INFLUENCE
A magicians tale between life and death : Review but no spoilers included
https://collectivetheatre.co.uk/whats-on/ -> grab your tickets here.
Focus on me. I’m going to attempt to read you and reveal your darkest secrets. This should be nice and exposing.
It was a different level of excitement when I found out that one of my local theatres was bringing a magician show to stage including Kit Young, who has been recently seen in Netflix Shadow and Bone and the School of Good and Evil. For me he first anchored an appearance in my mind as Lysander in a Midsummer Night’s dream.
There are the big stages we all adore in the West End and love to be dazzled by, but the charm of your local theatre will always outdo the spotlight for me, even more if a magic show is on.
I’ve been growing up with magic all my life between theatre, board games and getting dragged to the circus in my early ages by my family. I could simply not be one of those kids that grew up without magic. Years later as an author and artist myself I still dig into all things magic and travel to places where the big ones have lived + I am still trying to figure out the magic on stage and screen as well as space and time when it comes to the bridge between all things spiritual and quantumphysics.
What starts as a cosy theatre living room, soon turns into an atmosphere that takes you on to a journey of a character that tells his tale of magic, grief and the meaning of nowadays tech-social-media-driven-life. (Of course I LOVE anything that involves something dark, even more so with the topic of death)
From the beginning of the show over to the bridge until the interval hits, the audience is heavily involved, and the story doesn’t scare away from tricking the audience into different scenarios where one really questions - is this part of the story or is this actually happening? My brain was certainly flicking between focusing on the magic behind the scenes and focusing my eyes on the performance itself.
But act two doesn’t shy away from building up the story even deeper. The writing hits between the lines of this is the story and this is real life. While magic can be all fun and games, Influence also leaves us with questions of nowadays society and finds the elegant balance between comedy and grief, rounding it all up with the feeling of a feel good show that comforts you in these wild times, without bypassing the chaos that happens in this world.
Kit's Performance as a magician delivers layers of love and fear as I like to see it on stage (and I have to admit playing a character like this is so going to be on my acting bucket list from now on). Certainly, I didn’t mind being picked as one of those people who had their (in my case) more or less secret revealed in front of an audience. Hits different though when now 50+ stranger know you can talk to ghosts ;)
I expected a classic magicians story and was magnificently surprised by the layers the character had to offer, not making him a one-dimensional whimsical-charismatic magician that you often see on stage. This character and his portrait of darkness was pleasantly surprising, and Kit did a fantastic job with finding the nuances of the character's drive.
Overall, Influence is a show written by heart and an evening of entertainment that will leave you thinking about magic, grief and social media all in one. If you happen to be in London until the 2nd of December 2023, grab a ticket, have fun and don’t forget to stay focused, or you won’t know what Influence actually means.
LC WOLFF
