BOY LOVES DAD. DAD TOO BUSY. BOY LOVES HOUDINI. BOY MAKES MAGIC. BOY LOSES DAD. BOY KEEPS MAGIC IN HIS LIFE.
A Regular Little Houdini
A Regular Little Houdini.
Press Release
Produced by Flying Bridge Theatre Limited
Written and performed by Daniel Llewelyn-Williams
Directed by Joshua Richards
A play of hope and magic! Set in the sprawling urban slums of the South Wales docklands at the turn of the last century; a coming of age story about a young boy from the docks who idolises Houdini and commits himself to a life of magic, but the harsh reality of working-class life in Edwardian Britain gets in the way. A tenacious dreamer, he trains himself to emulate his hero’s escapology amongst the mud and rust of his industrial surroundings, charming those hard-working realists around him but putting himself and others in danger as he becomes more detached from reality. His parents struggle to come to terms with their son’s eccentricity and our boy struggles in the mud and the filth to, not only achieve his dream of becoming an escapologist, but to survive, in a ruthless Edwardian dock town. As he grows our boy finds himself an integral part of most terrifying events of British industrial history and his personal journey even intersects with the world’s greatest showman himself. A connection which will influence both characters till the end of their days. With his hero’s guidance, he battles against the irrepressible tide of responsibility, to balance childhood folly and humanity with the cynicism of adulthood.
A story of youthful imagination and joie de vivre with a very real vein of jeopardy brought about by the harsh realities of working-class industrial daily life. It’s a beautiful tale of hope and magic inspired by my own family stories and of course the real life visits of Houdini to Newport.
Houdini twice came to working class, industrial Wales, in 1905 and 1913, both times kicking off his European tours. He had an affiliation with the town of Newport. Being the product of an immigrant Hungarian Jewish family, growing up in the melting pot of New York, he recognised the similarity of the immigrant industrial areas. Newport’s Pill (the dock town), being an international melting pot. In the States, his audiences were strongest in these industrial areas because he epitomised the “young immigrant success story”. He chose Newport as his springboard into Europe, as, at the time, it was a buzzing industrial hub. As it happens, his publicity stunts involving Newport police, their cells and a public jump off Newport Bridge, landed him on the front page of the national newspapers. Just the ticket for a master of self publicity.
Notes to Editors
Daniel Llewelyn-Williams comes from a family of dockers, from Pill in Newport. He also comes from a long line of great storytellers, one granddad a docker, the other a policeman. It’s their true stories plus other family yarns of the dockside, plus Houdini’s escapades plus the Newport Docks disaster of 1909 plus the building of the Transporter Bridge in 1906 plus his story of becoming an entertainer, which all come together to create this fabricated tale of a young boy with an irrepressible spirit who fights all the odds to break the mould and “escape” the drudgery of his perilous surroundings whilst keeping respect for his roots. The whole story is told through the eyes of a dreamer, a boy whose imagination knows no bounds, his mix of adventure and real history blurs with tales of cyclopes and feats of derring-do.
Daniel Llewelyn-Williams who wrote and performs the show recently won “best Actor” at the Wales Theatre Awards and is currently playing Dr Rhys Thomas in Eastenders.
Directed by Joshua Richards
Music composed by Meg Cox
Touring the UK and USA with over 60 shows throughout 2016.
Tour;
Theatr Clwyd;
12th -14th May
Theatr Ardudwy;
21st May
Beaumaris Arts Festival;
29th May
Brighton Fringe Festival;
31st May – 3rd June
Riverfront Theatre Newport;
8th – 10th June
Hereford Courtyard;
11th June
Hollywood Fringe;
To Book press tickets for Either venue at Hollywood Fringe, go to
www.hollywoodfringe.org
Theatre of NOTE
Thursday June 16 2016, 7:00 PM
Tuesday June 21 2016, 7:00 PM
Asylum’s (Inter)national House
Friday June 17 2016, 8:30 PM
Wednesday June 22 2016, 7:00 PM
Saturday June 25 2016, 7:00 PM
San Diego Fringe:
Spreckels Theatre;
26th June 4 PM
29th June 9 PM
1st July 10.30 PM
2nd July 6 PM
3rd July 11.30 AM
Headwaters Theatre, Portland Oregon;
18th – 23rd July
Edinburgh Festival; Pleasance Dome 10
12 noon 3rd -29th August concecutive.
First available review date for Edinburgh 3rd August 12 noon
To book review tickets for this show please contact the Pleasance Press Office
0131 556 6557
[email protected]
Please see the show website for further tour details and ticket sales links.
www.aregularlittlehoudini.co.uk
Visit flying bridge theatre website for details of our other projects.
www.flyingbridgetheatre.co.uk
Publicity contact; Daniel Llewelyn-Williams
(616 Words, 3028 Characters)