By Sarah Skubala
An immersive experience precinct has arrived in South Bank, offering the adventurous people of BrisVegas a new destination to be spellbound by multi-sensory thrills. After successful runs at previous Brisbane Festival seasons, the hit Japanese magic show Maho Magic Bar returns alongside Darkfield’s spine-tingling sensations Séance and Flight, all playing at the Maritime Museum for a limited season.
All three experiences are designed to be booked alongside one another, or you can choose your own adventure and curate your night out. Perched on the picture-perfect banks of the Brisbane River, audiences can relax while enjoying the sunset ahead of a show or three with a full bar and light food available.
Maho Magic Bar, presented by Broad Encounters, is a one-hour, immersive magic show set in an intimate, gorgeously bespoke cocktail bar featuring the very best of Japan’s superstar sleight-of-hand specialists. Audiences will step through the neon-lit exterior and be transported to ‘Tokyo’ where the cocktails are fresh, the tricksters are cheeky, and the good times are guaranteed. Séance and Flight, presented by Realscape Productions, offer multisensory, 360 audio experiences set inside blacked-out shipping containers where mysterious worlds unfold. Each one runs for just under 20 minutes, with Séance immersing its audiences in the experience of a traditional séance, while Flight takes place inside the disused cabin of a 747 aeroplane. Both experiences are designed to thrill and push boundaries and will be sure to delight audiences looking for a different night out.
Making up the troupe at Maho Magic Bar are six artists from Japan, including original member Kaori Kitazawa, the Kawaii princess of illusion. Honouring both traditional Edo and contemporary Harajuku culture in her performance, Kaori became interested in magic when she was 20 years old. Starting first as a magician’s assistant, it wasn’t long before she was performing magic herself.
“I used to think magic was something you only saw on TV, but I had a chance to see a live magic show, and I realised this was something I wanted to learn,” she says.
Kaori says a love of magic and a willingness to dedicate hours of practice to it are all you need to pursue a life in the magic arts. Joining Kaori is E.O. Lee, the conjurer of cheekiness, who got into magic when he was 18 as a way of doing something for fun outside of his university studies. He was inspired to keep going when he saw how much happiness his magic brought to audiences.
“I want people to have a good time and feel joy after they leave. That’s why I keep doing magic,” he says.
Joining the pair are Wambi, the engineer of eye-popping hardware, Shirayuri, the mixologist of mischief, Spica, the Kakkoii hostess and ring mistress, and Comet, the award-winning sleight-of-hand bartender.
Maho Magic Bar, Séance and Flight can be booked at the link below and will be running until 8th December. Private bookings for group functions are also available:
https://www.darkfield.com.au/brisbane
Image: Anna Kucera
