Double trouble? From Japanese tricksters to the dark side
A glitzy Japanese magic bar and two immersive experiences held in total darkness offer new reasons to visit the Queensland Maritime Museum.
It was on one of many trips to Japan that Kirsten Siddle decided to transport the Japanese tradition of magic bars back home.
Siddle, a former associate director, programming, at QPAC, is creative director of Broad Encounters, an outfit that creates and tours multi-sensory, immersive live productions.
Her company’s A Midnight Visit (a journey into the world of Edgar Allan Poe) was a huge hit in Brisbane and ran here for six months in 2021 and 2022. The epic 40-room theatrical adventure Love Lust Lost played here in 2022 and 2023. And now up pops Maho Magic Bar.
This hit Japanese immersive magic show is now playing at South Bank’s Maritime Museum in conjunction with two Darkfield immersive experiences. Darkfield is a collection of multi-sensory audio experiences in complete darkness. This time around you get Séance – an intense sonic performance that explores the psychology of a group of people bombarded with suggestible material – and Flight, which takes audiences through two worlds, two realities and two outcomes on a journey inspired by the many worlds of Quantum Mechanics. Both were created by UK-based Darkfield founders Glen Neath and David Rosenberg.
Maho Magic Bar (which is not in darkness) is, as it sounds, a bar where you can get cocktails, mocktails, sushi and snacks while experiencing some of Japan’s most engaging magicians.
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Siddle studied Japanese, has travelled extensively in Japan and decided while sitting at a magic bar in Osaka (there are many such bars in Japan) to transport the experience Down Under.
“All the nightlife capitals in Japan have local magic bars,” Siddle says. “But Maho Magic Bar is a magic bar on steroids and includes other cultural experiences. Magic in Japan is an ancient artform and dates back to the Edo period (1600s to 1860s), with a style called ‘tezuma’. Tezuma borders on almost being dance. Maho means magic but in the sense of an almost spiritual style of magic. ”
There are 18 Japanese magicians on the roster for Maho Magic Bar and six in the company for the current show. The style of magic they present is close-up magic. “They are all sleight-of-hand magicians as opposed to grand illusion specialists,” Siddle explains.
In Brisbane in 2022 Maho Magic Bar played to packed houses with rave reviews. After touring the country, it has returned with fresh tricksters, fresh tricks and even fresher cocktails. Maho Magic Bar jets audiences straight to a neon-lit Tokyo night with attendant mischief, mayhem, cocktails and laughter.
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Crossing beyond the neon-lit exterior, to enter Maho Magic Bar you will find yourself in an intimate, gorgeously bespoke space in which your every sense will be stimulated. Take a seat, select a drink and be ready to disbelieve your eyes as the very best of Japan’s superstar sleight-of-hand specialists perform exclusive magic shows at your table.
Audiences will see these masters at work at point-blank range, putting a wild contemporary spin on magic traditions.
“Maho Magic Bar’s dazzling lights and laughter-filled show was the highlight of Brisbane Festival in 2022,” Siddle says. “And we couldn’t be more thrilled to be bringing it back, alongside the immersive brilliance of Darkfield’s Séance and Flight.
“With a fresh line-up of sleight-of-hand prodigies found in the tumultuous back streets of Japan’s famed night-life districts, you couldn’t ask for a better night out in ‘Tokyo’ at Maho Magic Bar.”
Darkfield has made its long-awaited return to Brisbane with fan-favourite shipping container experiences Séance and Flight following record-breaking seasons around the country, welcoming more than 300,000 Australians so far. Produced by Realscape Productions, Darkfield invites audiences to step inside blacked-out shipping containers where strange and mysterious worlds unfold. The multi-sensory 360-degree audio experiences challenge the senses, exploring the depths of human psychology and perception. If you dare.
If you don’t fancy total darkness, just sip your cocktails and be entertained at Maho Magic Bar.
Maho Magic Bar and Darkfield’s Séance and Flight continue at the Queensland Maritime Museum, South Brisbane, until December 8. Tickets to Maho Magic Bar at mahomagicbar.com and tickets to Darkfield’s Séance and Flight at darkfield.com.au