Morgan & West

Time travelling Victorian magicians face their toughest challenge yet - solving their own murders.
Simpkins Lee Theatre, Lady Margaret Hall; Wed 15th - Sat June 18th 2011
We saw Morgan & West's show last night at Copa as part of Oxfringe and I'm sorry to say that it fell at the first. The initial trick was so lame that we stared at each other with a 'was that it' look of disbelief. This set the tone for a slow-paced series of magic tricks which were neither baffling nor interesting. Maybe it was our fault for going to anything billed as a 'family show'. 

The short guy spoke too fast, stumbled over his lines and both magicians lacked energy. The whole act based on their 'murder' was ironic in that we started to wish the assassins could have struck sooner. At the end when they asked who the murderer could be we looked at each other knowingly, judging by the other furtive looks being exchanged by the achingly polite Oxford Fringe audience we were not alone in that thought.

Admittedly we had seen The Doctors of Destiny the previous night who had made us laugh hard - a very talented bunch, they had probably set the bar too high. The glowing reviews we had already read about Morgan & West's show left us baffled - maybe the real entertainers had been murdered?!
These two men have discovered the holy grail of entertainment. Their show is entirely original, though it borrows from favourite traditions - Sherlock Holmes, Houdini, mystical mind-reading acts etc; it is brilliantly staged with every tiny detail of set, props and costume designed into a unique Victorian fantasy; involves the audience from its first moments - physically, imaginatively and emotionally; and has an intriguing narrative thrust that links all its fascinating elements into one fun-packed hour of memorable theatre.

Members of the audience, plucked at random add to the wonder of the evening as one by one they are shown to have brilliant intuitions guided by Morgan and West. It turns out you are sitting alongside art experts, masters of detection and mind readers! I am not going to even attempt to summarise what these two brilliant actors achieve: to even list the facets of their act will detract from the delight you will experience when you go along to watch. It is superlatively good night out. If you miss them here, you'll have to travel up to Edinburgh to see them. You know what - that would be worth the fare, too!
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