Theatre Review: Spellbound

Spellbound

Created and performed by Suhani Shah

The Grand Electric until August 10

Reviewed by Ron Lee, CSP

It's a delight when a magician stages a show and doesn't feel the need to do lame old card tricks. To me, mentalism is the most interesting form of magic. 

Suhani Shah has opened Spellbound at The Grand Electric. 

She started with four audience members who each thought of a random object or place and Shah called all of them. There was no obvious fishing. 

With the drawing duplication she did the drawing before the volunteer drew it. She asked another volunteer to think of someone whom Shah identified as Aunt Anna whose birthday is March 12. 

Volunteers are selected by the tossing of paper balls in the audience to prevent the suspicion of the use of stooges or plants. At a show last month, the magician used beach balls for the same purpose.

The penultimate effect came when people called out numbers that everyone in the audience added up on their calculators, and the final tally came up in two predictions, one of which was held by an audience member from the beginning of the show. Then the bank note effect tied it all together. 

I don't know how much pre-show was done, but when Shah flicked the switch, it was on, and The Force was with her all night. The more subtle on-stage instructions to volunteers were undetectable and some participants experienced a type of dual reality.

All good mentalists do those effects, but like a good joke that you’ve heard many times; it’s the appreciation of the interpretation, individualisation and performance that holds the interest. Suhani Shah is the first magician I've seen who is a high, fast talker. 

Spellbound is a solid 90 minutes of engaging entertainment that will keep you wondering.