Review: RHYTHM & RUSE, The Vaults

With a Jazz Age theme and plenty of cabaret, cocktails and close-up magic, London’s latest slab of immersive fun Rhythm & Ruse opens at The Vaults.

Produced by Immergence and Clio Creative, there’s a hefty Punchdrunk pedigree in the creative team with “devisers” Sam Booth and Mallory Gracenin and Fania Grigoriou having worked on a number of the pioneering company’s productions. That background is evident early on as we are led through a Viola’s Room-like series of corridors, one with mirrored walls, before entering into The Starling Club proper.

Once inside, it’s not long before this gin joint comes to life and we are offered our first drink. A series of five different handcrafted Tom Savano cocktails are included with the ticket (mocktails are available as alternatives) to be consumed alongside an array of posh snacks. For those partaking, the libations were an interesting bunch of flavours ranging from the fruity Blackberry Gin Bramble and Marseilles Midsummer Raspberry Gimlet to the more intense Single Estate Reposado Margarita. The tables themselves are cosy, seating around 12 people comfortably and laid out either side of a central stage. It doesn’t feel cramped but don’t go expecting to dance the Charleston in the aisles. 

The night follows a general pattern of events. Someone comes along to take our drink order for the next round; hosts Tom and Rosie (played by Booth and Gracenin) and the Revellers band (fronted by singer and musical director Naomi Banks) entertain us from the stage with witty banter and jazz standards; a magician appears on our table during the final bars of the song and we are then treated to some close-up illusions. It’s formulaic, sure, but if all formulas were this fun, I would have stayed longer in academia and become a maths professor.

The absolute highpoint of Rhythm & Ruse is the rotating cast of table-hopping magicians who entertain us at close range. The four we saw were all of a high standard and left us with plenty of “how?” and “wow!” moments. Forever recognisable thanks to her trademark mop of bright red hair and her husky voice, Laura London is as safe a pair of (sleight of) hands as we have in the capital and, having experienced her star quality at the Cafe de Paris in those heady nights of yore, it is good to see her still plying her trade. 

John Welles lit up the night in more ways than one thanks to his magical bulb while the charming Eddie shot a billiard ball from an empty card container then made a variety of objects disappear faster than an election manifesto promise. Savaan used his cheeky street patter to bounce us through a series of seemingly impossible tricks where jewellry vanished from right in front of us only to appear moments later from his back pocket attached to a key ring or from within an envelope inside a wallet that he retrieved from his jacket.

There are bigger pieces of magic too but to much lesser effect. Daan Ho pops up on stage and drags in two volunteers to help with a rope trick before dancing around with a levitating stick. Both are common enough illusions and smack more of shop-bought gimmickry than genuine skill or creative thought. Only slightly more impressive is a trick straight out of the Derren Brown playbook featuring a note which is written at the top of the evening by Rosie then placed in a box above the audience throughout the night. It makes for a fun finale even if the result is a foregone conclusion long before the end. 

The music is one of the strongest elements of the night when it comes to convincing us we are in a Prohibition-era speakeasy. Banks has a resounding voice which rings through the room, rolling out familiar numbers like Nina Simone’s “I Put A Spell On You” with no little panache. Canadian trumpet player Jonathan Bauer, meanwhile, blows up a storm with his solos. Tom and Rosie are less effective in setting the mood: the writing around their roles is weak and, beyond the latter’s predilection for polyamory, we don’t discover too much about them. 

As the devisers, Booth and Gracenin’s efforts to create an immersive atmosphere are a mixed bag. Isabella Van Braeckel’s set and costume design captures the detail of the Jazz Age period perfectly while the lighting and sound from Skylar Turnbull Hurd and Stuart Gardener respectively set up a suitably edgy ambience. Booth’s accent when playing the presumably American Tom wanders from one side of the pond to the other, a vagary that somewhat pulls us out of our supposed location. The magicians’ use of modern vernacular and the occasional slip of fruity British slang (“we don’t want this trick to go tits up” was heard at one point) was natural but hardly in keeping with the era we were apparently in. 

Given how happy the creative team are to flaunt their history and connections in relation to one particular company and art form (Booth and Gracenin are described in the press release as “esteemed figures from Punchdrunk’s Burnt City and other international immersive productions”, Grigoriou is “a longtime collaborator with Punchdrunk since 2013” and all three are part of “an expert team with extensive experience in immersive theatre worldwide”), it is disappointing to see just how far this show veers from their stated roots and, to an extent, immersive theatre in general. While Sleepwalk Immersive’s Bacchanalia and Amber Jarman-Crainey’s Bound cleaved close to the general vibe of The Burnt City and The Drowned Man, Rhythm & Ruse treads a very different path. 

For starters, this is a comparatively static affair. We are not encouraged to explore the environment (or even leave your table) and, even if you do, short of going to the loo, there’s nothing to get up for as there is no real detail in the surroundings to investigate or explore. Interactions with the characters are few and far between: co-hosts Ruby and Charlie (fluently played by Jessica Hern and Peaky Blinders’ Elliot Rodrigues) make the rounds to touch base but I didn’t spot any opportunities for meaningful 1:1s with any of the cast. The only repeat value here seems to be in seeing different magicians each time. Back in June, the producers told the press that a “secret society of magicians members (sic) will offer tarot readings in character, gradually revealing the intriguing backstory”. All of this has been ditched and, in its place, not only is there no backstory but not enough plot to really speak of suggesting that what we are seeing now is a reduced version of the originally intended form. 

When it comes to offering jazz and magic in an immersive setting, Rhythm & Ruse has some serious local competition on its hands. The Magicians Table opens next week with nine of “the UK’s best close up magicians”, the Lost Estate’s own homage to the Jazz Age 58th Street is coming in October and the charming Candlelight Club continues its monthly series of shows. If it wants to survive (never mind thrive), Rhythm & Ruse may need to perform its own magic trick and pull something special from the bag.

Rhythm & Ruse continues until 4 January 2025.

Photo credit: Rhythm & Ruse

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