PREPARE to be amazed as the world’s most famous escapologist is brought to life by a Basingstoke theatre company.

This September Proteus is piecing together the life and mysteries surrounding Harry Houdini, the nineteenth century magician who baffled the world with his startling tricks, in one-man show Houdini.

Written and directed by Proteus’ artistic director Mary Swan, the production follows on from the company’s one-man tour-de-force The Elephant Man – which ran at the Edinburgh Festival and went as far as the Big Apple to play at The Brits off Broadway festival.

Swan, who is writing and directing, and actor Lee Garrett, have now cast their creative eyes on to the enigma of Houdini to explore the man and his exploits.

Garrett, who appeared in Poppy Wild’s Magical Machine, The Princess and the Pea and has been involved in Proteus’ Identity workshops, is relishing the challenge of performing a one-man show for the first time.

The 34-year-old actor, who is originally from Birmingham, said: “I have been looking forward to this for a long time. The play is about Houdini’s life but we will explore certain elements of it in more detail.

“For several years Houdini was on the vaudeville circuit doing card and coin tricks, the lowest on the bill. He was always interested in handcuffs but it was not until later that he put that into his show and became an escapologist.

“He was also a master of publicising himself, he would jump into river in chains and tip off the press the day before, and that night he would have a sold-out show.

“He also debunked spiritualism which was popular at the time. He did so much, and there were a lot of conspiracy theories around his death.”

Both Swan and Garrett did their own research before coming together to devise the play after which Swan wrote a draft.

Magic also plays an important part in the production. Back in March the pair met with magic consultant Roy Davenport in London to talk about what tricks the actor would be capable of after six months of practice.

Garrett said: “We spent about four hours with him and my head was completely boggled by the end, it was quite a daunting experience.

“He showed me a strait jacket and the process of how to get out, and coin and card tricks and handcuff tricks and I have been going back periodivcally since.”

But he stressed that it is not a magic show.

He said: “It takes years to perfect magic, but there will be some magic to help the story along.”

Houdini is playing at Central Studio from September 16 to 23 at various times before going on tour and more information is at proteustheatre.com.

The show is suitable for people aged 12 and above and tickets, priced at £8.50, with concessions available, can be booked by calling the box office on 01256 418318 or online at centralstudio.co.uk