Almost a year and a half ago, wanting to create “the wildest, most insane magic show ever”, award-winning magician and comedian Dom Chambers approached Strut & Fret, “the most wild and insane show producers that have ever existed”. Together, they’ve created a new show, 'The Purple Rabbit’.
Playing as part of Brisbane Festival, it's a smorgasbord of light, mystery, drama, weirdness, and magic.
According to Dom, you should take everything you think you know about magic and magic shows and throw it out the window. “It is a magic show,” Dom begins, “But, I would describe it as the performers in this show being the outcasts of the magic world. These are the people that don’t fit in with elite magic societies, they’re not going to be part of magic show line-ups, they’re really all defining what a magician is in their own way.”
“We have a mouth magician; he’s the Australian beat box champion and what he does with his mouth is completely magical! He uses mouth effects to create illusions as well, not what you’d consider a normal magician.
“We have Harper Jones, who is the world’s first and only sexual 'psycho-cologist'. She’s like a mind reader but instead reading what number or card you’re thinking of, she’ll tell you all your dirtiest and sexiest secrets – the fun stuff!”
Dom likes to use magic for what he calls “useful things”, like getting drunk. Hard to say whether that’s a witty quip or there’s a magic trick (something like ‘Look, I made all my money disappear from my wallet!’ perhaps?) in there somewhere. Regardless, Dom’s specific role in 'The Purple Rabbit' is to make it a cohesive, but daring and exciting event. “The magicians are all a little different to what you’d imagine them to be,” he says.
“It’s a showcase of how far and how different you can take the art of magic.”
Having performed the show in Adelaide already, Dom says, “This is one of the craziest shows I’ve ever been involved with. The audience, it felt more like a rock concert than a magic show. You had people standing, yelling, screaming, going crazy, walking out completely buzzed.”
One of those buzz-inducing acts – “worth the price of the ticket,” according to Dom – comes in the form of “one of the world’s best foot jugglers. Seeing her alone is worth it. But, we also have one of the world’s best sleight of hand champions”.
The hope for Dom and Strut & Fret is that their audiences will walk away with an overhauled perception of magic as an art form. “I want people to say ‘I did not know magic could be like this, this is not how I imagined magic’.
“I think people do have a certain expectation of what a magic show is, and this is not that. I want people walking out going, ‘Okay. Yeah. This has changed everything I ever thought about what a magic show could be!’ and hopefully it’s one of the best shows they’ve ever seen!”
'The Purple Rabbit' plays South Bank Piazza as part of Brisbane Festival from 15-24 September.
