Matt Tarrant’s magic show is wizzard

Matt Tarrant is Honestly Dishonest | Noodle Palace | Until Feb 19 | ★ ★ ★ ★

Magician (and Australian Survivor contestant) Matt Tarrant brings his show to Perth for the first time and is one of the tent pole attractions at Fringe Hub Noodle Palace this year.

A native of Adelaide, Tarrant has picked up awards at Adelaide Fringe for the last five years, the first artist to win five consecutive honours.

He starts the show off by recounting where his love of magic began and performs a card trick that had audience members scratching their heads on how it was done.

From here Tarrant builds upon each trick making things more complex and increasingly leaving the audience wondering how he manages to pull of each feat.

In an age of YouTube videos Tarrant noted that it is increasingly difficult for magicians to keep their secrets, a simple google search can reveal how many tricks are done. The young magician took that in his stride though and delivered a series of feats that still left you gasping.

The most nail biting section of the show is when he announces he’ll be attempting a trick that many other magicians have got wrong – with painful results. The trick involves hiding a metal spike in a paper bag, mixing the bags up and then slamming your hand down on the, hopefully empty, bag.

To show how wrong some magicians can get this trick he played several videos of what’s not supposed to happen. It was ‘edge of your seat’ anxiety as the trick progressed.

The latter part of the show saw Tarrant showing off his mind-reading skills, it’ll leave you wondering for sure.

One of the tricks in the show we’d seen a few years ago when cabaret performer Scottee took over Connections Terrace for an evening. This time the trick involving a banana confused with a bandana was given a slightly different treatment, but we’ve got to say – Scottee did it better.

Matt Tarrant is Honestly Dishonest is playing at Fringe World.

Graeme Watson