Perth Fringe review: Creepy magic show Alone: The Sacred Riana may leave you mesmerised… or terrorised!

Oh, you want magic? How about creepy magic? In fact, how ‘bout a creepy magician who plays with dolls? Do we have your attention? Good. Now don’t look away.

After our last magic show left a lot to be desired, Alone: The Sacred Riana had a lot to make up for. It had a very different energy. Most magic shows play with an idea of comedy, keeping things light and fluffy, allowing the participating audience member to laugh along with everyone else when they realise they’ve been tricked.

Whereas this show leaned into the unnatural and unnerving. For instance, generally there’s applause after each trick, but our audience seemed to be in a state of awe, wonderment, or mild terror. We clapped rarely.

We do think this was expected, the vibe of the show not lending itself to raucous applause. Even as the show ended and the curtain came down, we clapped tentatively at best.

Not because the show wasn’t deserving, no no, because we were uncertain if it had ended, if we were doing the correct thing.

As the show ended, Amanda commented that it really didn’t feel like an hour. Which is a strange feeling after a show that was conducted in relative silence.

If you want to be involved in the show, you do need to be relatively close to the front. Mostly the front 3 rows were the participants. A screen with a live video feed hung behind Riana, a clever way to take magic, a very up close skill, to the back of the almost sold-out room.

A moment of horror came into play when a man’s name was written inexplicably on a chalkboard. This man stood up in the audience, Riana knowing he had lost someone close to him recently, and correctly predicting the name of the person.