On the way into the theatre, we are asked to take four playing cards from a box, making sure they are all different. On the back it says “Penn & Teller Love Ritual”.

The cards will be the focus of one of my favourite tricks in the show when we are asked to rip them in half, choose how we move them around in our hand, yet somehow still end up with the same outcome. It’s a fantastic, fun routine as the audience tosses cards around with gay abandon, then shakes their head at what they’re left with.

Penn & Teller, Sydney Opera House, 2022. Photo © Daniel Boud

Legendary duo Penn & Teller have been making magic together for nearly 50 years, having joined forces in 1975. Part of their shtick has been to keep reminding us that what they do is not magic, but a trick.

Over the years, they have built a massive following after starring in the Emmy Award-winning Showtime series Penn & Teller: BS!, and then Penn & Teller: Fool Us, seen on ABC iView and ABC TV Plus, now into its ninth season. Meanwhile,...