Ali Cook: Principles and Deceptions

Magic, it seems, is enjoying a renaissance and Ali Cook is one of its most talented new stars. By mixing old and new—sleight-of-hand routines with coins and cards alongside some more modern Derren Brown-style mind tricks—he both pays homage to the long history of his trade and produces a highly innovative show. Even some of the most well-known tricks are given an unexpected twist—his assistant avoids being impaled on the poles that are thrust into the box, but she emerges not out of the box, instead appearing on the top row of seats—leaving the audience baffled as to how she managed to escape from the box without being seen, and then get round the sides and up the stands in a matter of seconds.

This is an extremely tight, fast-paced hour: he dispenses with the long, tedious setups that so often plague magic shows and moves swiftly from one to the next, hardly giving the audience time to wonder "How did he do that?" before he is away on the next trick. Cook—an actor and comedian to boot—peppers his show with alternately sinister and cheeky, impish humour, proving a charming host as well an accomplished magician.

The sense of complete bafflement is broken briefly when he attempts two tricks that could not possibly been done without the help of a planted audience member, taking the shine off what is otherwise an extremely slick and enormously impressive show.