Brighton Year-Round 2026
Houdini Hallowe’en 100
Paul Zenon
Genre: Magic, Theatrical Storytelling, True-life
Venue: Madam Lola's Cabaret and Vaudeville
Festival: Brighton Year-Round
Low Down
A live bio-pic on the 100th anniversary of Harry Houdini’s death, performed in a historic mausoleum. It’s now a cabaret club with The Dapper Dyke on the door; think cocktails, dry ice, a skull-shaped glitter ball and disco lights. Add a fascinating story, throw in some classic magic acts, and, if you can work around the distractions of the space, lean into Paul Zenon’s detailed and entertaining romp through Houdini’s life and times.
Written and performed by Paul Zenon with Lucias Grey and Emma Cat (‘Metamorphosis’ and straitjacket escape’), Oliver Tabor (magic sequences), Vicky Futterweit (burlesque fan dance), Jon Hicks (speedpainting portrait), Pip Henderson (Bess Houdini), Robert Cohen (Edward Saint), David Flack (stage manager), Ben Choules (sound and light).
Review
To become the world’s most renowned illusionist and remain so for a century took what Harry Houdini’s Jewish Hungarian father would no doubt term ‘hutzpah.’ Eric Weiss (as was) not only hauled himself out of poverty by learning his craft, working up through the ranks of street shows and vaudeville; he knew instinctively how to spin a news story and engineer a stunt as tight as the handcuffs that made him famous.
In waistcoat and white shirt, Brighton magician Paul Zenon is an avuncular host, taking us through Houdini’s early life and on to the big breaks and near misses that took him to stardom and final tragedy, killed by a punch to the stomach which ruptured his appendix. From bridge leaps to escapes from milk churns, and airplane stunts to his long campaign against ‘fraudulent mediums’ – tautology, quips Zenon – it’s a rich and fascinating 52 years. Tantalising images of this life are projected onto an overly bright rumpled screen, barely visible to those sitting beneath it. Houdini shape-shifting again perhaps, keeping the truth just out of sight.
Guest magicians and performers weave through Zenon’s storytelling from various spots in the haze-filled room. Elegant close-up magician Oliver Tabor, coolly poker faced, is adept at card tricks and table levitation. Lucias Grey and Emma Cat demonstrate the famous Metamorphosis trunk act, artist Jon Hicks creates magic on a canvas hastily taped to the bannisters.
Robert Cohen brings theatrical flourish as Edward Saint, conducting a seance with Houdini’s wife Bess that, no spoiler, fails to summon her dear Harry. Had he appeared in spirit form, he might have looked worried; Bess married Edward soon after. He might also have felt, along with some of the audience, that rather than a mausoleum being an apt setting, its new format (Madam Lola’s Cabaret and Vaudeville) hampers the show. Despite the best efforts of everyone on and off-stage, entrances are occasionally clumsy, sight lines tricky and bar noise distracting. I worried for fan-dancer Vicky Futterweit’s enormous feathers on her staircase descent, and Zenon gamely raising his voice when his head-mic fails, while pulling a long nail from his nose.
As a man who’s name has become a byline for daring capers and relentless ambition the story may be familiar, and Zenon’s previous Houdini shows have included much of this material, though it’s augmented here with tasty new tidbits of information, Emma Cat’s impressive straitjacket escape and a set of original handcuffs from the self-proclaimed Handcuff King.
Ever the trickster, Houdini may have left his greatest stunt for after his death. We hear of evidence recently unearthed suggesting the fatal punch may have been a set-up so that he and Bess could claim on a life insurance policy. Three death certificates were found, differently dated. That he died on Hallowe’en may be the final spin of a life-story that’s still whirling today.
