There’s a new play premiering in the U.K. centered around Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The production goes by the simple title, Magic, and is written by David Haig (Killing Eve, Four Weddings and a Funeral), who also plays Doyle.
Here’s the show’s description:
Harry Houdini is the greatest illusionist the world has ever known. Arthur Conan Doyle is the creator of literature’s most brilliant detective, Sherlock Holmes.
Their mutual admiration blossoms into a profound friendship, even as they discover a shared obsession with spiritualism. Conan Doyle believes fervently in the psychic world and the promise of reunion with his dead son; Houdini is determined to demonstrate it’s a cruel fraud. Which of these sparring partners will be proved right: the genius writer of fiction or the infallible magician?
Based on extraordinary historical events, Magic asks what we’re prepared to believe, and why.
In addition to Haig, the play stars Hadley Fraser as Houdini, Jenna Augen as Bess Houdini, Claire Price as Jean Conan Doyle, as well as Ben Jones, Marc Serratosa, Ella Tekere, François Testory, Jade Williams, and Kristin Wei Wong. It’s directed by Lucy Bailey, with John Bulleid serving as the magic consultant.
Magic (the play, but also, I suppose, the art form) is currently set to run from April 24 to May 16, 2026 at the Chichester Festival Theatre. Tickets are currently on sale.