Maho Magic Bar: Adelaide Fringe 2025 Review
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5 Stars for raucous, charismatic magic tricks and an upbeat, cheeky atmosphere.
Review by Claire Davill
Maho Magic Bar has returned to the Garden of Unearthly Delights for 2025, and is now five years old and going strong. A new line up of expert magicians perform close-up magic together with cheeky charisma that will leave you grinning from ear to ear, while also simultaneously making your jaw drop!
New magicians means new tricks, and all the magicians connect quickly with their audience. You’ll be seated at one of four bars or the central table, meaning magic is performed right in front of you. There’s plenty of audience participation, and the magicians seamlessly move between child-friendly interactions and more adult content, depending on the audience. This close-up, personalised interaction makes kids feel really special – they’re not just watching a show, they’re participating.
Note that this year, there are two rows of seating at the bar. If you are attending a child-friendly matinee show, children will be given front row seating priority. The seating is still cozy and second row seats are still close to the bar and you will not miss out on the experience – all the photos in this review were taken from the second row.
Each of the five magicians rotate to each bar or table, so there’s no need to move. If you want to order a drink, you can do so via a QR code and the bartender will create your drink with great flair and deliver it to your table. There are fancy cocktails on offer, but also plenty of child friendly options.
There are special tricks that can be ordered from the menu, and these are performed in the centre of the room between each magician rotation at the bar. Expect hilarious and theatrical performances with the audience member who ordered the trick taking a central role.
This year’s host, Sawaka, commands the audience and keeps the show moving, and the audience hyped. She’s a master at crowd work and also has a few tricks up her sleeve (literally and figuratively).
The venue is, as in previous years, an attraction in itself. From the neon-lit exterior to the paper lanterns and hazy, dark interior, you don’t feel like you’re in a tent in Adelaide – you’re in a family-friendly bar in Tokyo. The atmosphere is amazing.
Afternoon matinee shows are designated as child-friendly, while evening shows are suitable for teenagers aged over 12 years with adult supervision. We have attended both shows – the cheeky, raucous nature is still present at the child friendly shows but is more than suitable for children. The evening shows contain some swearing, a bit of cheeky flirting and double entendres, but nothing too inappropriate for teenagers.
CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS
For more information please visit the Adelaide Fringe website.
At Play & Go Adelaide we make every effort to provide accurate information to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication. We recommend confirming times, dates and details directly before making any plans as details may be subject to change.
As per all our Play & Go reviews, this is not a sponsored post. The Play & Go team review via media accreditation and when kindly invited.
All photos by Play & Go Adelaide (unless specified)
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