Whether you believe in coincidence or fate, the magic of illusion plays with our perception of reality and time, which both form the base of
Josh Staley's Moments in Time show at
The Melbourne Magic Festival.
Josh Staley presents 'Moments in Time'
Tricky. For the curious of mind, going to a magic show is not oly fun, but a chance to try and understand the tricks of the magician. This experience of magic can be mind-boggling and mess with any logic or reason you previously held as true. Josh Staley truly messes with our mind in
Moments in Time with his prowess in sleight of hand illusion and table magic.
Before the show, each audience member was given a packet of magic cards to shuffle. As we entered The Secret Room, we placed our shuffled cards in a transparent bucket. Through this rite of passage, Josh had our buy in to the tricks he was about to perform and soon had the audience eating out of his hand.
Josh performed numerous card tricks, and involved the audience at every step. From restoring torn cards back to their original condition, to transporting a signed ten dollar note from the hand of an audience member, to inside an untouched lemon. He also performed a transposition of a Rubik's cube, initialled by an audience member, to a sealed glass jar, where the only way to remove the cube is to smash the jar.
Weaved into the show was a family story and a unique balancing act, which challenge any preconceived ideas or logic you may have tried to apply to the magic of illusion.
Official flyer
Certainly, Josh Staley's power to suspend the audience belief and distract them from the reality of the illusion is key to his successful tricks. But my sceptical side, asks how much pre-planning is required to ensure a magic show is foolproof? Like how did Josh know some of our names? How many sets of cards were identical? How many banana trees were slain in this production?
Moments in Time is a magic show suitable to a wide range of audiences from children to adolescents to adults and the young at heart and for anyone who is curious, a sceptic, or seriously believes in magic. It was great to see the numerous and varied reactions from the audience to Josh's tricks.
If your yearning for more magic you can also book
Josh Staley for events, parties and functions or a private magic show and also learn tricks from the man himself.
Check him out at
joshstaley.com.
