The real magic in a magic show is, to a certain degree, the way a show is framed. With a huge digital backdrop of his face, and a pumping, booming soundtrack, Martin Brock is probably more in alignment with the magicians of yesteryear than the likes of Ben Hart and Kevin Quantum. His show isn’t really built around any kind of theme other than the idea of things being ‘almost impossible’, which is arguably a cornerstone of all illusions. 

Brock is clearly a skilled sleight-of-hand artist. He makes a bowling ball appear from inside a foam tube, blindly shuffles a deck of cards into their full suits, and summons water (tinkling into silver bowls) from thin air. It’s lovely and engaging, but there is something not quite convincing about the patter he uses to contextualise his magic. It’s almost too slick: at one point he offers a child volunteer a signed poster of himself for appearing onstage, as if he has bought into the godlike status we bestow on magicians. 

He finds his stride a lot more comfortably in an affable anecdote about his uncle’s drinking, which frames a whip-fast trick with multiplying bottles and cardboard tubes. Though it’s probably not the most difficult of all the illusions he performs (his finale is really quite something) it’s the one that lights up the stage the most, with that added magical ingredient: charm. 

Almost Impossible: Martin Brock, Gilded Balloon At The Museum, until 25 August, 2.45pm; main picture: Jaramy Jam.