Thom Louis notices the wires behind the wonder at The Infamous Brothers Davenport

Lady Noyes-Woodhull has lost her geographer-cum-medical scientist-cum-explorer husband. In her grief, she has summoned a symposium centring on the spectacular stage séance of the eponymous brothers Davenport at the Lyceum. These American siblings reportedly can channel the dead using their imposing spirit cabinet.

Even before the show starts its mystery is clear. The cabinet dominates the centre stage, while some audience members are invited to check the authenticity of the props and certain nervous others, garbed in Victorian finery, are chosen to witness the brothers’ wonders from the stage. And boy are they wonders. Every trick, from table turning to violins playing themselves to contacting dead relatives of random audience members, is captivating. This sense of enigma is augmented by the presence of Mr Fay, the boys’ manager, portrayed by Gavin Mitchell. His grand, booming voice and massive gestures not only provide comic relief but give the show the feel of a genuine Victorian illusion performance.

The play, however, changes its tone rapidly when it reaches its first flashback. The box opens up to show the family drama that led the brothers to their stage success. Here we see a broken home containing every cliché in the book; everything is here, the drug crazed evangelical mother, the abusive alcoholic father and most importantly, the sister driven to suicide by her “pa’s” advances.

Despite certainly having merit, this story seems to bear little relevance to the performance that comes before. The sides of the play are so divided that it feels like there were two writers at work, separated by a concrete wall made of rabid Alsatians; one wanted to create a kooky period magic show and the other a claustrophobic, Tennessee Williams-inspired, American high-drama. Fitting them together is like combining Lego and K’nex – they are just too different to work without forcing them together.

However, the production is so solid that it makes up for the script’s schizophrenia. Every character is well performed and intricate; the scene changes are slick, impossible and indeed supernatural; the effects are brilliant and diverse, ranging from the burning down of a house to the appearance and vanishing of ghosts. You know the whole thing is smoke and mirrors, literally so at points, but it is almost impossible to detect them and that is what makes this show fascinating, but that isn’t enough to give it the impact that it wanted.