**

When I was a child and, subsequently parent of young children I used to go to end of pier shows on the seaside. Jay and Joss, Britain’s Got Talent winners are reprising that tradition with this nationwide show, a mix of illusionism , comedy and slapstick fun. They are self declared fans of Penn and Teller, Ant and Dec and Morecambe and Wise there are ingredients of all here.

The premise of the show is to present something traditional in the AI age. the problem is that a middle to older age audience has seen it all before, and the presence of surprisingly few children in the audience suggested that their cool rating is on a par with Keir Starmer.

The show runs to barely forty five minutes a half plus fifteen minute interval. the first half of the first half is bereft of any significant content beyond introducing an impressive electronically dominated stage set. Mid way, an American flag appeared on the backscreen, drawing boos- you need to read the room.

We were treated to some card tricks, some number tricks using a giant calculator, and a trick which involved ripping up bits of paper- i’m sure the theatre staff loved that. beyond that we were given some traditional escapology with straightjackets, a man being sawn in half, and an escape from a flooded chamber. to quote from Shania Twain- “That don’t impress me much”. Nor did it impress the thirteen and fourteen year olds who accompanied me. The cod bonhomie was embarrassing.

The 21st century AI twist was an ineffective veneer. The rest routine from the past hundred years. I won’t be back. There were barely 300 audience in this 1200 seater with the upper circles closed. The duo should enjoy this tour while they can