Theatre to perform G.K. Chesterton play, “Magic”

JACKSON, Tenn.—The communication arts department’s fall play this year will be “Magic,” an early 20^th century comedy written by G.K. Chesterton.

Theater professor David Burke will direct “Magic.” Nick Fleming will play the main character, the conjuror-magician.

The play opens Oct. 3 at 7:30 p.m. in the W. D. Powell Theatre in the Penick Academic Complex. Performances will continue until Oct. 8. There will be additional showings Oct. 4 at 11:30 and Oct. 6 at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $3 for Union students and $7 for the general public.

“Chesterton was a journalist and lay theologian, and his friend, George Bernard Shaw, was pressuring him to write a play,” Fleming said. “That’s when Chesterton wrote ‘Magic.’”

The play tells the story of a duchess whose niece and nephew come to live with her. The nephew is an American atheist and the niece a spiritual fairy-speaker, Fleming said.

Other characters are an agnostic, an evolutionist and a preacher. The duchess brings in a magician who, according to Fleming, “turns the tables on them and causes them to question everything.”