When Rob Teszka lived in England, he saw a unique performance by a magician.
Instead of being in a theatre, the host of Bizarre Bath, Noel Britten, took ticket-holders on a walking tour around the city and offered jokes and stunts rather than historical facts and figures about the place.
The comedy walk by Britten, who at the time was the president of the Magic Circle, inspired Teszka.
“He just made up a bunch of nonsense and everyone loved it,” Teszka remembered. “It was a great idea and it’s been something I’ve had in the back of my mind for over a decade.”
This year, when the Vancouver Fringe Festival (VFF) called on artists to submit entries for potential shows and especially site-specific events, the Coquitlam resident recalled Britten’s act.
With Mike Norden, an award-winning children’s magician from Mission who is also with the Fraser Magic Company, of which Teszka is president, Teszka scripted a narrative that takes visitors around Granville Island — home to the annual Vancouver Fringe Festival.
Titled the Really Definitely True Tour, the 75-minute walking excursion combines fake storytelling with magic that’s suitable for all ages; the capacity is 20 people per show, which opens Thursday, Sept. 5 and runs for the full length of the VFF with 14 iterations at various times, starting at the Alder Bay Dock.
Speaking with the Tri-City News today, Sept. 4, Teszka said the performance comes four years after his inaugural VFF premiere, Magic Dropout, in October 2020, during a break in the Covid-19 lockdowns (“Dropout” refers to his departure from his PhD studies in psychology in England).
The Really Definitely True Tour will also be a premiere, he said, and “will cover topics that are fun, adventurous and ridiculous. It’s great for everybody because you find out about the fake history of a psychic pirate queen, a secret distillery and lots of characters on Granville Island. It’s all made up.”
Teszka, whose day job is a walking tour guide with Forbidden Vancouver, said he likes that his audience will question the “facts” of his Granville Island tale because “it gets them wondering, ‘Is it true?’ They think about what’s real and not.”
Granville Island is a natural fit for the performance, he said, as it’s one of three places in Canada that has a magic store: Clownin’ Around Magic. It’s also a training ground for emerging magicians.
And if he gets permission, Teszka hopes to spin the production into a regular gig for Granville Island visitors.
Tickets for the Really Definitely True Tour are $18 online through the Vancouver Fringe Festival website. The shows take place rain or shine.
Showtimes
- Thursday, Sept. 5
- 6:30 p.m.
- Friday, Sept. 6
- 6:30 p.m.
- Saturday, Sept. 7
- 11 a.m.
- Sunday, Sept. 8
- 11 a.m.
- 4 p.m.
- Tuesday, Sept. 10
- 11 a.m.
- 5 p.m.
- Wednesday, Sept. 11
- 11 a.m.
- Friday, Sept. 13
- 2 p.m
- 6:30 p.m.
- Saturday, Sept. 14
- 2 p.m.
- 6:30 p.m.
- Sunday, Sept. 15
- 11 a.m.
- 4 p.m.
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