Forked: Cosentino performs on Geelong’s waterfront on November 14.
Erin Pearson
BY ERIN PEARSON
Magic is like being a kid in a James Bond world for international illusionist Cosentino.
“You never grow up,” he laughed.
“When I started in magic it was such a rush and it’s allowed me to live out my fantasies.”
Speaking to the Independent ahead of his show in Geelong this month, Cosentino said magic enabled him to take people on a journey between reality and illusion.
“When an audience sees a good illusion they understand it’s not real but they suspend this belief and demand you take them on some sort of magical journey,” he said.
“It’s more to have that innocence, not tarnished by the fact something’s impossible.
“You need to think there are no limitations.”
The three-time-Australian-award-winning magician, Guinness World Record contributor and nominee for a prestigious 2007 Helpmann Award, Cosentino has gone places with his illusions.
The self-proclaimed hand magician and “grand illusionist” said he “fell in love” with magic as an adolescent boy and never looked back.
“When I was 13 I remember seeing David Copperfield at the tennis centre,” he recalled.
“It was the first magician I’d seen. He was a rock star and thousands of people came to the stadium to watch him fly.
“He did something we all wish we could do. He tapped into something that’s so powerful.”
Cosentino said he later began borrowing magic books from the public library to read about the history of his “idols” Harry Houdini and Harry Blackstone.
“I was a very shy kid at school and magic gave me a skill that was very unique.
“Magic is about power and seemly having control over things. I could do things no one else could do.
“There is a mystery behind being a magic man.”
Cosentino said that convincing other magicians to “share their secrets” had proven a challenge.
“As a young kid in a magic shop you had to prove you were worthy because they were tot some degree protecting their secrets,” he said.
“What disappoints me is when magicians in America come out and reveal tricks. Why do that, do we really need to destroy it?
“All you’re doing is taking away the wonderment of letting people believe.”
Cosentino said his passion for magic never wavered despite other illusionists blowing their secrets.
“I’m still pushing to do a lot of things,” he said.
“You don’t jump into a tank full of sharks because its fun. I’m doing it because it’s something I’m obsessed with, I’m doing it because I love it.”
Cosentino will perform at Deakin Waterfront Café on November 14.
