Josh Staley: Wacky Wizardry Goes Wrong | Adelaide Fringe 2026 | Review
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5 stars for serious silliness and magical mayhem.
Review by Lisa Bachmayer
Finding a show both the kids and the parents will love is not easy. But when you combine crowd-pleasing magic tricks with slapstick humour and gags-a-plenty, you’ve got a recipe for a family favourite.
That’s exactly what magician Josh Staley has concocted with his show Wacky Wizardry Goes Wrong.
In his attempt to perform the world’s best magic trick, an award-winning magician is suddenly overrun with chaos, when rubber chickens, unruly balloons and malfunctioning magic wands take over.
As he moves from trick to trick, packing in a tonne of gags along the way, Staley’s flair for magic and mayhem makes for a hilarious, fun and truly wonderful show.
He starts performing the old ‘what’s this behind your ear’ trick, for example, but takes it to the next level and delights audience members of all ages in the process.
Don’t let the fast pace and chaos distract you from witnessing some fabulous magic tricks – the fun does not stop and that’s just how the kids love it.
While the energy is high, the intimacy of the Kingfisher tent in Gluttony provides the ideal setting for an enjoyable family show and minimises any overwhelm younger kids may initially feel.
Alongside the gags, jokes and magic tricks, Staley weaves in plenty of audience interaction, regularly inviting ‘assistants’ on stage to help.
He handles them expertly, keeping children relaxed in the spotlight and showing real sensitivity when shyness strikes and demonstrating a strong understanding of his audience.
As an extra special bonus, every kid receives a fun memento and colouring in sheet as they leave.
When asked to score the show out of five stars, Miss 3 gave it 20 while Miss 7 gave it “infinity”.
That may be a lot of stars, but when the eldest child clutches my arm and guffaws with laughter, while the toddler sits unusually still with a big smile on her face, even the parents agree Staley clearly deserves every single star.
The show went for an hour, without any restlessness from either of our kids, who were thoroughly entertained from start to finish.
Wacky Wizardry Goes Wrong is highly recommended for ages 3-9 and anyone who loves a joke and a magic trick.
Sweet and silly, both kids and grown-ups will love this hilarious and fun family favourite.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO & TO BOOK TICKETS
For more information and all enquiries please visit the Adelaide Fringe website.
At Play & Go Adelaide we make every effort to provide accurate information to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication. We recommend confirming times, dates and details directly before making any plans as details may be subject to change.
As per all our Play & Go reviews, this is not a sponsored post. The Play & Go team review via media accreditation and when kindly invited.
All photos by Play & Go Adelaide (unless specified)
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