In essence, Bullet Catch is a high class illusion show dressed up as a historical re-enactment.
The lugubrious, deadpan Rob Drummond, who has created the piece, bases it on a performance almost exactly 100 years ago in London, during which a labourer was asked to fire a gun at a magician, William Henderson, who would catch the bullet in his teeth. He didn’t and the innocently murderous audience member ended up in court.
For just over an hour, helped by another innocent (or was she a stooge), a lovely Kiwi named Rebecca, Drummond repeatedly second guesses her, as well as levitating a table, risking his arteries on a broken bottle and introducing other assorted mind games to entertain.
He has written a great script, harking back, calling up the spirit of Sigmund Freud and always intriguing a potentially challenging modern audience.
The tension builds unbearably to a final scene that replicates the fatal Bullet Catch of a century ago. Did it work? The producers must hope so otherwise they will have to return the ticket money for the rest of the run.