The Illusionists will soon touch down on SA soil
HOW do they do that? Most of us love to be dazzled and be flummoxed by artists enthralling us on stage with magic.
Yes, it is all an illusion but in the hands of skilled practitioners, we are transported to a place of gasp and wonder where the unexplainable appears to flash before our eyes. It is not a cheap undertaking to stage grand illusion – with smoke, mirrors, trapdoors and accoutrements to conjure up misdirection. Although we have no shortage of close-up magic in this country (a deck of cards is all that is needed) we don’t often get to see the gee-whizz thrills of grand illusion.
We are therefore in for a treat with The Illusionists – a showcase of “magicians” – which will be on at GrandWest from February 7-11.
The Illusionists show has been staged in New York, London and Asia. In each edition, there are 6-8 illusionists – who specialise in different aspects of magic such as levitation, mindreading and disappearance. The show touring to Cape Town and then Joburg is The Illusionists: Direct from Broadway and featuring the eight artists.
They will be accompanied on stage by dancers – presenting interludes between acts. The headliner is The Trickster – aka award winning David Williamson. This magician, author, television show host and performer is a consultant on TV specials, for luminaries like David Copperfield and David Blaine.
Two names in The Illusionists the line-up caught my eye – Jinger Leigh and Mark Kalin who appear as a duo – Kalin & Jinger. Her moniker is The Conjuress. He is The Showman. They are married. There is a paucity of female magicians all over the world.
Many females are sidelined as “assistants” – skimpily clad sidekicks to magicians who are invariably male, so I was interested to find out about Jinger Leigh’s path. Magic wasn’t on her cards. She started as a dancer and entertainer. That changed when 26 years ago, while performing in a Las Vegas type extravaganza, she was intrigued by Kalin who was also performing in the same show.
She approached him and said – “I would love to do this – magic, illusion” – or words to that effect.
“I was fascinated with the feeling that magic gave to the audience and my experience up to that point had been in the love for dance and theatre so when I made the offer to contribute to the act I thought that maybe I could bring something new to it and Mark seemed very open to those possibilities,” she said.
They clicked and have been performing together since October 1991 and got engaged on Valentine’s Day of 1993.. This is the first tour to SA for The Conjuress.
Tickets to see The Illusionists at GrandWest are from R250 to R500. Family packages available. Book at www.computicket.com. For a chance to win tickets to see The Illusionists, see Freebies column in ToTT today.