On stage as we enter, a smattering of props – table, chair, balloons – are set on stage before a large, blue velvet backdrop, hinting at some form of object-related magical antics to follow. 

In due course, our titular ‘stunt magician’ enters and greets us cheekily, with a smile that seems a little unnervingly familiar for someone we are just ‘meeting’ for the first time.  The laid back vibe of Canadian Wes Barker’s (no relation as far as I know to the Californian Arj) comedy magic would-be spectacle belies the more extreme high energy implicit in the title.

It could be taken as irony, although I see it more as a result of putting an essentially quite intimate, lo-fi show on in the comparatively ostentatious Concert Chamber.  It’s also probably relevant that, generally speaking, the earlier festival shows don’t carry as much pre-loaded ready-to-party anticipation on the part of the audience.

The easygoing nonchalance of his demeanour matches the folksiness of his assorted conjuring tricks, utilising boomerangs, balloons and blow-darts along with a number of people’s personal effects to his prestidigitational ends.   The resulting factor isn’t so much ‘Wow!’ as ‘fancy that’, though to his credit Barker takes our response at face value, neither offended nor apologetic.  This casual acceptance diffuses a lot of potential awkwardness, particularly in regard to the punters called on to assist.

Overall, Wes’s banter is amicable enough, working as best he can with the space and the fairly quiet Monday-night crowd filling around half the available table-seats.  He keeps the room’s spirits up to an adequate degree, with no attempt to force any kind of greater intensity.  The audience in turn, while not exactly uproarious, is demonstratively and consistently amused.

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