrical pro d u c e r s St r a t f o r d East Theatre, where he worked with pletely open to my ideas and fascinated with fought back with some special Th e a t r e Workshop, one of Britain’s most inno- the use of magic to help tell the story. The eWf fects magic of their own. It’s no longer vative theater companies run by the legendary pr ospect of actually achieving a convincing enough to depend on the audience’s willing sus- Joan Littlewood. He had produced a musical of invisible character on stage really thrilled him.” pension of disbelief. Fantastic tales demand Phantom of the Opera prior to Andrew Lloyd Ken was thrilled at the prospect of crea t i n g fantastic effects, but making them work live in Web b e r ’s version, and had a string of successes a convincing invisible character on stage and the theatre, without the aid of computer-g e n e r - with productions such as Curse of the gave Paul a free rein when it came to prod u c i n g ated imagery, is a challenge that req u i r es special Wer ewolf and Dr a c u l a . Now he had bought the necessary illusions. If Paul suggested an skills. And, where do you find such skills? Meet the stage rights for The Invisible Man. ef fect that didn’t match the script, Ken was En g l a n d ’ s Paul Kieve, theatrical illusionist, Critics have described Ken Hill as the happy to rewrite it. He even put bits of business technical advisor and, of course, magician. author of intelligent pantomimes for adults and into the script that facilitated the effe c t s . For ten years he has been working with the- The Invisible Man was no exception, incorpo- Th e re ’ s a moment when a tramp comes in with ater companies to put on the stage what had p reviously remained firmly on the page. Thanks to Paul, the audience no longer has to imagine that ghosts can walk, doorknobs talk, or that witches can turn children into mice. They can see it for themselves, once a night, twice on Saturda y . Paul wasn’t always a backstage wizard. With his sister Karen, he was runner up in the Magic Circle Young Magician of the Year com- petition in 1985, and for several years, he joined fellow magician Lawrence Leyton in a double act, the Zodiac Brothers. It was during that period that he met David Shakarian, an ex p e r t craftsman, who helped them build an original levitation illusion for a 1991 appear- ance on The Ronn Lucas Show on British tele- vi s i o n . Later that year, Paul and Lawrence went their own separate ways. Lawrence became a successful mentalist and hypnotist. Paul didn’t have a future career in mind. “The only thing I knew was that I didn’t want to do a double act and take it all over Europe. I didn’t want to have to book gigs a year in advance. I wanted a little freedom and the time to live in one place Paul Kieve began his career as theatrical illusionist and technical adviser in 1992, when he for a while.” Their last contract had been on successfully caused the main character in a stage adaptation of H.G. Wells’ The Invisible bo a r d the QE2 and, when Paul left the ship in Man to magically become visible. June of 1991, he had only the haziest of ideas about what he might do. However, the day rating plenty of tongue-in-cheek humor. When muddy boots and the landlady picks up the after he left the ship he got a call from actres s Ken wrote it, he gave no serious consideration do o r mat and shakes it out. It’s not there solely Kate Williams, a friend of his mother’s and as to how the lead character, the Invisible Man, for its humor. The mat lies over some threa d s , someone he knew from working variety nights would be manifested on stage. It prob a b l y keeping them out of the way until req u i r ed. As at the Theatre Royal in Stratford East. wo u l d n ’ t have mattered much if the effe c t s soon as the mat is lifted, the threads are free to Playwright and theatre director Ken Hill had we r e a little on the “hokey” side, all badly hid- cr eate the illusion of the invisible man carryi n g written a stage adaptation of H.G. Wells’ Th e den strings and wires, because the essence of a knife through the air. Invisible Man. It req u i r ed some special effe c t s . the story was that it was being told within the A key scene was the unmasking, in which Would he be interested in advising? setting of a 1904 music hall. It wasn’t a magic the invisible man unwraps the bandages “I r onically it was the first time in almost sh o w . It would entertain but it didn’t have to ar ound his head to reveal nothing but empty five years that I was free to say yes.” The ba f fle. However, at the suggestion of the theatre space. “I had an idea for the unmasking and I money was minimal, but Paul worked out that ad m i n i s t r a t o r , he met Paul and the staging of called Shaks (David Shakarian) to see if he he could survive for three months if he focussed the play took a new direc t i o n . could build it. Shaks being such a positive guy M A G I C • september 2001 79 stage. When people burst into the room they discover that he is now transformed into Mr. Kieve’s effects in Hyde. The problem was that there seemed no The Invisible Man place on stage for the switch to take place. “At were the talk of the first glance it didn’t seem achievable,” said town, with even Paul. “I had no clue as to how it could be done. rave reviews from I remember sitting in the theater, thinking, ‘I’m The Times, as the responsible for the end of this play, and I don’t show played know how to do it. Oh, my God!’ That was London’s West End when the solution came to me. Unlike solving a for seven months. pr oblem in your own act, you’re not on your own. In most theater projects the whole team wants, and needs, it to make it work.” The team included multi-Tony award win- ning lighting designer David Hersey (Ca t s , Le s Mi s e r a b l e s , Miss Saigon), known as the “King of Darkness” because of his minimalist use of light. Paul discussed the effect with Hersey and writer David Edgar, and gradually saw how mi s d i r ection and Hersey’s talents could bring about the final transformation. Also, Paul was now working on one of the biggest stages in the c o u n t ry, the main house at the Royal Sh a k e s p e a r e Company’s London home, and he realized there was a much bigger picture. “I could use anything that was happening on that stage to focus people’s attention, and my expe- rience on The Invisible Man had taught me to be bold about suggesting things. “I thought that when the adult characters came in and found the body, they wouldn’t want their kids to see it. Theref o r e, it would be theatrically right to cover him. At the back of simply said, ‘I’ll be able to make it work.’” enthralling story. “The unmasking is a classic the set was a stack of shelves. By lighting them The success of the illusion depended not moment and it is at the end of act one. There is sharply from above, the recesses beneath would only on the device that Paul and Shaks crea t e d , gr eat anticipation as the local people confron t appear black. It was Black Art even though the but also on a strong moment of misdirec t i o n the mysterious stranger about his behavior and scene appeared to be well lit.” pr ovided by the script and the direction of the appearance. When this dramatic climax was “I also took an idea that Ali had mentioned. action on stage. In other words, complete col- enhanced by the illusion of the bandages being He thought that there was something helpful laboration.