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While cinematic wizards Georg eLucas and Steven Spielberg werebusy painting digital dreams foraudiences all over the world, Gre a tB r i t a i n s theatrical pro d u c e r sfought back with some special

e ffects magic of their own. Its no longerenough to depend on the audiences willing sus-pension of disbelief. Fantastic tales demandfantastic effects, but making them work live inthe theatre, without the aid of computer- g e n e r-ated imagery, is a challenge that re q u i res specialskills. And, where do you find such skills? MeetE n g l a n d s Paul Kieve, theatrical illusionist,technical advisor and, of course, magician.

For ten years he has been working with the-ater companies to put on the stage what hadp reviously remained firmly on the page.Thanks to Paul, the audience no longer has toimagine 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 Saturd a y.

Paul wasnt always a backstage wizard .With his sister Karen, he was runner up in theMagic Circle Young Magician of the Year com-petition in 1985, and for several years, hejoined fellow magician Lawrence Leyton in adouble act, the Zodiac Brothers. It was duringthat period that he met David Shakarian, ane x p e rt craftsman, who helped them build anoriginal levitation illusion for a 1991 appear-ance on The Ronn Lucas Show on British tele-v i s i o n .

Later that year, Paul and Lawrence wenttheir own separate ways. Lawrence became asuccessful mentalist and hypnotist. Paul didnthave a future career in mind. The only thing Iknew was that I didnt want to do a double actand take it all over Europe. I didnt want tohave to book gigs a year in advance. I wanted alittle freedom and the time to live in one placefor a while. Their last contract had been onb o a rd the QE2 and, when Paul left the ship inJune of 1991, he had only the haziest of ideasabout what he might do. However, the dayafter he left the ship he got a call from actre s sKate Williams, a friend of his mothers andsomeone he knew from working variety nightsat the Theatre Royal in Stratford East.Playwright and theatre director Ken Hill hadwritten a stage adaptation of H.G. Wells T h eInvisible Man. It re q u i red some special eff e c t s .Would he be interested in advising?

I ronically it was the first time in almostfive years that I was free to say yes. Themoney was minimal, but Paul worked out thathe could survive for three months if he focussed

on that one job. Id be really scraping to payfor rent and food, but I thought it would beg reat to do.

Ken Hill had been artistic director of theS t r a t f o rd East Theatre, where he worked withT h e a t re Workshop, one of Britains most inno-vative theater companies run by the legendaryJoan Littlewood. He had produced a musical ofPhantom of the Opera prior to Andrew LloydWe b b e rs version, and had a string of successeswith productions such as Curse of theWe rewolf and D r a c u l a. Now he had boughtthe stage rights for The Invisible Man.

Critics have described Ken Hill as theauthor of intelligent pantomimes for adults andThe Invisible Man was no exception, incorpo-

rating plenty of tongue-in-cheek humor. WhenKen wrote it, he gave no serious considerationas to how the lead character, the Invisible Man,would be manifested on stage. It pro b a b l yw o u l d n t have mattered much if the eff e c t sw e re a little on the hokey side, all badly hid-den strings and wires, because the essence ofthe story was that it was being told within thesetting of a 1904 music hall. It wasnt a magics h o w. It would entertain but it didnt have tob a ffle. However, at the suggestion of the theatrea d m i n i s t r a t o r, he met Paul and the staging ofthe play took a new dire c t i o n .

Ken had a notion of how things mightwork and was sure it could be done. Hisfavorite expression was we can always jig itout of a bit of ply. Nevertheless, he was com-pletely open to my ideas and fascinated withthe use of magic to help tell the story. Thep rospect of actually achieving a convincinginvisible character on stage really thrilled him.

Ken was thrilled at the prospect of cre a t i n ga convincing invisible character on stage andgave Paul a free rein when it came to pro d u c i n gthe necessary illusions. If Paul suggested ane ffect that didnt match the script, Ken washappy to rewrite it. He even put bits of businessinto the script that facilitated the eff e c t s .T h e re s a moment when a tramp comes in with

muddy boots and the landlady picks up thed o o rmat and shakes it out. Its not there solelyfor its humor. The mat lies over some thre a d s ,keeping them out of the way until re q u i red. Assoon as the mat is lifted, the threads are free toc reate the illusion of the invisible man carry i n ga knife through the air.

A key scene was the unmasking, in whichthe invisible man unwraps the bandagesa round his head to reveal nothing but emptyspace. I had an idea for the unmasking and Icalled Shaks (David Shakarian) to see if hecould build it. Shaks being such a positive guy

BY DAVID BRITLAND

Paul Kieve began his career as theatrical illusionist and technical adviser in 1992, when hesuccessfully caused the main character in a stage adaptation of H.G. Wells The InvisibleMan to magically become visible.

simply said, Ill be able to make it work.The success of the illusion depended not

only on the device that Paul and Shaks cre a t e d ,but also on a strong moment of misdire c t i o np rovided by the script and the direction of theaction on stage. In other words, complete col-laboration. For me it was a learning experi-ence, Paul said. At that time I knew nothingabout how a professional production was putt o g e t h e r. Id never worked with scenic or light-ing designers or directed a cast. I was going forfull out magical methods mainly because I wasignorant of what others in the field had done. Id i d n t know an easier way to approach it!People have said to me since How did youknow any of it would work? In re t rospect Id i d n t know any of it would work.

At the end of the show, the Invisible Mandies and becomes visible. In perf o rmance, acloth is thrown over an empty chair and am a n s shape instantly appears beneath it. Whenthe cloth is pulled away, the man is there, visi-ble for the first time. The effect was cleverlyaccomplished by using a De Kolta Chair inreverse. In the first pre v i e w, the cloth was sostill that there were a few moments when I wasconvinced that the actor hadnt got there intime. It was terrifying. Then they lifted it upand, to my relief, there he was. It got a gaspf rom the audience.

Paul discovered that the best theatricalmagic happens within the context of an

enthralling story. The unmasking is a classicmoment and it is at the end of act one. There isg reat anticipation as the local people confro n tthe mysterious stranger about his behavior andappearance. When this dramatic climax wasenhanced by the illusion of the bandages beingunwrapped, and the cigarette smoked by invis-ible lips, the reaction was fantastic

The show was lauded by critics and lovedby its audiences. Pauls effects stole the show,with even The Ti m e s raving about his work.E v e ryone, magicians included, was astoundedat how good the unmasking looked. Theinstant hit transferred to the West End, where itran for seven months, before touring Gre a tBritain. For Paul it was the beginning of a newc a re e r.

After The Invisible Man, Paul got a callf rom actor Roger Allam whose partner hadworked on the production. Allam (the originalJ a v e rt in Les Miserables) was appearing in theRoyal Shakespeare Companys version of T h eStrange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Theplay had two diff e rent actors to play Jekyll andHyde and used a series of physical switches toexchange them whenever the potion was taken.Ali Bongo had started working on the show,but he was also a member of the pro d u c t i o nteam on the Paul Daniels television series,which was taking up most of his time.

One major challenge was the finale in whichJekyll drinks the potion and collapses to the

stage. When people burst into the room theydiscover that he is now transformed into Mr.Hyde. The problem was that there seemed noplace on stage for the switch to take place. Atfirst glance it didnt seem achievable, saidPaul. I had no clue as to how it could be done.I remember sitting in the theater, thinking, Imresponsible for the end of this play, and I dontknow how to do it. Oh, my God! That waswhen the solution came to me. Unlike solving ap roblem in your own act, youre not on yourown. In most theater projects the whole teamwants, and needs, it to make it work.

The team included multi-Tony award win-ning lighting designer David Hersey (C a t s, L e sM i s e r a b l e s, Miss Saigon), known as the Kingof Darkness because of his minimalist use oflight. Paul discussed the effect with Hersey andwriter David Edgar, and gradually saw howm i s d i rection and Herseys talents could bringabout the final transformation. Also, Paul wasnow working on one of the biggest stages in thec o u n t ry, the main house at the RoyalS h a k e s p e a re Companys London home, and herealized there was a much bigger picture. Icould use anything that was happening on thatstage to focus peoples attention, and my expe-rience on The Invisible Man had taught me tobe bold about suggesting things.

I thought that when the adult characterscame in and found the body, they wouldntwant their kids to see it. There f o re, it would betheatrically right to cover him. At the back ofthe set was a stack of shelves. By lighting themsharply from above, the recesses beneath wouldappear black. It was Black Art even though thescene appeared to be well lit.

I also took an idea that Ali had mentioned.He thought that there was something helpfulabout the books and bottles at the base of theshelves. They created a visual barrier thatlooked impenetrable. I got a crate of NormNielsen bottles, filled them with foam andstuck them to a base, along with some special-ly made foam books. Now I had a barrier ofbottles and books that the actors could just ro l lo v e r. They would just squash down andinstantly pop back up!

In perf o rmance Dr. Jekyll staggered aboutthe stage and knocked one or two real bottlesf rom the shelves before collapsing onto thef l o o r. Adults rushed into the room wonderingwhat all the commotion was. They saw thebody and pre p a red to cover it with a blanket.As they did, the children came in, creating as t rong moment of misdirection as the adultstried to keep them back. Thats when Jekyllrolled out, over the rubber books and bottles,and Hyde rolled in. The switch only took acouple of seconds and was not revealed forabout a minute after. It seemed as if there wasno way that the two actors could have swappedplaces.

P rotecting not only the secrecy of the illu-sions but also any copyright that may exist in

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Kieves effects inThe Invisible Manwere the talk of thetown, with evenrave reviews fromThe Times, as theshow playedLondons West Endfor seven months.

their perf o rmance is a major concern. Every o n eon the production has to sign a secrecy contractand Pauls own contract specifically states thathis contribution to the project is copyrighted inthe same way that the dire c t o rs work is. Thew o rding has been built up bit by bit, an accu-mulation of his experiences on various pro d u c-tions and the type of contracts used by theaterl i ghting and set designers.

Safety is another factor. Levitation and fly-ing effects have a long history in theater andhave to be carefully supervised. A lack ofrehearsal or care can lead to serious injuries.If a show doesnt allow enough time for atechnical rehearsal, I will not get involvedwith it. I am incredibly safety conscious.Paul has good reason. Theaters are dangerousplaces, and he has seen accidents occur as aresult of silly oversights. It is one of the fewplaces you can work with a suspended loadhanging over your head and not have to weara hard hat! He once saw a piece of sceneryfall from the rig and crush a chair. Only luckprevented serious injury. The actress thatshould have been sitting there had, fortunate-ly, missed her entrance.

Stage traps are the magicians most obvioush a z a rd. I try to drum into people how dan-g e rous they are. You cant get much more dan-g e rous than a hole in the floor. In Singapore ,he was perturbed to find that the stage man-agers were untrained school kids and safety justd i d n t seem to be on the agenda. There was adouble-trap system used for a Jarrett DraculaVanish, which they would reset by hinging itopen from under the stage. I was astounded tofind that they would often forget to checkwhether anyone was standing on the trap at thetime they reset it! I had to tell them that it tooktwo people to reset, one above and one below.S i n g a p o re is the least safety-conscious countryIve ever worked in!

One of the most technically demandingshows to come Pauls way was Point of Death ,written by Michael Cooney, and perf o rmed atthe Liverpool Playhouse. It was set in thew a rd of a hospital where a man had flashbacksto four years pre v i o u s l y. The opening scene hadthe man rushed to the hospital, having had ah e a rt attack. He is in street clothes. They puthim on top of a hospital bed and draw the cur-tains around it. Instantly, they draw the cur-tains open, because its morning. Now he is inpajamas, wired to a heart monitor, with suctionpads on his chest. For the audience it wasa s t o u n d i n g .

The script was more like a movie than ap l a y, and part of Pauls job was to realize all theinstant transitions between scenes. He collabo-rated with set designer Paul Farn s w o rth (whohad also worked with Paul on S c ro o g e) and,between them, they began to create some star-tling scenic effects. One of the characters goesto sleep and dreams that he stabs a patient. Yo usee the stabbing, and blood is splattered every-

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[Top] Kieve-designed spe -cial effects turned a hospitaldream scene nightmarish in

the 1995 production ofPoint of Death at the

Liverpool Playhouse. Paulcollaborated with writer

Salmon Rushdie [center] forhis production of Haroun

and the Sea of Stories.Kieves theatrical magic

always produces the rightwords [right] to ballyhoo

outside a theater.

w h e re. The next moment he wakes up in acompletely diff e rent bed, there are diff e re n tpatients in the ward and there s not a singled rop of blood on the wall!

The dream sequences meant devising a hos-pital set in which walls and beds and patientscould be changed instantly, the action illuminat-ed by pools of light, the mechanics of the methodhidden by the surrounding darkness. The onlything we had going for us was that the play wasset in one ward. As for the methods, our chiefinspiration came, surprisingly, from a matchbox.We designed beds that had shells over them, likematchbox covers. We extended the rail at theside of the bed through the back wall and off-stage. The shell could slide along this rail andt h rough the wall in a matter of seconds, takingan actor with it. So for the opening scene themoment the curtain was drawn around the bed,the shell complete with backboard, pillow,covers and heart monitor would be pushedt h rough the wall and cover the original. The dis-

appearing blood on the walls was accomplishedby revolving panels. The result was an incre d i b l eseries of shocks and surprises for the audience.Just as the author had intended, it was likewatching a movie on stage.

It was difficult for everyone backstage.They worked in near darkness, doing fairlyintricate changes. However, there was a gre a tfeeling among the cre w. We knew it was a dif-f e rent kind of show. The dire c t o r, Bob To m s o n ,said hed never known a show that relied somuch on the technical functioning of the set. Ifanything went wrong, if a bed derailed forinstance, it would literally be a showstopper!

A good many of the classics have come infor the Paul Kieve treatment. In Leslie BricussesS c roogeThe Musical, the Ghost of ChristmasPast appears in a chair and disappears thro u g h

a mirro r. Marleys face materializes in a door-knocker and a giant Ghost of Christmas Futurechases Scrooge about the stage, before chang-ing into an empty bed sheet. The pro d u c t i o nhas toured all over the world. Every time theydo it I think Id love to put additional illusions in,but I always say no because there is only enoughtime to technically rehearse the pieces that area l ready there. P a r s i f a l at the Paris OperaHouse, Peter Pan i n Copenhagen, Alice inWo n d e r l a n d with English National Ballet at theLondon Coliseum, and The Witches OfE a s t w i c k at Theatre Royal Dru ry Lane are othersuccess stories that Paul has contributed to.

When author David Wood turned RoaldD a h l s The Wi t c h e s into a stage play, he gavePaul his first opportunity to conceive the illu-sions before the set had been designed. Davidis the UKs leading childre n s playwright, andwriting and producing good quality shows forc h i l d ren is his mission. Hes written a lot ofplays, produced with Cameron Mackintosh,

and he is very knowledgeable about theater. Hehad seen my work on The Invisible Man a n d ,although hes a member of the Magic Circ l e ,d i d n t want to be his own magic consultant.

Once Paul was on board, he explained hisre q u i rements to designer Susie Caulcutt, whodeveloped the set around the magic elements,so that the illusion props blended in perf e c t l ywith the rest of the scenery. The finale of theshow occurs when a stage full of witches ismagically changed into mice, after drinkingc h a rmed soup. It seemed an impossible task,but Paul solved it by deciding it was the fate ofthe Grand High Witch that audiences would beconcentrating on. I suggested to David that ifwe made the Grand High Witch a little moreresistant to the magic potion, and had her dis-appear by shrinking into the soup tureen, we

could do almost anything we wanted to get ridof the other witches.

It was then that David Wood came up withthe idea of adopting a surreal, slow-motionstyle as soon as the poisoned soup starts towork. There are slow-motion sound eff e c t s ,clocks ticking, bizarre screaming. It allows theextras to disappear through a trap backstage,while the audiences attention is focussed on theg rotesque disappearance of the Grand HighWitch into the soup tureen, where she changesinto a mouse. Its only after the main action hasfinished that the audience realizes all the otherwitches have changed into mice as well. Yo ureally have to force yourself to watch the otherwitches if you want to see them leave the stage.

On a touring show, extras can be a source ofp roblems. As with The Wi t c h e s, they are oftenh i red locally and any illusions they are involvedin must be extremely simple to learn, otherw i s edisaster is assured. Yet, cast members can alsobe an illusion consultants best friend, as hap-pened during a production meeting of NoelC o w a rd s Blythe Spirit. The show starre d1960s supermodel Tw i g g y, and the pro d u c e r sw e re very keen on making her first appearanceas the ghost Elvira memorable. With the help ofO l i v i e r- a w a rd-winning set designer Ti mGoodchild, Paul devised an ingenious illusion.The audience was looking into a room at thefar side of which was a large curved set ofF rench windows leading into a garden. Theycould hear Twiggy talking outside the windowsas she approached. As her voice grew louderthe lighting inside the room dimmed, while thelighting on Tw i g g y, now just outside the win-dows, was raised. Unexpectedly she continuedher walk, penetrating right through the win-d o w, brushing the flimsy transparent curt a i n saside. Then she leaned against the glass she hasjust come thro u g h !

Twiggy loved the idea. It was, after all, aremarkable entrance. On the first day ofre h e a r s al, the director asked Paul to run the castt h rough the various effects. He was just describ-ing the window illusion when the pro d u c t i o nmanager announced that the effect had been cut.Theyd run out of money! It was a mistake to saythis in front of the cast. Renowned actre s sM a u reen Lipman spoke up, If Twiggy doesntget her magical entrance back, Im not going on.Bye, everybody! And out she walked. The illu-sion sequence was soon re s t o re d .

P a u l s rsum is littered with the names oft h e a t e rs famous. Hes worked with dire c t o r ssuch as Trevor Nunn, Gillian Lynne, and evenO s c a r-winner Sam Mendes. Hes even beenconsulted by the Lord of the Dance himself,Michael Flatley, who wanted to run across thestage towards the audience and vanish into thinair at the end of the show. The idea wasd ropped on the grounds that the show wasmaking a fortune anyway; why change it?

The king of commercial theatre is sure l yA n d rew Lloyd We b b e r, who these days, practi-

When former 60s supermodel Twiggy played the ghost Elvira in Blythe Spirit, a re m a r k a b l eillusion was devised that enabled her to make an ethereal entrance through a set of glass windows.

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cally owns the West End of London. For sometime, he has been working on a sequel to hisblockbusting musical P h a n t o m, and Paul wasasked to create some new illusions for it, one ofwhich he had the opportunity to pre s e n t .

E v e ry year Lloyd Webber holds a festivalin his home town of Sydmonton, nearN e w b u ry. He bought an estate there, after thesuccess of Jesus Christ Superstar, converted ac h u rch on the grounds into a 100-seat theatre .C a t s, Phantom of the Opera , S u n s e tB o u l e v a rd, Aspects of Love, he has tried themall there on the tiny stage that is no more than20-foot by 10-foot. He said he always wantedto stage an illusion at Sydmonton. Thats how Icame to be involved in the festival.

For Phantom 2, Lloyd Webber had writtena sequence in which the heroine is trapped in amaze of mirrors, and then disappears. Paulworked on the idea with Shaks, Arlene Phillipsc reated the chore o g r a p h y, and it was to bedebuted at Sydmonton. The little church inwhich the show would take place did not lackanything by way of stage facilities. There wasenough lighting and state of the art sound to filltwo theatres. But the night before he arrived inSydmonton, Paul realized his original idea was-n t going to work as planned. He quicklyre s t ru c t u red it, but was worried as to whetherit would still fit the newly created Phantom 2s c o re. When he queried it with Lloyd We b b e r,

he was amazed at his response. It was incre d-ible. It was the Monday morning rehearsal, andhe was actually composing the music on thepiano as he played, very happy to rewrite it tosuit the illusion.

As per the brief, the heroine danced infront of the mirror, became trapped inside it,then vanished on cue. The rehearsal was sucha success that Lloyd Webber decided to movethe piece nearer the end of the show, so thatit followed his own performance on the clavi-ola of the title number from Whistle DownThe Wind. This sudden promotion was toprove a nightmare because there was very lit-tle time to clear the stage of the claviola andbring on the illusion, both having to passthrough the same narrow stage entrance. Itmore than halved the original set-up time,

which was tight at best, and made for a fewheart-stopping moments backstage. Yet, Pauland Shaks managed to get the illusion set inrecord time, and the Maze of Mirrors illu-sion received an enthusiastic response.

Collaborating with others is one of the joysof Pauls business. It doesnt get any better thanbeing able to design an illusion with Shaks,have it choreographed by Arlene Philips, workit to music written by Andrew Lloyd We b b e r,and then have it applauded by a celebrity audi-ence. Its been a long journ e y, from perf o rm e rto advisor. However, as career choices go, itseems an enviable one for any magician. PaulKieve works with the best in the business withone goal in mind, to create new and excitingillusions for the arena that is their true home the theater. u

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S t retching Table illu -sion [above left] and

Queen of Heart sAppearance [above

right] from Dere kD e a n e s production of

Alice in Wonderland f o rthe English National

Ballet. [Right] Paul Kieveappears on John Fishers

H e roes of Magic.