We enjoy the opening night of new series of magic shows at one of the West Country’s best attractions, Wookey Hole
There’s a lot to love about Wookey Hole – great playgrounds, adventure golf, the museum, the circus and, of course, the amazing caves themselves. Well, now there’s another reason to pay a visit… The Magique Show is running throughout the summer holidays, adding an extra end-of-the-day attraction and a chance to see if you can work out how the tricks are done.
We took our seat in the Wookey Hole theatre, ice creams at the ready and a pretty full crowd of young families around us, as the mists of dry ice hit the stage and the laser-like rays of blue light danced around the stage. As a spooky voice introduced the show, we were ready for magical wonders with a touch of circus skills thrown in for good measure. And generally speaking, that’s what we got.
OK, from the start this was clearly more end of the pier entertainment than a high-end Las Vegas style showpiece. This meant that instead of a high cost dramatic mega production, it was more old-school skills and nostalgic look backs. To set the scene, the evening started with the a few ‘fun with bubbles’ type skills, some of which, it has to be said, didn’t really work.
No worries, we all still clapped and look forward to the fun improving. And so it did, with old school acts that saw assistants cut in half, escapes from straitjackets, trapeze gymnastics, roller skating super skills and even the old tearing up a newspaper and making it all come back again together routine. Seriously, how do they do that?
And despite the occasional mishap, it all went well and for the younger audience members, it was probably wonderfully confusing and beguiling, with the skills of the performers clear to see and the audience applause well earned.
While undoubtedly the whole production could have been improved with a little more of a storyline to bring the show together and certainly clearer enunciation from the circus master so that we could follow her jokes and general chat with the audience, it was still fun to see some of the old acts getting a new showing to a younger audience.
So if you’re paying a visit to Wookey Hole over the next month, consider staying around a little longer after the caves have closed for a choc ice and some conjuring skills. It’s a one hour show with tickets costing £9.99 a person.