Oliver Meech: When Magic And Science Collide 2.0 @ Just the Tonic at the Caves

Of all the collisions to see, one involving magic and science must rank right up there; throw in a liberal sprinkling of time travel and it’s all systems go.  The atmospheric venue of the Caves is perfectly suited to this type of show and performer. Oliver Meech is a tall, thin man who looks every inch the wide-eyed slightly crazed scientist, complete with obligatory white lab coat.

The opening tricks are variations on a theme, certainly well thought out and safely hitting the ‘how did he do that’ bullseye; unfortunately they missed the ‘where is this going’ target altogether, much like a joke that starts with the punchline.  In a welcome change of pace the audience begin to get more involved and this works well until an overly complicated trick is brought to a fumbling end as one of the participants has no idea what's going on. Interaction with the ‘volunteers’ is something that needs a little more work.  To his credit, the magical scientist bounces back with the best stuff of the show, a very impressive card trick that has everyone oohing and aahing loudly and a snack lover's dream ending hinting at what could've been, if only we had all time travelled back to the start of the show for another go.

Magic and science both rely on evolution and there isn’t anything particularly new to see here – it’s last year’s show updated and it never quite manages to pull the rabbit from the hat.