My first trip to what is now the SSE Arena in Belfast since the name change and I’m pleasantly surprised. The consistent green colouring and branding, the flashy advertising screen and even the introduction of a smartphone app where you skip the queues by ordering your drinks and merch beforehand all seem like natural upgrades to Belfast’s largest arena. But we aren’t here for drinks or merch, we’re here to see Dynamo, one of the world’s most well-known magicians and Member of the Inner Magic Circle with Gold Star, a position only held by 300 magicians worldwide.

Walking to our seats, a blue hue is cast over the audience as crystal clear projections light up the stage and dubstep-esque music plays. This is clearly a very modern magic show, you won’t be finding any rabbits in hats, or dancing girls here. The atmosphere is electric, mysterious and you can’t help but think that this is going to be something completely different. The one question I kept asking myself was, “how can a street magician perform for a stadium crowd?” The next few hours fly by and my question is quickly answered.

The Bradford magician is impossibly endearing and the show is laid out in an autobiographical style with immersive comic-like video animations which tell Dynamo’s story from discovering magic as a bullied child to walking on the River Thames. This helps to give the show a cohesion and an almost theatrical effect which converts nicely to the world  of magic.

Through an elaborate yet simple stage-set involving multi-level projections we see a series of tricks old and new brought to life with very few props and some laughs too. With just the help of a few randomly chosen audience members and a close-up camera shown on a big screen we are dazzled and amazed as Dynamo levitates, travels at the speed of light and does some superb close-up card magic that leaves the audience speechless.

From his humble beginnings as a bullied child to a superstar magician performing in front of thousands, Dynamo has come a long way in his 33 years and the sheer scale and thought that has gone into Seeing Is Believing shows that he’s not going anywhere.

Seeing Is Believing is on at Belfast’s SSE Arena until 13th March 2016. Tickets are still available here.

Laura Caldwell

Author: Laura Caldwell

Hi, I'm Laura. I'm 30 years old and have a degree in Journalism with Photo-Imaging at the University of Ulster. I have an undying love for Belfast and all that it has to offer, an undying love for sleeping, Tegan and Sara, trashy tv shows, foreign snack-foods and being irresponsible with money. I also quite like origami, reading, jazz, hip-hop, dubstep, anything acoustic and Food Network TV. I've written for The Big List, Culture NI, Chatterbox and The Echo, as well as writing for BBC Across the Line.