He’s talented, quick-witted and brimming with sarcasm and now, Adelaide based magician/mentalist Matt Tarrant returns home with his show ‘Matt Tarrant – Honestly Dishonest’.
Featuring an exciting combination of traditional magic tricks and new acts, ‘Honestly Dishonest’ takes audiences on a journey into the life of this talented magician – and what a journey it is.
As the lights of the expansive Octagon tent dimmed, a series of clips featuring magicians (including the infamous Dynamo) performing incredible feats of magic began to play, setting the mood for the show that was to come. Taking to the stage, Matt wasted no time calling the first of many audience volunteers to the front to bear witness to his first trick – an incredible display of sleight of hand magic.
From there the wonder continued, as Matt performed a hilarious trick with the help of his digital assistant Siri before launching into a series of acts designed to show off his skills as a mentalist. Using his knowledge of body language and psychology, Matt tested an audience member's “poker face”, read not one but five people’s minds and established a psychic twin link with one clearly surprised young woman.
Not content to rest on his laurels, Matt went on to add an unexpected sense of tension to the show when he performed a dangerous trick that almost landed himself (and a rather nervous audience participant) in a seriously spiky situation – it probably didn’t help that he showed several clips of magicians failing at this trick before he performed it.
From the moment Matt took to the stage he commanded our attention with his confidence and undeniable passion for his craft. His energetic performance allowed him to inject new life into some time-honoured magic tricks, and as I watched him I was frequently reminded of Jesse Eisenburg’s character Atlas from 'Now You See Me' (a film about a group of magicians who use their skills to commit a series of impressive crimes).
With his razor sharp wit and surprisingly blunt nature, Matt had the audience in stitches and while he is clearly not afraid to say what he thinks, he also has the ability to make fun of his audience without offending (as some lucky audience members discovered).
‘Honestly Dishonest’ relies heavily on audience participation and this adds another layer of excitement to the show as each victim (oops, sorry, participant) is called to the stage; and while there is no pressure to participate I urge anyone lucky enough to be chosen to get involved with the fun.
★★★★☆ 1/2
