Magicians Josh Staley and Lawson Reeves are the ‘Comic Conjurors’ and ‘Despicable’ isn’t the first show they have performed as a duo, however it’s the first show of theirs that I’ve been able to attend so I was super excited to see the show. Both Josh and Lawson are skilled at comedy and magic in equal measure which made their show even more hilarious than I expected. At various points in the show, it seemed like each performer was trying to ‘win’ over audience members while trying to silence their counterpart, which led to plenty of laughs and witty remarks.

This magic show is unlike many others I’ve seen, which is refreshing (given the amount of magic I see on a regular basis). If you’re ever fortunate to see a show by the comic conjurors, you’ll know what I’m talking about – examples include a ‘mini game show’ and using a variety of household items to facilitate magic. The comic conjurors know how to use the audience to their own advantage, at times during the show leaving each other on stage alone while their counterpart was backstage preparing further mysteries. Personal show highlights were a particularly nail biting video (and accompanying performance) and the fantastic game show, during which I was lucky enough to be on Lawson’s team. Lawson was very encouraging during the various challenges, so that helped me to feel at ease. That game show remains one of my fondest festival memories so far!

Overall I’m not sure which person the show title was referring to, however I found these magicians to be delightful, charming and mischievous. I’m gutted that this show was on an extremely short festival run of 2 shows, however I encourage you all to be on the lookout for future shows by the comic conjurors – Josh Staley and Lawson Reeves.

Nicholas J Johnson is known as ‘Australia’s honest con man’ and is billed as a liar, cheat and swindler. You’d think that a performer would take offense to such a description, however Nicholas seems pleased with this and presents his show with a friendly ‘professor-like’ demeanour.

Nicholas discusses the concepts of short (small) and long (big) cons during his show, utilising plenty of audience participation and humour along the way . Nicholas has perfected the art of ‘swindle with a smile’ as many of his helpers from the audience were smiling and laughing in disbelief once they’d discovered that Nicholas had silently cheated them out of the object they were told to hold onto. Despite the perhaps serious topic of cheats and scams, this was a light hearted and enjoyable show. If nothing else, make sure you attend the show to find out what’s within Nicholas’ mysterious briefcase I can tell you it is not his magical briefcase! You’ll have to watch the show to find out.

I’m not sure what I expected from this show, but I left feeling a little more educated, entertained and fascinated and no one can swindle me of that! The show runs until Saturday July 8th.
Info and Tickets: http://melbournemagicfestival.com/the-confidence-artist/

Regular monthly magic show ‘Top Hat Tuesdays’ in magical Fitzroy also joined the MMF spirit by hosting a show celebrating the festival in July.  A group of friends and I enjoyed the warm and friendly vibe in the theatre, as well as enjoying ‘mini previews’ of festival performer’s shows.

The lineup of the July show featured: ‘Dom and Dumber’ (Dom Chambers and Bayden Hammond), International magic star Simon Coronel, sassy mentalist and conjurewoman Cath Jamison, magical moviegoer Peter Nguyen, and the multi-talented Raymond Truong.

My personal highlights of this show were a particularly madcap and frantic magical ‘bomb diffusion’ scene from ‘Dom and Dumber’, Simon Coronel’s world class poker chip routine that drew gasps and plenty of disbelief from the audience (trust me – you want to see his poker chip magic at least once in your life!).

After interval, I especially enjoyed Peter Nguyen’s magic featuring cards with superheroes on them. I loved it how audience members would cheer when their favourite superhero was announced! It was a clever way to pique the audience’s interest, I mean who doesn’t love superheroes right?! The audience helper was a Spiderman fan, which made the routine even more enjoyable. Top Hat Tuesdays closed with the energetic and hilarious Raymond Truong, who ensured that everyone left the theatre with a wide smile.

Consistently a great value night out, Top Hat Tuesday runs on the first Tuesday of every month, so why not check it out sometime? Future show details can be found on the website: https://tophattuesdays.com/

Each year during the two week winter school holidays in Melbourne, the Northcote Town Hall plays host to the Melbourne Magic Festival (MMF). This year, the MMF is celebrating 10 years which is a wonderful achievement. Each magical week in the festival begins with a special Gala show. Earlier this week, a lovely friend and I were enthralled by the Stage Magic Gala. The Gala was hosted by the super friendly Nicholas J Johnson (also known as ‘the honest con man’) who introduced the acts of the evening and showed off some magic of his own. Nicholas is a man of many talents! I won’t go into too many fine details here, but as the name of the show suggests each performer presented their on style of stage magic – think large props, assistants helping and lots of comedy thrown into the mix.

While each performer was fantastic and thoroughly entertaining, there were a few standout performances that warrant further mentions. Show opening duo ‘Dom and Dumber’ (magicians Dom Chambers and Bayden Hammond) showed off not only their mystifying magic but also their trademark comedy style. Their bottle routine finished with a surprising twist that left the audience gasping.

I was particularly pleased to see international magician Simon Coronel back in town, bringing his stylish and though provoking magic to citizens of Melbourne. Simon performed an enjoyable light-hearted set involving a helper from the audience. Judging by the smile on the helper’s face and the laughs from the audience, everyone was ‘along for the ride’.

One thing that I find refreshing about magic is that no 2 shows (even of the same performer or show) are exactly the same. Young magician David Chandler took to the stage as his alter ego “The Storyteller”. Resplendent in his vest and coat, the Storyteller seems to live in a world of stories, and storybook characters. Referencing his show (featuring a magical mailbox) the Storyteller showed the audience his special magic wand and called for an assistant from the audience. Whilst I won’t spoil exactly what happened when the assistant waved the Storyteller’s wand, I will say that audience was thoroughly impressed with the magic within. David was able to invoke so much joy from the littlest of assistants, and in doing so fill the room with joy and wonder too. A very polished performer, I look forward to seeing David’s show at the MMF this year.

I enjoyed the fact that each performer in the gala had their own show on during the festival. It’s a great show to use as a ‘festival sampler’ – if you want to see more from a particular performer, it is easy to remember them and grab a flyer for their show. With only one Stage Gala (and one Close Up Gala) show per festival, I highly recommend booking a ticket early.

Note: I attended this event as a guest of the MMF

Hello readers, I know it has been a while between posts however with the Melbourne Magic Festival 2017 in full swing I have been watching plenty of magic shows and have been gathering much writing material. I have lots to tell you about and I do hope that you’ll be able to visit the Northcote Town Hall before the last day of the festival – Saturday July 15th. References herein to the Melbourne Magic Festival will be abbreviated to MMF. Hope you enjoy the mini reviews I have in store for you! This year I’ll be breaking my personal record and will be watching a total of 30 shows! So grab a drink and settle into my reviews.