The Great Divinator at the Cumberland Arms

It was a packed house upstairs at The Cumberland Arms for The Great Divinator, aka male impersonator Katie Tranter on his/her way to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with a box of magic tricks, fake moustache and an old fashioned gramophone in pretty good working order. The stage was therefore set for an evening of mind-reading and necromancy and we, the expectant audience, were open to welcoming in the spirits, under the expert direction of Tranter who had us holding hands, gazing into each other’s eyes, playing musical statues and finding our spirit animals amongst other things.

Tranter has made something of a special study of Victorian and Edwardian popular entertainment and remains one of the top exponents but definitely with an endearing tongue-in-cheek approach. However, throughout this hour long show we were treated to several truly amazing mind-reading feats whereby audience members became unwitting assistants, conjuring up dead celebrities and choosing the ‘hug’ card instead of the ‘kill’ card. When one of the more odious spirits decided to drop in and start moving the furniture around we were hardly surprised, although Katie might need to pop into B&Q on the way to Edinburgh to get some wood glue.

If you missed this extraordinary evening at Newcastle Fringe and fancy being ‘Touched By Spirits’, I suggest you check out Tranter’s website and head north of the border.

https://www.katietranter.com

Julie Ward saw the Great Divinator at the Cumberland Arms.

A Newcastle Fringe event. There is still a lot going on!