Dressed in a windowpane suit and hat while carrying a briefcase, Siegfried Tieber embodies the type of person you expect a magician to be: animated, affable and almost unbelievable. Whether performing a trick or reciting the Magic Castle’s history to his guests, his hands are always moving, which is likely why he excels at sleight-of-hand.
For his assembled guests, Tieber gave an intimate performance of his newest show Red Thread. Tieber, similar to many other magicians of the Castle, dazzles crowds neither with sawed-in-half assistants nor levitation; instead, the allure comes from the upclose and personal, where you try to catch his fingers switch out a card or coin. Yet you never can, and that’s where the magic lies.
“In the world, there is one coin that no matter how many times you flip it, it always lands heads up,” Tieber asserted. The random nature of this universe means such phenomena as a ubiquitously heads-up coin can exist, though it doesn’t ever explain why. Red Thread attempts to make sense of this, or at least make a show of it. As Tieber says, these types of phenomena lead to “labyrinths” of timelines that can run independent of each other or they can interact, both of which lead to a variety of outcomes.
For Tieber, Red Thread is as much a story as it is a magic show, and he boasts enough charisma to pull both off. To demonstrate this, Tieber utilizes a variety of tricks ranging a number of clever card predictions to seamlessly switching out a lockbox key. Yet as Tieber says, he cares not to dupe his guests but rather instill them with wonder.
Red Thread is currently underway at the Pskaufman Gallery in downtown LA until Nov. 10. Given the intimate nature of the show, only 34 guests can be admitted at a time, so be sure to grab your tickets early!
—Mick Jacobs, Culture Spot LA
SHOW TIMES:
• Thursdays – 8 p.m.
• Fridays – 8 p.m.
• Saturdays – 8 & 10:30 p.m.
• Sundays – 4 & 7:00 p.m.
LOCATION:
Pskaufman Gallery, 8th Street & Werdin Place, LA 90014 (down the alley)
TICKETS:
$74.00
Age: 21+