Now You See Me Live

Magic on a spectacular scale

The closer you look, the less you see.

To start with, this is a magic show. If you haven’t seen the original Now You See Me films, don’t worry: all you are really missing is that the magicians affectionately refer to themselves as the Four Horsemen. You don’t need to know the films to become swept up in the wonder, mystery and spectacle of the live show.

I love that a large-scale magic production has come to London, especially as it is heading to Las Vegas next. The London Coliseum gives it the grand, show-business atmosphere that a production like this needs. From the moment you enter, there is a sense that something magical could happen at any time.

Before we are formally introduced to the Four Horsemen, Rafferty Coope gives us a mini warm-up. I say “warm-up”, but what he does is fantastic in its own right, immediately drawing the audience into the playful spirit of the evening.
The Four Horsemen are Enzo Weyne, Andrew Basso, Gabriella Lester and Matthew Pomeroy. Pomeroy is, to a degree, our host for the night, performing minimal magic but doing a little more of the talking and guiding us through the spectacle. The company also includes special guests Eden Choi, Fraser Penman and Rafferty Coope. Each performer brings a different skill set, meaning the show moves between illusion, escapology, mentalism, card tricks and seemingly impossible acts of teleportation.

On the way into the theatre, every audience member collects four playing cards. Just before the interval, the Horsemen talk us through performing a trick of our own. It involves tearing, throwing and shouting, but somehow manages to create a magical moment that leaves the whole audience amazed. There is something particularly wonderful about thousands of people experiencing the same trick simultaneously.

Lester enters with a quick-change moment, although that is all we see of this particular skill. I would have liked the theme to reappear throughout her other pieces, not necessarily as a complete sequence, but as an additional flourish threaded through her performances.

One of the standout moments for me is the sudden appearance of a helicopter onstage. It is completely unexpected, and the sheer scale of the illusion makes it tremendously impressive. This is the sort of breathtaking theatrical spectacle that separates Now You See Me Live from a smaller, more intimate magic show. It is bold, extravagant and designed to make you stare at the stage in disbelief.

Another memorable sequence sees Lester performing a series of apparently simple tricks while interacting with a video display. The choreography, timing, technology and magic work seamlessly together, transforming the routine into something genuinely enchanting.

Then there is an illusion in which Lester enters a box holding a camera and disappears. The trick itself is good, but everything that follows is so unexpected that the audience is left both laughing and shocked. Weyne talks us through the act with the charm and confidence of a true showman, heightening the mystery without giving away its secrets.

Basso’s underwater escape involves holding his breath while upside down and submerged for around one minute and thirty seconds. It is the kind of dangerous escape act that has been performed in different forms since Houdini, but seeing it unfold live still creates real tension. Even when you know that everything has been carefully planned, there is something nerve-racking about watching the seconds tick by.

If you have been to a tonne of magic shows, there will most likely be some tricks you have encountered before, although they may be presented a little differently here. I haven’t attended many, but I have noticed a growing trend for performers to show home videos of themselves as children. These clips add a human element, although in this production they are not directly connected to a trick and could perhaps have been incorporated more meaningfully.

Throughout the show, audience members are invited onstage or asked to contribute personal details and possessions to the illusions. I would say that most of these participants are probably genuine, with perhaps only a handful of plants. That uncertainty is part of the fun: are we witnessing something impossible, or are we being expertly misdirected?

As they say in the show, half the enjoyment comes from trying to work out how the tricks are done. Some I could figure out and some left me completely mystified, but either way, I enjoyed watching a great show.

With mentalism, escapology, card tricks, teleportation and huge, dazzling illusions, there is something here for everyone. Now You See Me Live is family-friendly fun filled with wonder, mystery and theatrical magic.

Sadly, unlike in the films, no money was added to my bank account.

*****

Credit: Johan Persson