Miracle – Mahdi the Magician at The Vaults

Mahdi the Magician is performing at The Vaults Festival between 31 January – 4 February 2018.

I was invited down by Secret Cellar to watch Mahdi’s first performance in The Vaults. I was literally blown away by the miracles he pulled off considering he was born without any hands.

Who is Mahdi the Magician?

Mahdi was born in 1989 in Toronto, Canada. He unfortunately though was born without any hands or feet. This made his early years hard in growing up. Mahdi faced a difficult childhood struggling daily with bullying, violence, loneliness and depression. He was tormented by his physical differences and made him contemplate life.

Through the years though he found strength and got through tough times with the help and support of his loving family, friends and many other kind people he has met.

However magic was what gave him the most confidence in life and the willingness to want to live and enjoy life.  What might surprise you though and it certainly surprised me was that he never was exposed to magic during growing up as a child, not even through television nor even books. He heard stories about magicians and was interested and inspired. So Mahdi began seeking out magicians online and on television when he was a teenager. He initially thought he would not be able to do the things that the likes of David Blaine could do but when he discovered Derren Brown he then realised there was more to magic and you did not need to have hands and feet to perform certain magic tricks.

Mahdi trained his memory and played tricks on his friends and other fellow students at school by memorising their personal information from the school database, and at appropriate moments could tell people information he shouldn’t know, like where they lived. Later on he started to learn more physical tricks with cards via learning from a book on card manipulation. He studied and practised literally all night into early hours figuring and experimenting with magic and with his disformanity it was even more of a trial but he persisted as magic was his passion.

After a while his reputation began to grow and making a number of contacts. In March 2010 he attended his first Magic-Con in San Diego where many famous magicians go along to. He quickly became the talk of the conference and his reputation exploded.

Since 14 over the past 7 years Mahdi has managed to perform his magic on television and all around the world giving him the opportunity to share with people about his life and magic giving hope to millions who suffer or have suffered with bullying, disabilities, racism, colour, religion or even social status.

However Mahdi is not only just a skilled magician but he is also an accomplished artist. Plus he is also writing his first ever book.

David Blaine says he is a “My inspiration” and he certainly is an inspiration to us all that have suffered such issues in life.

I know how he feels as I myself when I was growing up I had a speech impediment and had to go to speech therapy regularly which made me feel unnormal. I was bullied throughout my school life as I was seen different as I could not speak properly.  However the love of my family got me through life and the support of the teachers.

Mahdi performs

I went along and saw Mahdi perform at The Vaults Festival on his first night and I was highly impressed with his card tricks. Considering he has no hands it was impressive to see how he could shuffle a pack of cards and deal them.

The good thing about whilst he was doing his performance he had a large monitor behind him showing the audience his magic close up so if you was not sitting near the front it made it a lot easier to see his magic.

Mahdi started off the show with the classic water trick. He poured water along with the help of one of his friends into a bottle and then tipped it upside down. Even though I have seen this trick done many times it was amazing seeing him perform it considering he has no hands so must be more of a physical challenge. It still baffles me though this trick as even though I know it is all to do with science, air and gravity.  Then after a gently tap the water comes rushing out.

His first card trick he picked a lady out from the audience. He then asked her to pick a man from the audience she obviously wanted her boyfriend. Mahdi did try getting her to choose someone else but she just kept insisting she wanted her boyfriend. Later she had to choose three more men they all chose a card and ironically all of their cards where a 10. How he done it I don’t know.

Another trick was a coin trick in where he made the lady of the coin cry by being mean to her.

However the card trick that really did blow my mind was the red and black card trick. This trick is also Mahdi’s favourite card trick.  Every time he put a red, and then a black, then a red and so on, on top of each other but when he turned them over all the reds where first then all the blacks.  How he done this I really don’t know as he has no hands.

Throughout the show you will see various tricks. He would also explain about his life in growing up with his deformity and how he came into magic. Thus making his show more interesting and quite inspiring.

He also had a very cheeky flirty side and Canadian humour. I did not get sometimes but the parts I did understand was quite amusing and gave his performance a bit more of an interesting edge. Advice though wrap up warm if you go along as it gets very cold in The Vaults.

After I left the show I sent Mahdi an interview which he kindly answered.

Interview

Which magician when growing up was your idol?

I grew up watching David Copperfield, David Blaine, and Derren Brown and they were my big early influences.

Who is your favourite magician now?

Right now my favorite magician is a magician from Vienna named Hofzinser who was active in the 1800s. He really brought magic to an artistic level through his thoughtful and poetic presentations.

What made you want to start to learn and perform magic?

Growing up I always felt everything was impossible for me and I thought if I became a magician then I could do anything.

What was your very first magic you learnt?

I learnt how to make a glass penetrate through the surface of a table when I was a very young child.

What was your very first magic trick you performed on stage?

The first trick I performed on stage is the last card effect I perform in the show with three red cards and three black cards.

What is your favourite trick that you love doing?

The trick above.

What is your most difficult magic trick?

All the coin magic I perform is very new for me and I would say it’s the most difficult.

Is there a magic trick that you can’t master that you really want to?

I always loved manipulation acts and would love to figure out how to do one day.

Which magic trick always shocks people?

The needle trick. I couldn’t do it in the show last night because I still have a cough. It’s a trick in which I swallow a needle. It’s quite dangerous.

Why do you like being a magician?

The world needs magic and it’s an honour to do my part to make it a little more magical.

Love magic

So if you love card tricks in and Canadian humour then you will love his show. Be quick though as Mahdi the Magician is only for a limited run. Be sure to catch him before he disappears.

Magic is believing in yourself, if you can do that, you can make anything happen.

Johann Wolfgang von Goet

Thanks to Secret Cellar for letting me and others from Love Pop Ups London community come down and experience Mahdi’s magic.  The magic show was complimentary but all views are my own honest opinion.

Click below to read the blogs and / or reviews from the community members whom joint me on the night. All their views are of their own honest opinion.

Mahdi the Magician at The Vaults