A meld of mind-bending and fine dining
At the Illusionist’s Table
Created and performed by Scott Silven. Until June 24 at Casa Loma, 1 Austin Terrace. LuminatoFestival.com or 416-368-4849.
CARLY MAGA THEATRE CRITIC
As a spectator, the purest thrill comes from observing a skill that you don’t possess, or even come close to replicating; the precision and strength of the Olympics, for instance, or the acrobatics of Cirque du Soleil and the contemporary circus.
Even for the most seasoned arts connoisseur or elevated cynic, if you’ve got a sense of adventure, witnessing extreme skill is a viscerally humbling and stimulating experience, not to mention entertaining.
Then there are skills that you can’t even begin to fathom, that don’t even have a reference point within your lived experience from which to build. That’s what happens in a magic show — a term that’s as childlike as you feel when watching a good one.
The Luminato Festival, perhaps the only institution in Toronto to have consistently offered a place in its programming for slick, practiced, internationally praised performances of illusion and mentalism, has a good one on right now.
Scottish illusionist Scott Silven has paired the impossible details of mentalism with the careful execution of fine dining in At the Illusionist’s Table, running twice daily throughout the run of Luminato.
Three courses and two whiskey tastings are prepared by Blue Blood Steakhouse, the newest restaurant from Liberty Entertainment Group (Cibo Wine Bar, Spice Route) — with perfectly acceptable food, but a killer location in Casa Loma.
A relatively humble dining room usually closed to the public, the Austin Room has the perfect atmosphere of Gothic opulence (featuring a production design by Glenn Davidson that includes an appropriate number of antique hardcover books, wooden boxes, two chalkboards and lots of candles) to match Silven’s creation.
Silven, who speaks with a low, soft Scottish lilt, looks the part of a man of mystery from times past, but luckily he also has the charm of an effective party host.
Because though it’s mostly a performance, it’s also a fancy meal with (mostly) strangers who have to speak to each other during the courses, which Sil- ven skips (usually the most disappointing moments of the night).
He says that this specific group of disparate people have converged for a purpose we’ll discover; there were quite a few close friends at the dinner I attended, so the risk was noticeably smaller, but that didn’t stop us from feeling like the end of the performance felt a bit like fancy summer camp just ended.
I’ll keep the details of Silven’s performance to myself, for obvious reasons, but only reveal that his feats of mind-reading begin simple (pick a card, choose a die, think of a number), and he even lets you in on the tiny tells we accidentally reveal when we’ve got something to hide.
From there, the tricks are increasingly mind-bending, strung together by a narrative Silven tells from his childhood in Scotland (effective for its intent, but with the help of a good dramaturge, could leave audiences moved as well as bemused).
I underscore the evening’s more extravagant elements here because though this is likely one of the more memorable, unique and entertaining of Luminato’s offerings this season, it’s also by far the most inaccessible at $225 a seat.
If this review is meant to be a customer guide to determine whether or not it’s worth the cost, the answer is: food alone, no, but feeling like your mind is being (playfully) excavated by a stranger, in front of a crowd of more than 20 delighted, bewildered adults?
Maybe, if you enjoy the feeling of limitless possibilities and that your perceptions of reality are wrong.
That’s something my critical faculties haven’t been sharpened for — I simultaneously felt like I was being hoodwinked, but also that my participation would either make or break the evening, and was too swept up to think much about anything in particular. I’m happy to have a seat at that table.
Silven, who speaks with a low, soft Scottish lilt, looks the part of a man of mystery from times past