I was dubious about the Card Shark show, not knowing what to expect of this unusual and original idea. My curiosity was increased by the unlikely choice of location, a lecture theatre at the Royal Institution in Mayfair.

After a brief delay the card shark, Steve Truglia walked on stage to educate us. The short show focused on the history and culture of card trickery combining clever sleight of hand demonstrations with film snippets about card tricks through the ages.

Charming and friendly, Steve is a brilliant performer and a very talented magician, one of just 300 Associates of the Inner Magic Circle. He is known as one of the world’s foremost close-up magicians – his tricks combine the classic and the inventive. Card tricks can by dry and repetitive, Steve’s performance is accompanied by film and music, to ensure this isn’t the case at Card Shark.

The audience was made up of magic fans of all ages, it is definitely a show for the whole family.  After a quick introduction, Steve demonstrated his impressive sleight of hand; once he knew we were all convinced of his skill he moved onto the more theoretical with video snippets of stories about notorious characters from the world of card gambling and cheating.

Contextualising card trickery within these tales was certainly an unusual way to introduce a crowd to magic and it worked, engaging and involving us all. Steve let us in on several secrets, displaying inventions from past and present that people have used to cheat the odds in their favour. Audience interaction kept everybody on their toes, and ensured an exciting momentum.

Card Shark is the ideal pre or post dinner show, and will certainly work up a mindful appetite for supper, and for card fanatics this is a must, but at £60 a ticket it is not a cheap night out.

Running until 14 October, book here. Tickets start at £25 up to £60.

http://www.thecardsharkshow.com/