We are invited to consider more deeply our perception of magic in this hour-long entertaining show. Part magic, part storytelling, and part comedy, Michel Fouche (and a disembodied voice representing ‘Magic’) challenges us to think further by taking us on a journey through the different ways that magic is perceived over the years. 

The ‘Shaman’ makes a brief entrance to kick off the show and sets the mood for the pieces to follow. We are all too familiar with the ‘Mountebank’ who jokes and entertains us with cup-and-ball tricks.  Audience participation is invited. He rings a bell and makes the ball disappear from under the cup. But just as you’re lulled into thinking that you know how it is all going, he turns the table on us and brings us into the act by pointing out what he’s doing with the bell ringing.  

More magic and personas appear, always driven along by ‘Magic’ asking questions and even scolding him. “Why all these jokes? Can’t you be serious when doing magic?”, she asks the ‘Comedian’, in which he promptly changes our expectation of how the usual ‘getting money from the audience’ hustle (“you may not get it back, ha ha”) is done by turning it on its head.  

From card reading to rope cutting, there would be something for everyone. I found the straitjacket act particularly poignant, which he used as a metaphor for depression. As we watched him struggle physically to free himself, he shares his mental struggles with us. It was a very powerful message told in a simple way.  

If you have been watching magic shows for years and feel a bit jaded, this is the antidote. It resets your thinking about what magic is about and why it is so enjoyable.