HOUDINI'S GREATEST ESCAPE Will Embark on UK Tour

New for 2024 Award-winning theatre company New Old Friends in association with Yvonne Arnaud Theatre present HOUDINI'S GREATEST ESCAPE which will open at Yvonne Arnaud Theatre Guildford on 08 February and Tour the UK throughout Spring. 

Almost 100 years ago today, Harry Houdini performed his final disappearing trick. Every year since, magic enthusiasts across the world have held Halloween seances in an attempt to solve the great escapologist's last mystery. Surely if anyone could cheat death it would have been Houdini! New Old Friends can't promise to shed any light on that story but do have a brand new one…

Harry Houdini is the world's greatest entertainer. Just as his death-defying escapology stunts have him, and his wife Bess, on the cusp of a career-defining performance for King Edward, he finds himself framed for murder by a gang of criminals in cahoots with the chief of police. Can Harry & Bess escape the plot and clear their names? And how is their rival, The Superstar Spiritualist medium, Agatha, involved?

All will be revealed in this hilarious 39 Steps-esque thriller, played out in New Old Friends' (Crimes on Centre Court) inimitable, award-winning style of physical comedy, sparkling wit and just a touch of chaos.

Featuring a hard-working cast of four playing multiple roles on an almost harder-working set, this show will have you laughing and gasping throughout at the magic of theatre and the ‘real' magic of illusions designed by TV's Pete Firman (Netflix Good Omen's / BBC One's The Magicians) Cast includes Ben Higgins as Harry Houdini, Lydia Piechowiak as Bess Houdini with ‘many other characters' played by Kirsty Cox and Adam Elliott

The tour will also visit Basingstoke, Bolton, Bracknell, Bury St Edmunds, Chipping Norton, Crawley, Colchester, Darlington, Eastbourne, Exeter, Hereford, Huddersfield, Inverness, Ipswich,  Lancaster, Lichfield, Lytham Saint Annes, Middlesborough, Newbury, Northampton,  Peterborough, Portsmouth, Salisbury, Southampton, Wakefield, Winchester and Worthing with more venues including London dates to be announced.

Houdini ‘s Greatest Escape is presented by New Old Friends, a touring theatre company whose primary goal it is to make people laugh out loud in association with Yvonne Arnaud Theatre. The Creative Producer is Heather Westwell.  It is written and directed by Feargus Woods Dunlop, Illusion Design is by Pete Firman, Set Design by Caitlin Abbott, Costume Design by Connie Watson, Lighting Design by George Seal, Sound Design by Fred Riding. The  Composer is Guy Hughes with Movement Direction by Sam Archer,

Feargus Dunlop- Woods said:  “This is a show we have wanted to make for years and are over the moon that the company in finally in a position to realise the vision of blending our slightly chaotic ‘overtly theatrical' nonsense with some genuine illusions. Researching and ‘getting to know' Harry and Bess Houdini has been fascinating and this, entirely fictional, episode in their crusade against fraud mediums has been a huge amount of fun to create. We can't wait to share it with the country.”

Yvonne Arnaud Theatre added “We are thrilled to be working with a company with such unashamed and passionate a commitment to entertainment and can't wait to present  Houdini to our audiences next year”.

Tour Dates

06 – 10 February          Yvonne-Arnaud Guildford                      www.yvonne-arnaud.co.uk

13 & 14 February         Northampton Royal & Derngate             www.royalandderngate.co.uk

15 & 16 February         Mercury Theatre Colchester                  www.mercurytheatre.co.uk

22- 24 February           Theatre Royal Winchester                     www.theatreroyalwinchester.co.uk

27 February                 Middlesbrough Theatre                         www.middlesbroughtheatre.co.uk

28 & 29 February         The Dukes Theatre Lancaster                www.dukeslancaster.org

05 & 06 March              Lawrence Batley Theatre                       www.thelbt.org

08 & 09 March              Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds            www.theatreroyal.org

12 & 13 March              Lowther Pavilion                                    www.lowtherpavilion.co.uk

14 March                      Newbury Corn Exchange                       www.cornexchangenew.com              

15 March                      New Theatre Royal Portsmouth             www.newtheatreroyal.com

19 – 21 March              Key Theatre, Peterborough                   www.keytheatre-peterborough.com

23 March                      Worthing Theatre                                 www.wtm.uk

26 & 27 March              Salisbury Playhouse                              www.wiltshirecreative.co.uk

28 – 30 March              Eastbourne, Devonshire Park                www.eastbournetheatres.co.uk

02 April                        Darlington Hippodrome                         www.darlingtonhippodrome.co.uk

03- 06 April                  Bolton Octagon                                     www.octagonbolton.co.uk

10 April                        Wakefield Theatre Royal                       www.theatreroyalwakefield.co.uk

18 – 20 April                Eden Court Inverness                           www.eden-court.co.uk

24 April                        The Courtyard, Hereford                        www.courtyard.org.uk

25 – 27 April                Lichfield Garrick                                    www.lichfieldgarrick.com On sale soon

29 April                        Hawth, Crawley                                    www.hawth.co.uk

01 May                         South Hill Park                                     www.southhillpark.org.uk

02 – 04 May                  The Theatre Chipping Norton                 www.chippingnortontheatre.com

07 & 08 May                 New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich                www.wolseytheatre.co.uk              

09 – 11 May                  Haymarket, Basingstoke                       www.anvilarts.org.uk    

14 – 16 May                  Exeter Northcott Theatre                       www.exeternorthcott.co.uk

17 -19 May                   Mast Mayflower Studios                         www.mayflowerstudios.org.uk  

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