'Exclude the impossible and what is left, however improbable, must be the truth.'

Harry Houdini is the greatest illusionist the world has ever known. Arthur Conan Doyle is the creator of literature's most brilliant detective, Sherlock Holmes. 

When their mutual admiration blossoms into a profound friendship, they discover a shared obsession with spiritualism. But while Conan Doyle believes fervently in the psychic world and the promise of reunion with his dead son, Houdini is determined to demonstrate it's a cruel fraud. Which of them will be proved right: the genius writer of fiction or the master magician?

Based on extraordinary historical events, David Haig's play Magic asks what we're prepared to believe, and why. It was first performed at Chichester Festival Theatre in 2026, directed by Lucy Bailey and starring Hadley Fraser as Houdini and Haig himself as Conan Doyle.



David Haig's other plays include My Boy Jack and Pressure, which also premiered at Chichester and received widespread critical acclaim, a London transfer, and a film adaptation.



'Spellbinding'



'A moving exploration of the tensions within and between its two main characters... pleasingly theatrical'



'A fascinating historical clash of ideas... thoughtful and engaging'



'Entertaining and gripping... Haig has a fine sense of the theatrical and draws his characters colourfully and sensitively... you could hear a pin drop during the séance scenes'



'Fascinating'



'Gripping, surprisingly emotional... asks questions that are just as relevant for modern audiences as they were for Conan Doyle and Houdini themselves... a masterful analysis of the truth and lies we tell ourselves and how we distinguish between them... a superb script... an absolute treat'



'Elegantly, artfully gripping'