The Illusionists At Shaftesbury Theatre: Middle-Of-The-Road Magic

Take a line-up of seven male magicians (who knew you needed a magic wand dangling between your legs to be able to pull a rabbit out of a hat?), two spangly female ‘dancers’ (more pointing than dancing), throw in some dodgy digital effects, and what do you get? A knock-off Britain’s Got Talent. Or in this case, The Illusionists.It’s as middle-of-the-road as magic gets.

Don’t get us wrong, the magnificent seven are great showmen — witty and theatrical with all the wizardry you’d expect from a magic show; and they’re certainly keeping Topman in business. But what makes the show awkward and corporate is the use of bland visual effects, cheap props and — in the most part — fairly unspectacular tricks. So much paraphernalia is thrown at the stage (screens, curtains, fire etc) that you don’t need to be David Copperfield to work out how the acts are managing to sneak under the boards for their big reveal.

One act, however, really stands out. Yu Ho-Jin (aka The Manipulator) simply uses a deck of cards and sleight of hand to wow the audience — a notable relief from all the smoke and mirrors from many of the other acts and something that genuinely impresses.

You get the feeling they could have blown a lot less on pyrotechnics, and simply bought a few more decks of cards instead.

The Illusionists, Shaftesbury Theatre, 210 Shaftesbury Ave, WC2H 8DP. Tickets from £27, until 1 September 2019.