Last night, we had the great pleasure of returning to an old haunt, The Vaults, for a new immersive show, The Magician’s Table. Previously staged in Bermondsey and London Bridge, this experience now returns bigger and better with two hours of magic and cocktails.
We were asked to arrive by 6.30 for the evening show, which is when the gates of the venue open. Ushered into the first room, you can mingle with the magicians who may show you a quick trick or two – we were lucky to get in early and joined another couple to learn some simple card shuffling tricks from Richard McDougall.
We clutched our welcome glasses of (non-alcoholic) Prosecco and sampled the bar snacks, and watched some bits of trickery as we circulated round the room: one magician made a rather expensive ring turn up somewhere unexpected.
Then it was time for the main event, and we were ushered in to our table of 10 – of the five couples there, we were all strangers to each other, although it was amusing to find our pre-show table mates beside us once more!
The schedule on press night was straightforward – magic was performed at the table by five different magicians on our night. We were entertained by close-up magic from Yev, Sepp, Rob James, Maxwell Pritchard and Dee Christopher.
Each is a talented illusionist and a mind-bender with very different personalities. Card, object, and word tricks were performed, and however closely we looked at what was going on, we couldn’t figure out how it was done.
The mistress of ceremonies for the night was Calliope (Katie Tranter), with accordion accompaniment from Ellis (Garanche Louis). The premise of The Magician’s Table is to commemorate Calliope’s late husband, Dieter Roterburg, by coming together to remember him – amusingly, the ‘memorial service’ programmes still reference the previous venue where his private theatre was reimagined.
Iain Sharkey has written an entertaining show wrapped around the at-table performances, which culminates in each table reading a letter left for them and creating a unique number – this will be used to reveal a last message from Dieter in the finale. We also enjoyed the work of a special guest performer, Yolin Lee, who played his card reveal act to the whole room.
As this is an immersive show, each member at the table will be asked to get involved in at least one trick. If you think mints, elastic bands, books, coins, or a simple pack of cards cannot be made into mind-blowing routines, you would be wrong. You know your eyes are deceiving you; you know you are being manipulated and misdirected – but it is all stagecraft, show, and sparkle.
It’s hard to pick a favourite from the magicians we saw. You get a decent amount of time with each, and they all have a unique style. At our table, Rob and Dee were certainly more edgy, but Sepp, Yev and Maxwell are all people I would never trust in a card game. The skills of all these performers were well worth taking the time to come along. Call me amazed, astounded, and astonished!
I would call this a thoroughly entertaining evening in a room filled with people sampling the joy of being together and the shared sense of wonder with an exceptional group of stage magicians, conjurers, and illusionists.
Assessing the whole evening, I am giving The Magician’s Table 4.5 stars.
The Magician’s Table is currently at The Vaults (access via Launcelot Street) – for information and ticket options, visit https://www.magicianstablelive.com/.