Crafty Cosentino

Talking with magician Cosentino is indeed a magical experience. He is both enlightening and makes one believe in the seemingly impossible. He is also a polished showman that can wow an audience.

Cosentino grants Tassie as the place that was his career catalyst when he performed here as a fresh faced kid in 2001. Since then he has been continuing to climb the ladder (among other constructions) of success!

Cosentino also remembers fondly Tassie’s chocolate factory and one can only imagine if his magical skills were at optimum strength what he could have done in such a place, the possibility of multiplying chocolate comes to mind!

This trip to Tassie will be a strictly a quick one focusing on his performances then a vanishing act (pardon the pun). So no chocolate over indulgence this time around. The fleeting visit will see audiences treated to a rare talent. A talent that began at the unusually late age(for a magician) of 12 or 13 rather than in most cases 5 or 6 years of age.

Cosentino’s first introduction to magic came via a David Copperfield show. He followed this up with library research and also studied gymnastics which would prepare him well for a future requiring a high level of agility. Almost totally self taught Cos is keen to stress that apart from the background knowledge and physical dexterity he stresses the importance of the role of the entertainer in magic shows.

As for the present crop of TV programs that seek to debunk magic. Cos believes this is doing a disservice to the profession because it seems to suggest that ‘anyone’ can do any number of stunts and tricks when in fact the kind of skill that is required is beyond most ordinary people. It takes natural talent and a high level of skills as well as time to perfect those skills before any stunt attempt can be made . The debunkers often do not show the entire method and the dexterity required is simplified and watered down. In some ways it belittles the skills required in being a magician.

Cos has always been a keen student of magic and when he toured with Hale and Pace, once his act was finished, unlike other support acts who returned home after their gig, Cosentino took his place in the audience and would listen, and watch at why the audience laughed at certain points or what caused whatever reaction and he would seek to emulate the showmanship that caused these reactions in his own shows.

I asked Consentino what it is about magic that entices him and he explains that in escape acts like being held under water it is the exhilaration at the end following the adrenaline flow. Being locked in that space for 4 concentrated minutes and then being re released to the world in a burst of shock is like being reborn. Cos believes this moment of exhilaration is like that of an athlete who trains for years for that one 4 minute race. This adrenaline rush and feeling it gives him, he believes is worth it even if sometimes he has risked life to achieve it, when he has not been able to hold his breath for long enough and has ended up being rushed to the emergency department with a tank full of blood behind him.

Just like circus performers magicians must rely on a good team around them to whom they must trust their life magicians must have complete faith in their team and lucky for Cos that team is made up of his older brothers,one a structural engineer, mechanic and another brother involved in marketing, logistics management, and promotion, it would seem Cos has both the technical and promotional aspects of his act worked out however it becomes serious when you realise his brothers must also work to a strict precision of timing for things like the water tank rescue.

Cos has a great respect for arguably the greatest magician of all, Harry Houdini. Cos was mesmerised by the vaudeville posters that show Houdini as the ultimate showman.

I ask Cos if he thinks there is any truth in Houdini’s extraordinary,almost supernatural magical powers. Cos suggests that its good to believe in a little mystery at a time when we have information at our fingertips but we are somehow lacking in real knowledge.

The fact that Houdini notes were destroyed after his passing will always leave a mysterious air about him and leave us guessing if in an otherworldly way perhaps he knew more than the rest of us do.

Cos’s great aim is to emulate what David Copperfield once did and fly. Cos says he needs more study and preparation first before he can attempt such an event but technically he knows how to do it so keep watching this space.

Cosentino appears (pardon the pun) at the Wrest Point Casino on 7th November.
Paula Xiberras