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.
