Imaginarium

Imaginarium is a realm where the boundaries of reality blur and the impossible becomes possible. Five extraordinary characters guided the audience through this enchanted world, each a master of their mysterious art. From the cunning sleight of hand of Eddie ‘The Sly’ Fletcher, to the silent but deadly feats of Silent Vishnu, the mind-bending marvels of Dr. Aiden Mind, to the eerie enchantments of Dr. John, and finally, the astonishing skills of the great Autismo. Together, they wove a tapestry of tales and tricks that dazzled the audience’s senses and challenged their perception, delivering a performance where the imagination was the only limit. 

The auditorium was set out with cabaret seating rather than rows of seats which enabled the audience to see everything happening on the stage and for each character to interact with each audience member easily. The curtains opened to reveal the stage set with a large screen and live camera stream focused on the magician’s table to enable the audience to see up close the tricks as they were performed. Prior to entering the stage, each character was introduced via a voiceover, giving some background of their character and skills. Their individual costumes enhanced their personality enabling the audience to distinguish between each of the characters. 

 

Jonathan Strudwick played all of the roles, directed by Mark Walker. The audience met Eddie Fletcher first, conning his way through the audience, trying to trick them out of their money. Eddie demonstrated his skill of sleight of hand to trick the audience into selecting envelopes containing “Imaginarium cash” rather than the one containing the real money. From the start, the audience were captivated by how each trick was done as each of the characters involved a lot of audience participation which made the set up feel more intimate. 

Following a brief scene change, filled by Mark performing his own tricks (thanks to the audience’s heckling), the audience met the second magician of the night, Vishnu. Vishnu was a silent character with tricks a little gory such as, tying razor blades together in his mouth and injecting his eye with “pain medication”. The background music really added the mystery of this silent character, building the tension for the ‘edge of your seats’ tricks. 

The third character was Dr. Aiden Mind, guiding the audience through some dark magic. An audience member was asked to split some Victorian autopsy cards in to 2 piles, reading each victim’s eyes to see if they had a traumatic death, or natural death. The member of the audience unknowingly had split the cards perfectly into those who were possible victims of Jack the Ripper and those who weren’t. How this was done is beyond anyone’s belief! I particularly enjoyed the finale of this character where, in a different trick, he revealed the audience member’s chosen playing card through several cards making the picture of the Mona Lisa holding the said card. 

Act Two opened with Dr. John, the mind reader. During one of his tricks, an audience member was able to correctly identify which snooker balls had been chosen by 5 audience members. How the audience member managed to identify all 5 balls correctly was impressive yet mind boggling! In addition, Dr. John performed a trick where another audience member had to choose a matching pair of socks from 52 possible cards of socks. Although it appeared that the audience member hadn’t managed to do so, in a turn of events, the chosen cards matched the socks being worn by Mark, a pair he had been wearing since before the performance had even begun. 

Finally, the audience were introduced to the great Autismo who had the skill of solving Rubix cubes in a matter of seconds. A Rubix cube was sent around the audience to be mixed up in an unknown pattern, yet when it was returned to the stage, all within the eyes of the audience, it matched perfectly with the one which had been sealed in a glass bottle. Autismo was also able to put another Rubix cube inside a glass bottle by smashing them together. This was sent around the audience to enable them to try to figure out how it was done, which is still unknown! Autismo ended the night by performing a balancing act with random objects, such as a toothbrush, a bottle, a box of crayons and a pencil etc. By the end of the night, the audience were in a state of disbelief with Jonathan pulling off every trick. 

There were many more tricks performed, too many to name, but all were well received by the audience. With the venue being smaller, it enabled all of the audience members to see exactly what was happening and to be involved at times. 

Jonathan has over 30 years' experience as a magician which shone through each of his characters. I had the privilege of seeing Jonathan perform a few card tricks up close following the show and his sleight of hand is just incredible. He even let me have a look at his water glass which changed the water from clear to red, I still can’t work out how that was done! 

The way in which Jonathan spoke to the audience throughout made them feel at ease yet a vital part of his show. It was well directed by Mark with different styles of magic to keep the audience engaged throughout the evening. 

The team at Bonkers always give a warm welcome and make you feel at home in their venue. Thank you for a magical evening! 

© NODA CIO.  All rights reserved 

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.