The Sorcerer’s Apprentice review – mindboggling bag of tricks will make you believe in magic

If you catch a young audience member at just the right moment, when they are old enough to be fully engaged but not so old that the sharp edges of teenage cynicism have begun to slink into view, you can make them truly believe in the magic of theatre. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is the kind of show that will make them – and possibly some adults – believe in magic.

To begin by praising the lighting design may seem odd, but this is one of the most effectively lit pieces of theatre you might see. Lighting designer Simon Bond’s barn doors, gels and gobos are integral to creating the many illusions on the stage. Director Paul Bosco McEneaney was a magician before turning his hand to theatre directing and he empties out a bag of tricks on to the stage of the jewel-like Buxton Opera House.

Gunda (Philippa O’Hara), our narrator, begins by conjuring a village of 100 wooden houses out of thin air, the village stretching up into the darkness, the first of many impressively created stage images from designer Diana Ennis. Much of the story is simply told by Gunda; when it is occasionally sung, Fiona O’Kane and Neve Hutchinson’s score adds to the mystical quality of the storytelling.

Impressive … James Grimm and Orla Gormley in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Photograph: Melissa Gordon

Gunda lives in a wooden hut with her mother and father, in a village over which watches a sorcerer. He appears in the form of an owl – you will believe he flies on to and around the stage with actual wind in his wings before taking on human form. When her father falls ill, Gunda ventures into the forest to find the sorcerer, learn his magic and heal her father.

For fans of the Disney version of this story, there is a moment in which an army of brooms fly around the stage. But there is so much more to this stage adaptation, a co-production between the Northern Irish company Cahoots and Buxton Opera House. The tricks include levitation, shape shifting, things – and people – appearing out of nowhere. Entrances and exits provide little challenge for this director. Holding it all is a simply told, effective narrative. All in all, it’s truly enchanting.