Australians might be flying in record numbers to Japan for cheap holidays right now, but it’s even more affordable to drive into the city, walk to the Garden of Unearthly Delights, then be teleported to Tokyo by walking through Maho Magic Bar’s sliding doors.
Broad Encounters premiered their immersive Japanese magic experience, Maho Magic Bar, five years ago on Valentine’s Day at Adelaide Fringe. Since then, the neon-illuminated black box bar has been shipped around the world, enchanting purple butterfly gin-sipping audiences with its quirky collection of sleight-of-hand conjurers.
When you climb the stairs and step into Maho, you are hit by the richness of the space: a cherry blossom chandelier, a wall of illuminated paper lanterns, bric-a-brac galore, and four bars and a central table lined with cocktails. When you take your seat at your assigned bar, you meet your first magician. We landed Ryu, Ingenious Inventor of Wonder, who read from a book on Quantum Physics, before solving Rubik’s Cubes without looking at them. Following instructions from host Sawaka, there’s a magician musical chairs, as each performer rotates to a new audience.
Between magicians shifting, though, there are group set pieces in front of the main bar, where lucky audience members get mixed up in the action. Food and drink is a big theme: instant noodles like you’ve never seen, mystical Coke cans and colour-shifting whisky. Before the night is through, we get to know the cheeky 'Harry Potter' fan Wandi (who is from Gryffindor of course), the hip-thrusting mixologist Shirayuri, and the blonde pig-tailed E.O. Lee.
Jaws are constantly agape at Maho: either because people are imbibing their cocktails, or in awe at the deft card tricks. With an array of magic in the wizards’ arsenals, you could make many visits to Maho across the Fringe and still be surprised. Be warned, though, you might make a late-night flight booking to Japan following the experience.
