DEVIL IN THE DECK
Devil in the Deck
Pleasence Dome
August 6th to 11th, 13th to 18th, 20th to 25th
16:10
£6 to £8
Now I’m a fan of magic. OK so Paul Daniels and David Blaine are kind of nobs, but I must confess to being genuinely impressed and baffled by much of Derren Brown’s output. I also have a friend who used to blow our fragile consciousness’s at college with his close magic before making a career out of it doing business conferences. He even tried to teach me a trick or two. But I fell short at the very first hurdle – shuffling cards. So I was kind of looking forward to getting my mind blown by some good old fashion witchcraft. But what made it more appealing was the promise of a theatrical narrative to tie it all together. This seemed like an original idea so I sat back and prepared myself to be entertained.
However, what I got was a smattering of pretty decent card tricks with an averagely entertaining monologue in between. I would have been more impressed if the two were somehow interlinked but, if there were any connections, they were far too vague for this humble reviewer to spot. The performers did cut an impressive pair of figures however. The magician all bald, goatee beard and patterned waistcoat, and the guitarist who provided an excellent soundtrack was suitably weather-beaten and world weary. But for a magic show I would say that what it lacked was an element of magic. I was sure I’d seen a couple of the tricks before and the banter was hardly Shakespeare. But, if your easily impressed by card tricks and don’t have the cynicism that may come with having a magician as a friend, or if you’ve got a couple of impressionable teenagers, this could be the show for you. One for the family but not for the harder to enchant. THREE STARS
Reviewer – Steven Vickers
Posted on August 11, 2013, in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink. Leave a comment.
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