ILLUSIONARIUM

'Illusionarium starring Ellis & Webster' is a 50 minute family show of illusions, magic and comedy created for the 2008 Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

The show begins with Professor Googalfitz demonstrating his latest creation, a massive steel and glass structure called 'The Illusionarium'. Though it is thoroughly examined by members of the audience, Sue-Anne appears from nowhere and present a fast-paced version of the classic 'Linking Rings'.

Lots of magic follows including hilarious audience participation, Sue-Anne's 'Blues Brothers' routine, Tim's 'Soda Resurrection', 'The Great Whammo', and The Perdentes make an appearance performing 'Squash' as 'The Disco Doom Box of Disco Doom'.

The climax of the show is the jaw-dropping 'Houdini Trunk', followed by 'The Six Card Rap' as an encore.

All in all, a fantastic family show of fun and illusion.

SHOW REVIEW

"THE KIDS WERE TRULY AWESTRUCK."

(Comedy Festival Review) The Groggy Squirrel, Caitlin Crowley

Ten minutes before Illusionarium begins, one of Tim Ellis’s characters, Professor Googlefits, wanders out to the foyer and warms up the crowd with his goofy glasses. It’s a great way to set the mood for the 60 minute magic show that follows.

Husband and wife team, the very well-preserved Tim Ellis and Sue-Anne Webster, must be the hardest working magicians in the country – they pack in corporate events, lecture tours and public appearances. This year’s comedy festival show Illusionarium, like most magic shows I have ever seen, has a certain element of cheese to it. But once Ellis and Webster hit their magical straps all is forgiven – their magic tricks really are awesome.

I’ve seen plenty of ugly uncles pull coins out of ears before but I’ve never seen anything like Tim Ellis’s display of conjuring coins from the hair of audience members – including enough to pack a piggy-bank from one young boy’s mop. The set-ups for some of the acts are pretty corny (the disco-deprived Pedantes springs to mind) but when a crushed empty soft-drink can was uncrushed and refilled before my eyes then I just sat back and enjoyed their skills. And the kids were truly awestruck.

Sue-Anne Webster does a great job coaxing adult audience members onto the stage and into a dance routine while she does rope tricks. A friend commented to me how much like Barbara Eden, circa I Dream of Jeannie, Sue-Anne is so it wasn’t surprising to learn that she does do a tribute act to the television show.

This show is really good value so if you like levitating tables, Houdini escapes and watching attractive women being squashed into tiny spaces then I recommend you check out Illusionarium.

Once again I asked some of my little people their views on the show:

• Iris (4): That woman isn’t real is she? Because she came out of that magic box full of smoke.
• Jasper (4): I liked it when the girl lifted up the table and made it fly. See, that is real magic.
• Isabella (9): I thought it was funny how the boy got into the girl’s clothes.
• Indigo (10): It inspired me and my friend to do a project on magic tricks. It is so brain-pulling because you want to know how they do it.
• Violet (7): They got kids from the audience to go up on stage but not me. I wanted to buy a poster afterwards but mum wouldn’t let me.