Leaving Chennai spellbound

Though mandrake roots and magic wands work well

Good humour conjures the best of every spell

BERLINER INGO Von Wilke believes firmly in Goethe's wisdom about this. Possibly one of the reasons why his shows are so delightful. He does the usual things other magicians do, the same bag of tricks that they all do with their wands and sometimes without them, but it is what he dishes out with magic that makes the difference.

Stopping in Chennai on a 13-city tour of India, Ingo Von Wilke and his team - Topas, Roxanne and Michelle Douanier gave the German Festival in India the best kind of conclusion it could possibly have. And the Festival in Chennai did an appropriate vanishing act in great style, with Von Wilke and Co.

That evening though was not merely about magic. It was about dance, song, mime, illusion, humour, story telling wholesome entertainment. No wonder then that the capacious Narada Gana Sabha was filled to the brim and had a few hangers on too, who could not find seats, but stood through the entire show, enthralled by what was happening on stage. Making glow worms appear in thin air, making jewels out of nothing, spinning glasses, disappearing people, card tricks- name any sleight of the hand trick you know about and it was there on stage.

Von Wilke, in actual life, believe it or not, is nothing less than a heart specialist and calls himself Dr.Schonstedt. But he got into magic early - like from the day he let the daughter of the school director float in the air and since then, they say his act has improved considerably. He has been around the world, nearly 45 countries at last count, outside Europe and on the telly too.

That thoroughly entertaining clown like guy who ate glow-worms and produced an electric guitar out of nothing, well, he's called Topas. Despite all that clowning around, or perhaps, because of that, Topas has been World Champion of Sleight of Hand. What did the audience love him best for? That cool dude look and twirling glasses.

Something very rare in magic, Von Wilke said when he introduced, Roxanne. He meant lady magicians are few and far between, but this lady turned on an act that left no doubts at all about her capacity to make magic. Her Gothic art features spiders, pearls, champagne and candle light. Most interesting was her `rendezvous in the spider net, which nearly had her rotating in thin air. Now, how did she manage that? Sidelight: Roxanne also enjoys the privilege of being the first German lady magician to win a prize at the world championships of magic. Michele Douanier's story of Henry the earthworm and Matilda the Turtle had the kids in splits as she cut up Henry and put him together again, repeatedly- the Humpty Dumpty kind of magic.

An evening of magic that put the non-believers out of business, and let everybody enjoy.

By Ramya Kannan

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