Who: Beans
Where: Ayers House Ballroom
When: until 6 March
Tickets: sold out, but see more info here

The Magicians’ Secret promised no magic. But it did promise secrets. Between that and the fantastic Microsoft Paint-style illustration, I was hooked. And for a show that I knew literally nothing about other than the fact it was sketch comedy, I got exactly what I wanted.

Beans, the production company, is made up of Ben Bishop, Liam Cobain, Charlie Hamra, and Andre Vafiadis. After cutting their teeth at the University of Adelaide Law Revue, this year they hit the Adelaide Fringe stage.

The Magicians’ Secret was extremely silly. Made up of 25 sketches, which spanned old fashioned cabaret, Nicola Spurrier as an anti-COVID pirate, The Godfather parts I, II and III, and a new dating app that is made for the under-served and undervalued market of straight men.

Bishop, Cobain, Hamra, and Vafiadis have excellent chemistry. They have evidently been working together in this way for some time and they breeze through sketches of all styles: singing, improv, and character acting. Despite how different each sketch is, none are lacking. It’s the best comedy show I have seen in some time.

Even though I was there on my own, and amongst a crowd of whooping family and friends, I was constantly laughing out loud from start to finish. I would say you must get a ticket, but after a short and sweet sold out season, you may have to wait until next year.

4 1/2 stars out of 5

— Natalie Carfora