The suave TV magician takes his show on the road
|||Hot on the heels of his prime time TV series, Magic with Mo, Mo Magic stages his new theatre show this weekend. Latoya Newman caught up with him…
IN 2012 when Mahommed Moorad, better known as Mo Magic, staged his first one-man show, Amazing You, it was a mix of magic and inspiration, and was well received.
This week he is set to stage his second one-manner which, he says, has evolved and is inspired by his TV show. The stage show aims to take the magic to the people in cities and towns across the nation.
“In Amazing You, I performed close-up and stand-up material. The close-up material was aided by the use of a cameraman on stage with volunteers and large-screen projection, while the stand-up material played to the entire audience. The show was themed towards inspiring people to live their dreams, using my experience with magic as an example – moving from a career as an electronic engineer to a full-time professional magician.
“This show, Mo Magic, follows season one of my TV show. My focus for 2015 was to share the experience of magic with South Africans in their homes via the medium of TV. In 2016, I intend to take magic to people in their cities and towns for them to experience live. This theatre show combines magic, mentalism and clean comedy. There will be no large-screen projection and the material will play to the entire audience.”
Since his first theatre show and TV stint on SABC3, Mo says he’s grown in his craft: “As a performer I am more experienced and bring this to the show. My intention is to astonish, amaze and entertain. The show will incorporate ‘clean’ comedy that will disarm and ease the audience and also be a transition between routines. I think the audience will enjoy this.”
Now while artists of mystery never tell, we asked Mo to hint at what can be expected in the show.
“The TV show contained a substantial amount of magic over 13 weeks, and I used the TV show as a framework to look at some of the most talked about effects and include some of these in the theatre show for people to experience live.
“Loyal viewers of the show will recognise these. However, if an audience member has not seen the TV show, they can enjoy these live for the first time. I have also included material that I’ve saved especially for the theatre show.
“Some of my favourites include a genre of magic that has become very popular, with shows like The Mentalist being such a success on TV. It’s referred to as ‘mentalism’ (mind reading magic), where the magician creates the illusion of reading the spectators’ thoughts.
“Because of how incredible this looks, people say it looks like real mind reading and the audience enjoy it. Another favourite of mine is the floating table levitation; I love performing it in theatres.”
And seeing as one of the shows takes place on Valentine’s Day, does Mo have something Cupid-y in store?
“There are no love-themed routines as this show will play during different times of year, but I will mention Valentine’s Day and associated humour in Sunday’s performance. Additionally, I might have a surprise for all female volunteers joining me on stage on Sunday. I’m not saying anymore about that, except that I am known to be a romantic,” he smiles.
Commenting on his TV show, Mo said: “My highlight was making the show a reality and seeing it on TV. Sharing magic with audiences on TV has been a dream for over a decade and I’m thrilled that dream was realised. I am also thankful the show received such a positive response, especially since it was the first of its kind in South Africa.”
See Mo Magic perform live from Thursday to Sunday at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre. Book at Computicket.