Mogic @C Soco

A magician and his two assistants stumble on to the stage which also houses a huge crate labelled ‘Mail Order Magic Kit’. The would-be magician awkwardly tells us he ordered it months ago but owing to a shipping fault, has received it only half an hour before the show.

According to the accompanying audio tape, the kit boasts every trick in the magician’s arsenal and will show you how (‘with plenty of practice') to become a top-notch conjurer. Instructions are now played and what follows is magical ineptitude.

The ‘glamorous assistant’ is in fact, a twenty-something man wearing an evening gown and looking spectacularly disgruntled about it. He begrudgingly obliges when the tape instructs him to flash cleavage at the audience and fawn over our would-be magician.

The by-play between the unwaveringly calm and confident voice on the tape and the catastrophic results of the hapless performers is genuinely funny.

This would have easily attained 5-star status if the sleight of hand itself had been slicker or more complex. As it was, the tricks were very basic, even when the intention was clearly to demonstrate skilled magic.

A fun hour of slapstick: but if you’re looking for jaw-dropping magic, go elsewhere.