Ted Outerbridge: Clockwork Mysteries Tour Delivers Holiday Magic
By David DeRocoo
Attending a performance that both inspires your imagination and teaches you an important life lesson can be a magical experience. December 29th, you’ll have opportunity to enjoy both during a mesmerizing holiday performance by renowned Canadian magician Ted Outerbridge.
Hailed by critics as “the most successful professional magician in Canada,” Outerbridge has spent nearly three decades entertaining audiences on both sides of the Atlantic, staging sold-out tours packed with spellbinding magic and theatrical custom-designed illusions. It’s a life-long vocation that Outerbridge says began after being amazed by a magic trick at age seven.
“I was in a restaurant eating a bowl of spaghetti when this guy pulled an egg out of my ear and it blew my mind,” remembers Outerbridge, who shares the stage with his wife and partner, Marion Outerbridge. “From that moment on I wanted to be able to create a sense of wonder for others.”
By the time he was 12, Outerbridge was already being paid to perform magic at neighbourhood birthday parties, delivering 15-minute sets of slight-of-hand tricks and small-scale illusions. At 19 he was earning his living as a professional magician, developing illusions that would eventually be used in such sold-out tours as Magical Moments In Time and the Time Capsule Tour.
His latest production, Clockwork Mysteries, incorporates stories and messages that celebrate time, both the concept of travelling through it and also those special moments in time that help bring joy to our lives. It’s a concept that Outerbridge says his wife helped develop, one that brings a unique relatability to their on-stage illusions.
“When we started celebrating time, that was a turning point for us, because the magic then came from our hearts and not the magic store catalogue,” explains Outerbridge. “Our illusions are very original and unique. Everyone has had the desire to travel back in time, so we have a time machine in our show. Instead of climbing in a box, Marion is climbing into a time machine, travelling back in time and then returning to the present. It’s an amazing illusion, but there’s also a message attached to it.”
The grand scale of the illusions and costumes the Outerbridge’s have incorporated into the Clockwork Mysteries tour make this the magical duo’s biggest production yet. However, he says that despite its grand nature the show still provides the audience with an intimate night of magic that’s highly engaging for people of all ages.
“We have at least 15 large illusions in this show. We have a seven-foot tall time machine, we having vanishing, levitation, and even sawing Marion in half. We perform that classic illusion with two people from the audience holding her head, so the show is very interactive. We like to mix it up. Every show is different, and it’s all about the audience. That makes it fun and fresh for us. It’s a great time for the entire family.”
