Maho Magic Bar has returned to the Fringe, setting up residency in the Garden of Unearthly Delights. You are transported to a glitzy Japanese bar where four of the best sleight-of-hand specialists take your breath away with incredible tricks performed mere centimetres from you. 
The inside of the Maho Magic Bar is beautifully decorated to make you feel like you are in the middle of Tokyo, not the Garden of Unearthly Delights. The audience is grouped into four tables, each manned by an illusionist. A bar, from which you can purchase drinks via a QR code is at one end of the venue, where you can see the skilful barkeep at work.
 You are greeted as you enter by your host, Sho Eba, who keeps the proceedings moving along. Throughout the hour long performance, they also perform their own set to each group, that though not magic, are a series of very clever party games that leave you in stitches. 
The first magician who performed for our group was Kaori Kitazawa - Kawaii princess of illusion. Kitazawa presents several impressive card tricks, as well as a rope and beads trick. Her quiet demeanour pulled you in to her performance, drawing the audience in to watch her hands even more intently. Kitazawa is a master of her art. Her fluid hand movements were wonderful to watch and at no point could you see her sleight-of-hand at work.

 Shirayuri bought great humour and cheek to his performance. He was fast paced, full of quick one-liners that kept our group in stitches. He presented us a wonderful scent recall trick that played with your mind, and a clever calculator trick that left us gasp in disbelief on the final reveal. 

 Sarito, the craziest magician in Japan, certainly lived up to his name. Using very little spoken word, he communicated through hand gestures, eye movement and subtle nods of the head. His sleight-of-hand was phenomenal, especially on his ‘name on card’ trick — one of the best up-close tricks I have ever seen. Sarito’s numbers and dice trick was both unique and rather humorous. 

 Santa Terakado, conjurer of magical creatures, did some impressive tricks involving plush toys. Terakado’s magic was new and fresh and certainly kept our group giggling at his jokes. His magical unicorn trick was especially impressive and hilarious — especially when it came to a little BDSM whipping action… you’ll have to attend Maho to find out what I mean! 

Throughout the proceedings, audience members are also able to purchase additional tricks that are performed in the centre of the room. These tricks on offer are along the same vein as the tricks performed to our small groups, just on a slightly bigger scale. Highly recommend looking into these as they really showcased the magicians’ skills.
 My only slight niggle was the audio from where I was sitting. At times our host’s microphone came across distorted and hard to understand, and at some points the background music was so loud you struggled to hear the magician performing right next to you.

 Although Maho Magic Bar is a pricy outing at the Fringe, it is worth every cent spent. It will leave you speechless and gasping in amazement. For magic lovers, this is certainly a must see, but also for those of you who are skeptical… I urge you to pay a visit to Maho Magic Bar and be challenged by what you see.