Review: RHYTHM&RUSE, The Vaults Waterloo

When you pay £67 (only a few tickets are available at £37) for a cabaret in the old Vaults under Waterloo Station where in the pre-show you can hear the trains rumbling overhead, you are entitled to expect something a little bit special. Rhythm&Ruse, once it gets into its stride, is an impressive show and definitely justifies its entry price.

For a start, that price includes FIVE cocktails, wines or beers of your choice delivered to your table at intervals during the evening, and a vase full of interesting snack foods (chilli bites, popcorn and cheesy biscuits), so you are fuelled to get into the party mood. Once you leave the grimy cobbled street outside, unappealing entrance and enter the glamorous world of a secret underground speakeasy, you are seduced into a sexy, sultry, smoky atmosphere where music (Rhythm) and magic (Ruse) are beautifully intertwined. The glasses you drink from are cut glass adding air of quality.

Our hosts and comperes are the sophisticated, suave Tom (played by Sam Booth) and the excitable, saucy Rosie (played by Mallory Gracenin) who are also the devisers of the evening. Together with Ruby (Jessica Hern) and Charlie (Elliot Rodriguez), they present the linking illusion that builds throughout the show to the finale. It is cleverly presented from the first glimpse through the smoky half-light of Rosie blindfolded making a prediction, with audience engagement throughout and an undercurrent of a saucy ménage à trois. It is seductive and amusing, even if the underlying trick is the least impressive of the evening.

Joining them on stage is the amazing Maya (Naomi Banks) who is also musical director, backed by a sensational four-piece jazz band, with Jonathan Bauer providing some wonderful trumpet solos. Maya sings with a sultry blues-y delivery which is a delight, opening appropriately with ‘I Put a Spell on You’ and ‘Mad about the Boy’, but also charms the audience with her side chat. It is an absolute joy to watch. Only one of the nine magicians joins her on stage. During our visit, Daan Ho performed a fresh take on the traditional white rope cut into three pieces and miraculously joined together and then some chicanery with a white cane. As with all magic, it is the presentation that sells the trick .

However, the real treat of the evening that really does blow your mind is the close up magic at your table. There are sixteen tables of ten, eight in each wing, with an extra chair for the magician. In four different seven-minute segments, a magician sits at your table and presents a handful of wonderful sleight of hand tricks. When it is not your turn at the table, it is a chance to chat and reflect on the trickery! At our table, we saw Damien O’Brien, Sylar, Brendan Rodrigues and WenHsin Lee, and while occasionally you caught a glimpse of the trick, it was mostly astonishing. A trick where a photo was taken of a guest holding a blank card using her own phone to later reveal a picture of her holding the Queen of Spades is stunning (unless you know how it is done!) Magic when done well is a real treat. The key is the presentation, style and the misdirection but with ten pairs of eyes watching, it is impressive that we are all taken in. Tricks of mind reading, card swaps, coin bending, receipts turned into cash, elastic bands, floating globes, and a voodoo doll are all slickly presented. We may be three cocktails in but it is a wonder to behold.

This is an ideal event for groups of friends or office parties looking for a good night out, or maybe for a special date night. It is also good enough to justify a return visit as the magicians vary from night to night and in any case, we only saw half of their acts on our visit. Magic seems to have fallen out of favour on TV since its heyday of David Nixon and Paul Daniels but in any case, it is best viewed close up and this is a perfect evening to do so.

This is a good value, magical party night and as Paul Daniels would have said “You’ll like it” and in our view, “You’ll like it a lot”.

**** Four stars

Reviewed by: Nick Wayne

Rhythm&Ruse runs at The Vaults Waterloo until 4 January 2025, with further info here.