United Kingdom Kenny Emson’s The Disappearing Man: Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford, Surrey, 10.11.2026. (BF) ****
Presented by Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch and HighTide this new play by Kenny Emson provides another good evening at the Yvonne Arnaud. It’s an emotional drama involving a failed seaside entertainer, a riff on the themes tackled by John Osborne in The Entertainer in 1957, but with magic thrown in. Protagonist Barry, professionally Bazza Cadabra, is a magician and illusionist. Having for years since a life-changing incident been merely scratching a living and long estranged from his wife and adult son, Barry has a series of second chances. He has returned to down-at-heel Clacton-on-Sea where he left his embittered ex-wife and son and is preparing a professional comeback there, in a show with a flashy young magician and supported by a no-nonsense new manager. At the same time Barry is seeking to repair the broken family ties, to reunite with his son and find an accommodation with his now remarried ex-wife.
There is some good writing here: the text only gradually reveals the circumstances of the life-changing incident and its effects on those involved; the characters slowly manage to reveal sometimes elliptically but very naturalistically their feelings, their fears and their hopes. I must admit, however, that there were a few longueurs in the first half, though the second half barrelled along.
The magic adds fun to the whole thing, plus the opportunity to reflect on the contrast between reality and illusion. We get magic bullets, card tricks, coins produced out of nowhere (how do they do it?), people disappearing in a puff of smoke of which there is plenty throughout the show, flaming hoops – sadly no lady sawn in half.
Matt Bardock is exceptionally good as Barry, showing the pain behind his cheery Essex hard man persona, ably supported by Debra Baker as the warm, survivor, ex-wife Wendy, while David Angland is also exceptional as the sad, emotionally damaged, son Harry. Minor roles are played by Kadell Herida as Presto, the modern young magician who streams his performances online, and Courtney George, did well playing both the manager of the recalcitrant performers and a fortune-teller, though her diction, complicated by different accents for each role, could be improved.
The set design is simple, especially so after a curtain malfunction in the first 10 minutes when I saw it, with two levels and screens facilitating disappearances and the most basic furniture, much of the illusion provided through dazzling lights and that smoke.
The writer, Kenny Emson, described to me enthusiastically as the ‘king of studio theatre who now comes to the main stage’, has won various awards for his writing for stage and screen.
HighTide is a writer-centred theatre company, based in Ipswich, which prides itself on supporting writers from first creative spark to full production. The Disappearing Man is on tour, from Hornchurch to Blackpool to the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre until Saturday 14 November 2026, and then to Peterborough’s Key Theatre (for more information click here).
Barbara Ford
Featured Image: Barry (Matt Bardock), Wendy (Debra Baker) and Harry (David Angland) in better times
Cast:
Barry – Matt Bardock
Wendy – Debra Baker
Harry – David Angland
Isha / Fortune-teller – Courtney George
Presto – Kadell Herida
Creatives:
Writer – Kenny Emson
Director – Alex Thorpe
Set and Costume designer – Sarah Beaton
Illusion design – John Bulleid and Gareth Kalyan
Lighting designer – Matt Haskins
Composer – Eamonn O’Dwyer
Fight & Intimacy director – Ruth Cooper-Brown of Rc-Annie
(Also published in Guildford Dragon NEWS)