When we walked into The Box at The Garden of Unearthly Delights to watch Spellbound, we were sceptical. A mentalist who had abilities to read minds? There was no way this was possible, we thought. But from the second mentalist Suhani Shah took the stage, she had us on the edge of our seats from the very first mind game.

First, she asks the crowd to write something important to them on a small piece of paper and pop it in the box at the front. While she asks a volunteer in the crowd to pick a piece of paper from the box at random, she humourlessly sifts through the ones left over (someone wrote the word “cricket” to which she replied “Indian” — being of Indian background herself — which had the crowd in stitches).

It was Shah’s job to figure out what was on the paper. She asks volunteer Tori to give her five random words, while Tori holds the paper behind her back, not revealing any details. Shah emphasised that these needed to be random words and absolutely nothing to do with the unknown details of the paper. As she shouts the random words one by one, Shah deciphers Tori’s thoughts. 
FestivalsTunnels and mirrors: step into an immersive experience this Fringe
After a few minutes of strategic chatter, Shah realises in fact it’s not a word that’s on the paper, but an illustration. Tori is then asked to join Shah on the stage, both with a whiteboard in hand with their backs against each other. They each draw what Tori knows is on the piece of paper, and what Shah thinks is on the paper, in black marker on the whiteboard. After the count of three, they both reveal three five-pointed stars in equal space apart, one larger one placed at the top.

Shah simply opens her arms out to the audience as if to say ‘see what I can do’, while the crowd roars with disbelief. There was no way of knowing what was on that piece of paper – we even had our sceptical glasses on and were looking out for backstage helpers or other loopholes in the trick — and yet she replicated the exact illustration perfectly.

Though the mind games came in thick and fast — the grand finale involving a $20 note still has us confused, memorised and intrigued all at once – the stand out of Shah’s performance was her stage presence. She told us she’s been doing this since she was seven, which perhaps explains her confidence. She had a way of connecting with the audience, gaining trust, and keeping us entertained through her banter and light-hearted chatty nature.

We’re already looking at dates to schedule in another show to see if we can crack Shah’s mentalist code and figure out the exact mind games she’s playing. But we imagine, like a true performer, she will keep her cards so close to her chest that we will leave stunned — yet again.