They Do It with Mirrors Or Any Number of Other Ways
Now You See Me Live (London Coliseum) - Guest Review by Dr Terror
The second time I saw this, I took my 19-year-old godson Frankie who had never seen a big magic show of this sort. I felt almost guilty because I have seen so many. Penn and Teller twice had me baffled in the midst of my laughter at the Hammersmith Apollo. I had seen every Derren Brown show from the very first (on Worthing Pier) hell, I'd even been on his TV show. Regular readers of my reviews will know that I was recently delighted to witness the close-up magic superstars at The Magician's Table. But this was the apotheosis of the form. No need to visit Vegas now. In London's largest theatre, The Four Horsemen and the young pretenders to their thrones mainly found on Britain's Got Talent give performances that are quite simply, well, magic.
You might have seen the films. I only caught the first one (Jesse Eisenberg, Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine were all excellent) so I knew that there would be some connection between its story of four top-of-their-game stage illusionists, 'The Four Horsemen' using their skills to pull off a daring heist, but the link is actually is fairy slight. You certainly don't have to have seen the film(s), or even be aware of their existence to enjoy this.
The Four Horseman here were Britain's Matthew Pomeroy, South Africa's Gabriella Lester, France's Enzo Weyne (replaced by local boy James More later in the very short run, par for the course with magic shows) and my favourite , something I think I share with much of the audience, Italy's Andrew Basso, acknowledged by all to be the world's greatest living (at the time of publication) escapologist. He did the Houdini water torture cell escape without the tank being covered up. In other words, better than the way Houdini himself had done it. If the audience wasn't as loud as it might have been in its appreciation for that particular stunt, I think it is just because they were so overawed. It was astonishing to behold. And, okay, the lock on the handcuffs and the padlock might have been a little looser than usual, but, beyond that, it was clear there was no further trickery going on. This was REAL!
I don't want to provide spoilers, suffice to say that the rest of the show involves silent mind-reading, explosives, time travel, even a card trick you manage yourself (cards are thoughtfully provided in the lobby, though, the second time I saw it, Frankie and I tried it with the counterfeit Pokemon cards sold in my local shop for local people and it still works).
If you love this kind of thing, do see this. The tickets are, by West End standards, quite reasonably priced, too. And that's not just magic, it's a miracle.