‘It’s our Olympic opening ceremony’: Dynamo, David Hockney and more unite for Bradford city of culture

This year sees the city celebrate its rich, diverse creativity. Magician Dynamo, AKA Steven Frayne, and director Kirsty Housley discuss collaborating to shine a light on the arts of their home city – and offer hints on what to expect

Slathered in mud, the magician formerly known as Dynamo emerged from a five-tonne mound of earth. It was 2022 and Steven Frayne had just buried himself alive, a magic trick that even Houdini never successfully performed. In the coffin-sized pit he dragged himself out of, Frayne left behind the weight of expectation that came with his alter ego, having spent two decades creating impossible, death-defying performances as Dynamo: floating above the Shard; walking across the Thames; levitating below Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro. Now working under his own name, Frayne’s latest project takes him out of the spotlight. “I’ve learned over the past few years to move from focusing on the magic in me,” he says, “to being a conduit to helping other people see magic in themselves.”

Bradford-born Frayne is working with acclaimed director Kirsty Housley on Rise, an enormous outdoor spectacle for the opening act of Bradford’s year as city of culture. Created with more than 100 collaborators, Rise is taking place in City Park with live music, poetry, aerial acrobatics and magic for two nights only. They’re rehearsing in a sports school hall, the only space large enough for them to fit. “The way I look at it,” Frayne grins, “this is Bradford’s equivalent of an Olympic opening ceremony.”