Houdini's Suitcase

As part of an on-going programme whereby visiting theatre companies perform at the College, in September, 'Pickled Image' returned to Marlborough to stage Houdini's Suitcase, a production specially commissioned by the Norland Visual Theatre in Norway. It is a show that combines live performance with mask and puppetry.
 

The audience didn’t know quite how to react to the appearance of a seemingly old man, heavily made up and dragging a giant suitcase onto the stage to the accompaniment of melancholy music.

The performance then took a turn, the old man flinging on a cloak and performing seemingly impromptu magical tricks. Poignant reminiscences of the past were punctuated by a completely separate circus performed by puppets controlled by people dressed 'invisibly' in black.

Pickled Image has won the Griffin Award for stage excellence five years in a row and, given the excellent acting and stage management we witnessed in Marlborough, it was easy for us to see why. The audience was left surprised and delighted by a performance that was both beautiful and macabre.