{"id":427234,"date":"2025-09-15T21:27:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T21:27:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/427234\/"},"modified":"2025-09-15T21:27:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T21:27:13","slug":"review-penn-teller-50-years-of-magic-london-palladium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/427234\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Penn & Teller – 50 Years Of Magic (London Palladium)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2b50\ufe0f\u2b50\ufe0f\u2b50\ufe0f\u2b50\ufe0f\u2b50\ufe0f <\/p>\n

In their 50 years together, Penn & Teller have done it all \u2013 played to packed audiences worldwide, earned the title of the longest-running headliners in Vegas, and even performed for the King. It comes as a great surprise that one thing they have yet to do is headline their own West End show\u2026 until now, that is. Celebrating both 50 years and their West End debut, Penn & Teller have taken over the London Palladium for 11 performances for 50 Years Of Magic. I\u2019ve seen them in Vegas and been to their last two London runs, both at Eventim Apollo Hammersmith, but would I consider their latest show at this prestigious venue to be magic?<\/p>\n

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For those of you who are unfamiliar with the legends that are Penn & Teller, they began their partnership in 1975 and have been entertaining audiences ever since. Their act features a combination of magic and comedy, sometimes even revealing how the tricks occurred, causing them to be refused membership in The Magic Circle. A distinctive part of their act is that Teller is nonverbal on stage (though you can hear him very occasionally), with Penn Jillette more than making up for it with his larger-than-life presence.<\/p>\n

So how do I review a magic show without giving anything away and spoiling it for those who will see this show for themselves? I can\u2019t give away the big reveal so will use misdirection and tricks of my own \u2013 but fear not, if you are planning to see them at the Palladium, you are safe to read the rest of this review.<\/p>\n

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It is rare to see one of the performers on stage before the show even starts, particularly in a venue such as the London Palladium, but if you get there as soon as the doors open, you will see Penn on stage playing double bass. It\u2019s a very different persona to the man who returns to the stage minutes later, exploding with presence, but a great way to get everybody in the mood for the show. There is also plenty for audience members to entertain themselves with prior to the show, with three separate activities to get involved in \u2013 make sure you scout out where to sign the envelope, write down a surreal dream, and guess the number of jelly beans \u2013 you may end up being a part of the show.<\/p>\n

Audience participation is an integral element to any Penn & Teller show, with people picked out to join them from the very first trick. Any accusations that stooges are used are done away with in the random nature they can be selected, and the free choice they are given. At one point, Penn even comments that people think their tricks are impossible without stooges, and I can see why. I honestly have no idea how many of the tricks I watched were done, but that\u2019s the beauty of magic.<\/p>\n

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One key attribute to the enjoyment of this show is in how hilarious they are, from the writing and creation of the tricks to the unconventional and often hilarious way they are carried out on stage. Though Teller doesn\u2019t speak, the relationship between the two creates many a funny moment, with Teller\u2019s reactions speaking volumes, and Penn\u2019s volume himself leading to many a great one-liner. My favourite of which would be his no-nonsense response to the first audience member joining him on stage, telling him \u201cThis has been on my bucket list my whole life\u201d to the immediate response of \u201cWell, now you can die\u201d. That\u2019s certainly going to have me rethink telling anyone about my bucket list from now on.<\/p>\n

It would have been easy to fill a 50th anniversary show with their greatest hits from the past five decades but apart from two tricks that open each Act, Penn proudly declares most of the acts we will see are brand new, written in the last 2-3 years, and have not been performed in London before. If you watch their TV show, Fool Us, like I do, you may have seen more than that before, but that doesn\u2019t detract from any of the enjoyment. With Penn & Teller, it isn\u2019t about trying to figure out how the tricks were done, as they make no illusion when they tell you the tricks they will use to fool you; it is about the craftsmanship in creating and executing their tricks, of which they are the masters of their craft.<\/p>\n

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I can\u2019t get into the specifics of each trick, for obvious reasons, but my personal favourite of the night was \u201cThe battle of dreams\u201d, not even so much for its payoff, but the journey in getting there and how the routine was performed. With hilarious digs at Cirque du Soleil, the \u201cwar\u201d that broke out was utterly hilarious to watch, performed in a way that only Penn & Teller could in a prime example of what has made them stand the test of time for 50 years. Penn also warned the audience to look out for the weirdest routine they\u2019ve ever done \u2013 he wasn\u2019t lying with the resulting \u201cEntropy\u201d, which may not make sense at first but will by the time you leave in an incredible bit of staging, intricate and faultless \u2013 very different for them in contrast to all they have done before, but yet another example of why they are at the top of their game.<\/p>\n

As technology changes and science evolves, new types of performers are born and make their mark on the stage, particularly when it comes to magic, with mentalists and illusionists selling out shows worldwide. At the same time, Penn & Teller continue doing their own distinct style of show, unlike any others. The secret of their longevity is in how reliable they are as performers \u2013 not just as magicians, but as comedians too. Any Penn & Teller show will guarantee that not only will you be wowed and perplexed by how some of the tricks are pulled off, but you will also laugh throughout. This was my fourth time seeing a Penn & Teller show, and I was every bit as awestruck as the first time. Though it may have taken them 50 years to make their West End debut, let\u2019s hope for a much speedier return visit.<\/p>\n

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Look out for my conversation with Penn in the next episode of All That Chat, available from Tuesday 16th\u00a0September on Spotify <\/a>and Apple Podcasts.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u2b50\ufe0f\u2b50\ufe0f\u2b50\ufe0f\u2b50\ufe0f\u2b50\ufe0f In their 50 years together, Penn & Teller have done it all \u2013 played to packed audiences…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":427235,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,393,4884,257,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-427234","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-london","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115210436656736215","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427234\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}