Review: Magic Goes Wrong

Our dynamic duo Emilie Moon and Claire Haddleton spent a fun packed evening at York Theatre Royal watching the comedy play Magic Goes Wrong created by Mischief and Penn & Teller.

The title of this hilarious play says it all! A show within a show where a gang of musicians hold an evening of magic, hoping to raise money for charity. But the whole show is a disaster and any hope of raising money slowly disappears.

The cast is small but very entertaining. Sam Hill plays Sophisticato and cleverly holds the whole show together, introducing all his crazy acts, who re-appear throughout the evening. By the end, we felt we knew each one inside and out.

The show itself does not even really have a beginning because for 15 minutes before the start time, the cast members are in and out of the audience, already making people laugh and wondering what on earth they’ve bought tickets for! Before we knew it, we were immersed in all the action of the charity magic show.

Under the illusion of disastrous magical mayhem, there were some seriously good tricks and copious amounts of hi jinx. Audience participation was in abundance throughout so if you are liable to stage fright, avoid the front row at all costs! It was slapstick at it’s best and we laughed and laughed, sometimes wondering why we were even laughing because it was such ‘off the wall’ fun.

If you are after loud bangs, dead bodies, fake blood, confetti rockets, smoke and a whole lot of amusement, don’t miss this one!