Reviewed by Dr. Tiffany Knight Raymond, PhD and Theron Raymond (6th grader)
The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and Liberty Magic continue their 2025 show series with magician Ben Seidman in Good Charlatan. Seidman brings his brand-new show to Pittsburgh, so don’t miss the chance to say you saw it when.
Ben bridges his origin story as a magician to the present when he opens his show by saying, “The thing I love about magic is that you couldn’t trust your eye.” This mixed tense sentence is prophetic and anticipates the show’s journey. Good Charlatan sweeps the audience along on a journey about trust – and questioning trust. As individuals, we have unshakable trust in what we see – or think we see. Seidman flips that narrative and demonstrates time and again how we lose perspective inside the matrix of our own perception.
Ben (also the good charlatan) provides a history of the con – and con men (interestingly, no women). In fact, con man is actually a shortened version of confidence man as confidence is key for the con to work. Ben’s history of con men begins in the 19th century with William Thompson who gained infamy by asking if he could borrow people’s watches and return them the next day. It sounds like a laughably obvious scam, and the audience shares a knowing laugh that we’d never fall for something like that in the 21st century.
And yet, history proceeds to say otherwise. Ben marches us forward through time with legendary con men like Charles Ponzi whose name became synonymous with scheming. Regardless of historical time period, our confidence that we’re too smart to be conned persists. This consistency is in fact what enables and emboldens the con man
Ben interweaves his narrative with illustrative magic tricks. He plays with a full deck of cards (magician pun intended!) as he effortlessly blends magic styles from close up tricks to sleight of hand to mentalism. He picks pockets with the proficiency of a Dickens character in Oliver Twist and mesmerizes with his shell game. His feats of mentalism leave the audience gasping and guessing.
When Ben performs close up tricks, he thoughtfully utilizes a camera that projects onto two screens. This allows not just the person in front of him, but the entire audience to participate in seeing the tricks. It’s a con of our own times that the person in front of him ends up drawn to the screens, not Ben’s hands. Ben gently reminded the witness to watch his hands, not the video feed. We are drawn to the mediated experience even when the real experience is in front us. It reminded me of seeing the Mona Lisa and watching people not even looking at it but framing it on their cellphone cameras.
Ben’s background as a trained actor enables him to improv as needed, injecting humor and humanity into the show. He connects effortlessly with the audience as he can laugh at himself and on-stage participants in a way that enhances the collective experience. He often heightens the effect by commenting on his own magic, and his seamless ability to make everyone comfortable is in fact critical to the show’s success and its theme of trust. While the show is amazing, the ending is truly spectacular.
-TKR, Ph. D. & TR
Don’t miss the chance to see Ben Seidman in Good Charlatan through March 16, 2025 at Liberty Magic, 811 Liberty Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, 15222. Liberty Magic also offers a VIP experience to go backstage and connect with Ben after the show, which is well worth it. Purchase tickets online here.
