AN EVENING OF MYSTERIES

Southland Times, Issue 23735, 6 February 1939, Page 9

AN EVENING OF MYSTERIES

NICOLA BEWILDERS HIS AUDIENCE

MASTERLY PERFORMANCE OF TRICKS The difference between a wizard and a magician is that the wizard wears a beard. This superficial distinction was explained by the Great Nicola at his opening performance at the Regent Theatre on Saturday night to prove that he was a magician, but from the facility with which he appeared to perform impossibilities he might have claimed to be a wizard as well as a magician. After watching his swiftly moving performance, the audience could well have concluded that there was little in defiance of natural laws which was not within his powers. He has undoubtedly a masterly skill in deception and he subtly combines his illusions with an apparent desire to tell the audience how the feats are accomplished only to leave them more bewildered than ever.. The practice of magic is one of the oldest forms of stagecraft and it is one that has retained its popular appeal more than others. It has a double appeal in that while the audience thoroughly enjoys watching seeming impossibilities, it can also entertain itself by attempting to understand how they are performed. Nicola very wisely does not ignore this reaction, but if an audience thinks it will learn the explanation of Nicola’s tricks it is mistaken. -Although he is now on a farewell tour he is apparently still determined to guard his secrets closely. He is not only a master magician; he is also a great show man and he presents his performance in a variety of guises with a bevy of charming assistants and against colourful backgrounds. He gives impressions of the great Oriental and South American magicians with some of their famous tricks and quickly prepares the audience for anything extraordinary that may happen. He fixes a girl in a framework and then apparently stretches her arms and legs to unbelievable lengths. He puts another girl in an Indian basket, through which he drives many knives and later shows that the girl has mysteriously disappeared. He causes the hypnotized form of a girl to rise several feet into the air and remain suspended. There. is an unexpected twist to this familiar trick, however, when Nicola whisks the enshrouding cloth away to reveal that the girl is no longer in the air at alt In the gaol-breaking mystery he causes a prisoner to escape from one prison cell to another to the mystification of the audience and he then offers to give the solution to the problem, only to present an even greater mystery! Another odd twist is given when he transports the audience to the back of the stage to witness a trick presented to an audience painted on . a backcloth. The audience sees a girl resting on a special platform behind a completely empty Noah’s Ark and sees her enter the ark, unseen by the painted audience, but when the ark is opened it is found to contain several very lively ducks and fowls, but no girl. Comedy touches are provided in an exhibition of South American magic and in a farcical demonstration of . spirit, manifestations in a spiritualistic cabinet Two of the most striking mysteries are the lijon Maiden and the Substitution Trunk. In the. first one of the long-sufferihg assistants is manacled and locked in a cabinet through which spikes at intervals of four inches are driven. The young woman appears quite unperturbed at this ordeal and is apparently unpunctured.. In the second an assistant is locked in a trunk which is securely roped and tied and in a space of seconds she is discovered to be released and the magician is found to be incarcerated.

Between all the major tricks, Nicola maintains the entertainment at a fast pace with a bewildering number of sleight of hand tricks and performances with all the paraphernalia with which magicians are accustomed to mystify their audiences. The whole performance is brilliantly executed with the magician always supreme. Nicola is assisted by Miss Lucille Roberts, described as “the girl with the X-ray eyes.” While an assistant passes through the audience, Miss Roberts describes articles which are given to him to handle, announces the dates on coins, the numbers of licences or the time by watches. From the stage she answers unspoken questions to the apparent satisfaction of the persons in the audience concerned. Another fine artist is Al de Clercq,. a Hollywood Hill' Billy, who. entertains with an amusing dissertation on a variety of topics before giving a yodelling number and clever tap dance. The Nicola company will give five more evening performances at the Regent Theatre this week with a matinee on Wednesday afternoon. . On Friday afternoon a special matinee performance will be given for women by Miss Lucille Roberts.