Theatre review: The Magic Hour takes audiences of one through a delightful fever dream
The new production created by Kim Collier with Kendra Fanconi is designed as a solo immersive experience and journey
The Magic Hour. Photo by Clayton Baraniuk
Electric Company Theatre, Innovation Lighting, and Presentation House Theatre present The Magic Hour at Presentation House Theatre until August 22.
THE MAGIC HOUR is a bit like an escape game in the sense that you don’t know what you’re going to find from one room to the next as you make your way through every nook and cranny of the Presentation House Theatre—except in this maze, you don’t need to do any problem- or puzzle-solving to open doors. You just need to look for pairs of yellow footprints on the floors, follow prompts for when it’s time to turn door handles, and listen and watch in wonder as you float through the most delightful fever dream.
Created and conceived by theatre director Kim Collier with playwright Kendra Fanconi, the new production—a collaboration by Electric Company Theatre, Innovation Lighting, and Presentation House Theatre—is an immersive experience designed specifically for one. You travel solo through the 1902 building as the narrator (Maiko Yamamoto) guides you along, with all kinds of inventive projections, sounds, and lighting and multimedia effects to help show you the way.
The piece (created with LJ Chinfen, Mark Eugster, Joel Grinke, Alessandro Juliani, Bryan Kenney, Brad Trenaman, and Jonathan Wells) explores the isolation brought on by the pandemic and the state of our world, touching on the awe-provoking power of Mother Nature and humans’ disrespect for her. It also encourages people to reflect on their own inner world.
Themes of loneliness, change, hope, clarity, and renewal all emerge as you find yourself surrounded by illuminations and moving images that are especially dazzling when it comes to water: rain has never looked so gorgeous, until it threatens to become overwhelming; ocean waves are potent and cleansing. Meanwhile, everyday objects seem to come to life, while some of the sets are as tiny as they are adorable.
Like a horoscope, you could take the story as being made up of generalities that would apply to anyone and everyone, or you might find yourself thinking it was written just for you. No matter how big your problems may seem, The Magic Hour takes the wide view, reminding just how marvellously puny we all are within the universe and how, just as a weed pushes through the cracks of a sidewalk, life always finds a way.
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