The tent buzzes with the excitement of the audience long before the performers appear. This is a much anticipated show – the final for the Deception Trilogy, which has been running for the past three years at the Adelaide Fringe. This year, Matt Tarrant and Matt Brandwood work together to bring a seamless show of magic and mentalism.

While focusing on their unique talents, the magicians take turns in performing tricks, choosing assistants from the audience by throwing their Catbus. Tarrant was all charm, chatting away to the audience while playing mind-games with his assistants. Brandwood however, was a numbers man, using maths and sleight of hand to captivate. Their more intimate tricks had to be filmed and projected onto two stage-side screens for a clearer view.

Making things more modern, Brandwood acknowledged during a memory trick that keeping with the recitation of Shakespeare would have been a mistake; instead he chose to recite a more familiar poem – Green Eggs and Ham. While confounding the audience again and again, the pair use their final reveal to display the predictions they’d made before the show had began. Each prediction was correct, the paper even containing a birthday message for a crowd member. How could they have known?

‘The Matts’ catered to everyone, presenting a PG show with only a few swear word slip-ups (but don’t let that deter you). With a range of tricks varying from artistic works to memory games, these two magicians demonstrated excellent showmanship throughout the performance, engaging and befuddling the audience. Together they present an awesome show of deceit, leaving the audience wanting more and wondering just how did they pull it off? This is definitely a must-see show at the Adelaide Fringe this year.