Richard Cadell is promising genuine jeopardy amid the escapism.
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00:00Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt,
00:04Brief Arts Editor for Sussex Newspapers.
00:06Lovely this afternoon to speak to Richard Cadell.
00:08And Richard, you are heading to a number of venues in our area
00:12with Cirque du Magique.
00:14Now, it sounds a wonderful show, in which there is proper jeopardy.
00:18And you were speaking just now with such excitement
00:20about this jeopardy that you expose yourself to.
00:24Why? What's the buzz from that jeopardy then?
00:27Well, I think an audience loves to be excited.
00:29They love to be thrilled.
00:30They love to be on the edge of their seats.
00:32And Cirque du Magique is, you know, it's a circus-type style show,
00:36very fast and modern.
00:38But we're doing magic primarily in it that is with a circus flavour.
00:42And when you go to the circus, you know,
00:44when you see those trapeze artists and those motorcycle riders,
00:47you know, you are on the edge of your seat
00:49because there's danger and jeopardy and skill.
00:51So we've combined those elements with big illusions.
00:54And I'll be suspended upside down on a burning rope
00:57with two steel jaws heading towards me.
00:59I'm going to dodge a chainsaw, balance on a sword,
01:03and numerous other things, escape from...
01:05What does it say about you that you put yourself in this position?
01:08Oh, you know, it just... I don't know what it says.
01:11I just love the whole adrenaline rush of it.
01:13And I love the audience to be part of that
01:15because a show of this type is never seen, very rarely, of this scale.
01:19This is not a magic show with packs of cards and bits of rope.
01:22This is a big, you know, huge show.
01:24And they're very rarely ever staged in this country.
01:27You know, you'd have to go to Las Vegas to see something this scale.
01:30And when an audience is in the theatre and they get to see it and feel it
01:34and know that it's just so close to them they could touch it,
01:37they know that, A, you're not cheating,
01:39or if you are, you're doing it so they can't see you doing it.
01:42No, you're cheating. They know that it's genuine.
01:44There's no camera tricks. There's nothing like that.
01:46So, of course, the audience reaction is heightened
01:48because they know it's really happening in real time.
01:51So, of course, us as performers, we get that reaction
01:54and everything just is fuelled off that.
01:57And heightened for you too.
01:59You were saying you had a dodgy moment with a microphone the other day.
02:02Oh, yeah, I was doing the Jaws of Death,
02:06which is where I'm in a straight jacket,
02:08which a member of the audience buckles me into.
02:10I'll be doing this in the show.
02:12Madness, hung upside down in the air with the rope burning.
02:16And if the rope burns through, the jaws,
02:18which are big, heavy, steel-teethed jaws, will slam into me.
02:22I mean, these are huge, these jaws.
02:25And where they'd used a different microphone,
02:27the cable for the mic, they'd run down my back.
02:29And inadvertently, I didn't realise,
02:31when the guy buckled me into the straight jacket,
02:33I can't see what he's doing.
02:34All the cable was caught in the buckle.
02:36So I'm now sort of blindfolded, trying to undo the buckles
02:38as I'm hung upside down, and I can't see them.
02:40I just feel it, and I can't work out what I'm feeling.
02:43I know it's unusual, and then I realise what's happened.
02:45And that's when I thought, hang on a minute,
02:48you're in real trouble here.
02:49You've got to get out of this jacket,
02:51because if you don't, you're in real trouble.
02:53But your adrenaline kicks in,
02:56and fortunately, I sort of knew my way around it quite well.
03:00And in the nick of time,
03:01I was able to drop from the rope onto the crash mat.
03:05And the jaws were like a couple of seconds after me.
03:08You realise you are doing this so that we don't have to, aren't you?
03:14I'm doing this because I don't know.
03:16I don't know why I'm doing it.
03:17I love doing it.
03:18I love doing it.
03:19I love the whole showmanship of the whole thing.
03:21But it's the audience reaction that we love.
03:24It's all about the audience.
03:25It's about giving them something that they haven't seen before.
03:29And the showmanship is key,
03:30because as you're saying, it's an escape, isn't it?
03:34Yeah, it's an escape, and everything is showmanship.
03:37Magic is all about showmanship.
03:39I mean, everything.
03:40And I adore that element.
03:42I adore the, you know, we've got dancers in this show.
03:45We've got fire.
03:46We've got lighting.
03:47We've got lasers.
03:48And all of those things, you know,
03:50add and dress these effects and take them to a new level.
03:53I mean, the lighting, even on the jaws of death, you know,
03:56the way they light me and the music that runs underneath,
03:58the heartbeat as the timer gets closer and closer to zero,
04:01and, you know, that rope's burning.
04:03All that stuff just makes for a real dramatic experience,
04:06as well as, you know, a magical and hopefully puzzling experience.
04:10So, yeah, it's a wonderful, wonderful art to be involved in.
04:14Fabulous.
04:15You almost persuade me, but rather you than me.
04:17Lovely to speak to you, and have a great time.
04:20Thank you for your time, Richard.
04:22It's a pleasure.
04:23Pleasure.