Recognized as one of Canada’s leading illusion teams, Ted and Marion Outerbridge have spent more than three decades performing around the world. Hailed as “the most successful magicians in Canada” by the Montreal Gazette and “champions of magic” by Germany’s Bergedorfer Zeitung, the award-winning duo has appeared in some of the world’s most prestigious performing arts venues.
Yet the production now taking them around the world didn’t begin in Las Vegas or Hollywood. It began with an abandoned Victorian house in Smiths Falls.
Eight years ago, the Outerbridges arrived in the Ottawa Valley knowing almost nothing about the town they would soon call home. A simple act of kindness — a teenager holding the door open for them at a local Tim Hortons — left an impression that would ultimately inspire one of Canada’s most unusual theatrical productions.
This past May, that story was shared on some of China’s most spectacular stages.
Outerbridge Magic recently completed a 13-city tour across China with Mysteries of the Keyhole House, an original theatrical production that combines world-class illusion, dance, storytelling, and Canadian history. The tour carried the performers to the other side of the world, where they played in state-of-the-art 2000-seat theatres. Few could have imagined that the artifacts hidden within the walls of an abandoned Victorian home would become one of Canada’s most unexpected cultural exports.
“What makes this journey remarkable isn’t simply that a Canadian magic show toured China,” says Ted Outerbridge. “It’s that a story rooted in a small Ontario community connected so deeply with audiences halfway around the world.”
The production began with an unexpected chapter in the Outerbridges’ own lives.
In 2018, after decades of international touring that included performances in theatres across North America and Europe, the couple stepped away from life on the road and purchased the vacant 1892 Keyhole House in Smiths Falls. Drawn by the town’s architecture, history and welcoming community, they began restoring the Victorian home while researching the lives of its former residents.
Ted immersed himself in researching the house’s history, uncovering extraordinary stories hidden within its walls. What started as a personal passion evolved into a regular newspaper column, hundreds of thousands of social media followers, and a theatrical production unlike anything the duo had previously created.
Today, Mysteries of the Keyhole House has been performed over 200 times. The production first found its audience in theatres throughout the Ottawa Valley before expanding across Canada. Its success led to an invitation to perform at a theatre festival in Bequia in the Caribbean and, most recently, a 13-city tour of China — an extraordinary journey for a show inspired by a single Victorian home in Smiths Falls.
The tour was presented by Poly Theatre Management (PTM), the largest theatre chain and performing arts agency in the world. PTM first invited Ted and Marion Outerbridge to China in 2017, and after the success of that tour, invited them back for a second engagement in 2026. Over the years, PTM has presented many of the world’s leading productions and performers, including illusionist David Copperfield.
The show’s premise is unique in the world of magic. Rather than presenting magic simply for spectacle, each illusion is woven into authentic stories inspired by the Keyhole House and the people who once lived there. At the heart of the production is Agnes Lamb, a woman who lived in the Keyhole House from 1897 until her death in 1903. Her story, and the enduring mystery of whether she still lingers in the house, inspires many of the show’s most memorable illusions. Believed by many to be the Keyhole House ghost, Agnes guides audiences through a compelling narrative where history, mystery and illusion become inseparable, creating the only magic production based entirely on a slice of Canadian history.
That originality has attracted international attention.
The China tour was officially recognized by the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Canada, which sent a letter congratulating the company on launching its 13-city tour.
During the tour, Ted and Marion Outerbridge were also welcomed by Vice Consul Dylan Lasek at the Consulate General of Canada in Shanghai. The visit highlighted Mysteries of the Keyhole House as a uniquely Canadian theatrical production that blends illusion with history and cultural storytelling, while introducing Chinese audiences to a remarkable slice of Canada’s heritage.
The relationships established through that visit continued after the tour. The Outerbridges would later meet with the Honourable Marc Miller, Canada’s Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture, and his Chief of Staff to discuss the production and its role in promoting Canadian history, culture and storytelling on the international stage.
The journey to China itself was anything but simple. Following a 15-hour flight across the Pacific, the company travelled by bus or high-speed rail between cities including Ma’anshan, Kunshan, Suzhou, Nanjing, Qidong and Changzhou. Every performance required extensive technical preparation, with custom-built illusions shipped from Canada by air freight and assembled inside some of China’s largest performing arts venues.
Among the tour highlights was a performance at the Nanjing Poly Grand Theatre, designed by internationally acclaimed architect Zaha Hadid. The 2181-seat venue featured towering LED walls and state-of-the-art stage technology, providing a dramatic setting for a production inspired by a Victorian home built 134 years ago in rural Ontario.
Perhaps the greatest validation came after one performance when a Chinese woman who spoke no English approached the company with tears in her eyes. She had been deeply moved by the story of Agnes Lamb, the Keyhole House ghost. No translator was needed. In that silent moment, the Outerbridges realized that history, loss, hope, and human connection transcend words as a universal human language.
Every presentation of Mysteries of the Keyhole House begins with the true story of arriving in Smiths Falls and being welcomed by a teenager holding open the door at Tim Hortons. That simple moment of kindness has become the emotional opening of the show.
“It reminds audiences that the smallest gestures can change the course of someone’s life,” explains Outerbridge. “Without realizing it, that young man became part of a story now being told around the world.”
Catch it Closer to Home!
Before embarking on an Eastern Canada tour this fall, with performances scheduled across New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador, Ted and Marion Outerbridge are presenting Outerbridge Magic: Mysteries of the Keyhole House every Saturday at 2pm throughout the summer at The Pews in Merrickville. The family-friendly matinée production offers audiences a rare opportunity to experience the internationally acclaimed show close to home before it once again heads out on tour.