Tales from Asteroid b-612: An Original Magic Show

I grew up with magic. My uncle was one of Adelaide’s finest magicians and while he wouldn’t explain all his secrets, he told me a few, and what to look for. So, I was keen to see what Tales from Asteroid b-612: An Original Magic Show was all about.

Upstairs at The Lost Dice is a little room called the ‘Adelaide Magic Theatre’. Its intimate, so all the better to see magic up close and personal.

We are welcomed by Em Chandler (the director and sound operator) who explains how the two magicians Clement Kwok (who discovered magic at the age of 8) and Aby Thomas (who started magic 8 years ago) can learn a new show living in two different states and then come together for 5 rehearsals together before presenting “A shared love of connecting to others through wonder brought the two together and launched a journey of self-discovery, reinvention and sheep.”.

Their production is inspired by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's children’s classic The Little Prince. In this novel the narrator introduces himself as a man who learned when he was a child that adults lack imagination and understanding. He is now a pilot who has crash-landed in a desert. He encounters a small boy who asks him for a drawing of a sheep, and the narrator obliges. The narrator, who calls the child the little prince, learns that the boy comes from a very small planet, which the narrator believes to be asteroid B-612.

The illusions are great and include – the classic linking rings, some mind reading using Lego people, changing coins to rocks and making a drawing from the audience coming to life. Did all the tricks work as expected? No, but that’s all part of the fun. I watched the children in the audience, they were immersed in the story and the magic and that’s what the essence of the show is about.

The opening night was a little ‘rough around the edges’, but this will smooth out as the season progresses and the boys get used to collaborating with each other and working the audience. It is a lot to ask  magicians to be storytellers as well, but Kwok and Thomas managed it well.

While I enjoyed the performance, I was a little confused. The advertising says, “Join them as they unearth the magic of childhood through bubbles, origami, stars and roses.” While the magic they presented was well rehearsed. I was expecting some of the items mentioned.

Tales from Asteroid b-612: An Original Magic Show is exactly what it says, a new way of imagining magic shows where the narrative is as important as the ‘tricks’. It’s a great show to take the kids and watch their eyes widen with wonder!

Barry Hill OAM

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