Maho Maho Magic Bar | Broad Encounters & Darkfield | Realscape Productions

Maho Magic Bar and Darkfield brought a bright carnival atmosphere to the maritime museum precinct at South Bank. Neon lights marked the front of the little pop up building and a mini bar was set up outside to give us a sneak peak of the drinks available inside. The drinks were delicious and it was a perfect little spot to enjoy the beautiful spring Brisbane weather while we waited. 

Maho Magic bar - image credit: Axis Productions

We entered a small space with five different bars and about 15 chairs set up in front of each bar. There were cherry blossoms and paper lanterns and playing cards adorning the space that was dimly lit and intimate. It was a little crowded in the space and I was very happy to be sitting right at the bar as opposed to in the row behind. There were five magicians who each did a 10 minute set of tricks before moving onto the next bar. The pacing was great and no part of the show was boring or predictable. 

I had no idea what to expect from Maho Magic Bar and I was nervous because one of the associations I have with close up magic is audience interaction which I was dreading. In the end the audience interaction was one of my favourite parts because each magician encouraged the audience to do small things like pick cards or hold props but it was never too much and always very fun. We had the option of ordering more involved tricks from the ‘magic menu’ which I obviously avoided but I loved it when others did! 

There’s nothing like being stumped by a magic trick and some of them blew me away. I was racking my brain to work out how they were pulling off those tricks and I doubt there is anyone who could keep a smile off their face while objects disappear and then reappear inside a completely in-tact orange. 

The performers were wonderful and clearly masters of their craft. They were charming and engaging and they were just as good at making the crowd laugh as they were at sleight of hand tricks. If you don’t like crude humour this show might not be your thing as there was a good smattering of dick jokes in almost all of the acts. Each of the performers handed out a card with their name and details at the end of their performance and it was just a fun little touch that added to that carnival feeling, it gave the impression of seeing 5 different shows rather than one. 

Séance - image credit: Jack Rintoul.

On the off chance that you were left wanting more, right outside the Maho Magic Bar were two shipping containers containing immersive horror audio experiences, Seance and Flight.  It was a bit of an odd transition to file into this tiny space set up like a victorian parlour room but it was equally as exciting and atmospheric as the Magic Bar.

I love listening to horror podcasts and I was hoping that Seance would provide something a little more immersive and I won’t spoil the experience but it definitely did. There's no better set piece than complete and total darkness and I really loved having my eyes wide open and seeing absolutely nothing while the story played out in my headphones. Unfortunately during the climax of the story the audio was painfully loud and I had to take off the headphones to stop my eardrums hurting. Aside from that it was a great short experience. 

The two experiences together made for a unique night out. The magicians were amazing, mixing mind-blowing tricks with plenty of laughs, and the interactive parts were just the right amount of fun without being too much. The carnival vibe was great, and if you’re into a bit of spooky, the immersive horror experiences, Darkfield, were an exciting bonus.