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Penn & Tellers long goodbye: megastar magicians put new spins on old tricks

The duo’s First Final UK Tour is more amusing than astonishing but demonstrates what drew them to the confounding craft in the first place

Penn & Teller’s professional relationship is almost as old as I am. And yet I can remember a time – probably when their 90s Channel 4 show The Unpleasant World of Penn & Teller broke – when they felt like the future of magic. Their tricks were brasher and more dangerous, their mouthy irreverence a contrast to the genteel discretion of the Paul Daniels generation. But the future doesn’t last for ever. Penn & Teller are enfants terribles no more, and their new show begins with a burlesque on their own decrepitude: an escapology routine in which the trembling twosome break free from dressing gowns and rocking chairs, then spring forth – youthful once more! – to present the rest of the show.

The intention, of course, is to mock the idea that P&T might be past it. And fair enough: the ensuing two hours prove there’s life in the Las Vegas stalwarts yet. But it’s not groundbreaking life. The wheel has turned. Their show – the so-called First Final UK Tour – now feels like a very traditional magic offering, the convention against which today’s upstarts, those latter-day Penn & Tellers, will kick.

Penn & Teller are at Hammersmith Apollo, London, until 18 June

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/U0YzbRy

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