Rhythm & Ruse was a cabaret show featuring close-up magic and live music, which ran at London’s Vaults Theatre, beneath Waterloo Station, between August and November in 2024.

Mallory Gracenin and I were brought on board as Creative Devisers. We hosted the show in character as Rosie and Tom Archer, leaders of a shadowy religious cult which opened a nightclub - The Starling - in order to recruit new followers.

We devised an esoteric belief system for the Archers. In their worldview, rationality and civilization are making people miserable and destroying the planet. As a solution, they prescribe the regular enjoyment of magic, music and cocktails in like-minded company - a formula which cultivates awe and wonder. They encourage their adherents to relinquish the urge to understand how illusions are achieved, and to embrace ecstatic confusion and the bliss of bafflement. Their aim is the humbling of the intellect, the rediscovery of our animal nature, and the liberation of our inner starlings. Over time, as their flock expands, their practice will bring about a much-needed transformation of human consciousness: The Great Re-Enchantment.