Magic Matt's Fully Loaded

‘Magic Matt’s Fully Loaded’ is being presented by Matt Penny in The Black Box Theatre, upstairs in the Spare Parts Puppet Theatre, Short Street, Fremantle. Shows at 8.30 pm on the 9^th and 10^th November as part of the Fremantle 2012 Festival.

Tommy Cooper was acknowledged for decades as one of the funniest men in the theatre. Of course, this Welshman was most famous for his unique style of magic, where the tricks appear to be going rapidly downhill and then at the last minute, miraculously the magic works. Sadly, 28 years ago, half way through his act, Tommy died on live TV thus leaving a huge void – and then Matt Penny came along.

Matt has the same madcap humour, the Red Fez, the blunderings that hide his 30 years of hard-learnt skills of creating illusions and magic. Matt has one of the biggest followings of any solo entertainer in the Perth area, with his shows always packed out.

When pushed, most people can sing a song or tell a joke, however, the vast majority would struggle to do a single magic trick badly, and only one in a thousand could do it well. Here Matt does 75 minutes of hilarious, inimitable magic. Averaging around a trick a minute, he galloped through scores of sleight of hand.

This not the over produced David Copperfield illusion that leaves you cold, but close-up prestidigitation that leaves you asking repeatedly ‘How did that happen?’

When the technicians and theatre staff laugh, then you know that the show is something special. Another wonderful night of perplexity.