Tucked away in the backstreets of Soho, Underbelly Boulevard’s newest show is a 3-month residency from renowned magician Asi Wind, exploring the incredible nature of magic. While best known for his close up card magic, Incredibly Human combines some larger tricks, an analysis of the human psyche, and abundant audience participation to make for a pleasant night of magical musing. Unfortunately, where the show falls a little flat is in its predictability and lack of wow-factor.
The show is packed with tricks, exploring the different mediums so it never felt stale. One of the first tricks included choosing a child from the audience, which is always a surefire way to win the audience over with the wholesome nature, as they are often experiencing their first form of magic. While the trick is somewhat predictable, the magic comes from seeing the shock of the young viewer and the tit for tat nature that Wind is able to build with the child so quickly.
A combination of arts and crafts, music and the wonders of the human brain make for a show to please all ages and while unfortunately, a few tricks become quite predictable early, the show is jam packed with illusions which keeps a nice sense of momentum for its 90 minute duration. While this cannot be described as never seen before illusions, it is Wind's personality which keeps the audience coming back from more. He isn’t brash or over the top, but instead lets his tricks speak for themselves.
Wind is clearly a showman and has spent many years working on this, particularly after his performance of “Pen and Tellers Fool Us” which has racked up over 15 million views on YouTube. He has been known to mystify the likes of celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey and Kelly Clarkson during his various TV appearances, however, this is very different to the sort of audience on a Friday night in Soho. While these stars will be media trained and perhaps prepped on the general premise of the trick, the paying audience came a little less prepared and perhaps a little more rowdy. While the show used audience participation to effect, Wind sometimes struggled to work with the average punter who was not the best at following instructions.
While he is charming and does his best to remain on track, for this performance he did become a little rattled as a card recollection trick became slightly misguided at the mercy of an average audience member. Additionally, while sitting at the back of the stall, this card trick becomes somewhat lost at a distance without any cameras to support. Instead, those who have purchased these seats must rely on an enthusiastic audience member at the front who confirms he is in fact reciting the cards correctly as he moves through the deck. While the space is relatively intimate, it does feel like audience members could be priced out of this trick the further back they go.
Incredibly Human delivers on at least half of its promise as the human nature and audience participation remains prevalent. However, sometimes it is hard to experience the incredible nature as the wonder gets a little lost in the predictability of the tricks. While clearly a talented performer, the show would benefit from a little more suspense that cultivates those wow moments we aim to experience in both magic and theatre.
Incredibly Human runs at Underbelly Boulevard until 5th January 2025 - for more information and tickets, you can follow the link here.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3*)
Gifted tickets in return for an honest review | photography by Luke Adams
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