| What: Majika – Africa’s Greatest Illusionists When: November 7 and 8, 2026 Where: Cape Town City Hall Performance details: 3pm on November 7; 12pm and 3.30pm on November 8 Bookings: Webtickets Parking: Free parking available on the Grand Parade Age advisory: Recommended for ages 6+ Featuring: The lineup includes award-winning comedian and television personality Stuart Taylor, illusionists Olwethu Dyantyi and Kgomotso Marite, trickster Mawonga Gayiya, daredevil Anja Steyn, manipulator Sinalo Mtwana and deceptionist Thomas Wege, joined by the MAJIKA Dancers. Watch the 1-min promo video here: https://youtu.be/wR3BTdEdQJ8 |
Cape Town’s College of Magic is hosting the 2nd iteration of Majika – Africa’s Greatest Illusionists at Cape Town City HallonNovember 7 and 8, 2026 (three performances). This professional show (not a student show) features acclaimed illusionists and for the first time comedian Stuart Taylor is joining the company. Stuart, an alumni of the COM, gives insights into the 2026 Majika and talks about how he uses skills from magic in his comedy: “The way I think about performing, misdirection, timing, surprise, audience management, all of that comes from magic.” Regarding the conceptual arc of Majika, with its tagline Africa’s Greatest Illusionists, he muses: “Majika has the opportunity to say: what does spectacular magic look and sound like when it comes from here? The African identity isn’t decoration added afterwards. It’s part of the atmosphere and heartbeat of the production: the sound, the movement, the imagery and the people onstage.” We also have comment from Chad Findlay, who is directing Majika:
TheCapeRobyn: Can you tell us about your role as host in Majika? Will you be doing comedy sets in-between or are you there to introduce acts and that is it?
Stuart Taylor: I’m definitely doing more than walking on and saying, “Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome…” They could have hired somebody much cheaper for that. My job is really to be the thread that takes the audience through the evening. There’ll absolutely be comedy, interaction with the audience and, knowing the College of Magic, probably a few moments where I’m wondering why I agreed to something during rehearsals.
The wonderful thing is that Majika isn’t just a succession of tricks. It’s a theatrical show, so I get to help connect all these different worlds and performances and keep the whole thing moving.
TCR: In addition to doing your comedy, will you perhaps be treating us to one of your comedy-magic acts from your early career and I am thinking of your magic-comedy show, Techni-Coloured?
ST: It would be slightly criminal to invite me back to the College of Magic and not make me do any magic. Magic was actually my first love. Comedy came later, largely because I realised that if the trick went wrong and people laughed, technically I could still claim success.
And yes, Techni-Coloured featured that very glamorous recreation of my teenage magic career: performing in my parents’ lounge in Grassy Park, selling tickets to members of my own family and decapitating a doll because apparently I didn’t have the budget for an assistant. So there may well be a little glimpse of that version of Stuart. Although at my age, if I make anything disappear now, there’s a good chance I’ve simply forgotten where I put it.
TCR: You have a long association with the College of Magic. You studied there while you were at school. Then came science at Stellenbosch, stand-up comedy and eventually less magic on stage, although your relationship with the College continued?
ST: Yes. The College of Magic is really where performing started for me. I joined as a kid and suddenly discovered this extraordinary place where being the strange child who spent hours learning sleight of hand wasn’t considered strange at all. In fact, there were entire classrooms full of us.
I then went off to Stellenbosch and studied science, which was obviously the sensible career move for somebody who would eventually make a living telling jokes.
When I started doing stand-up professionally, the comedy gradually took over and magic became less visible in my shows. But it never really left. The way I think about performing, misdirection, timing, surprise, audience management, all of that comes from magic.
And I’ve remained connected to the College over the years because it’s one of those rare institutions that doesn’t just teach tricks. It gives young people confidence, discipline and permission to imagine themselves on a stage. I now proudly serve on the management board and get to add some of my expertise as a performer in the policies that keep the well-oiled machine ticking.
TCR: You weren’t on stage in the first iteration of Majika. How has having a host changed the show, and what has the process been like working with Chad Findlay, Jared Schaedler and the creative team? Do you get pulled into any of the acts?
ST: What excites me about working with Chad and the creative team is that everything has intention. We’re not simply asking, “What’s a great trick?” We’re asking, “Where does this moment belong? What should the audience be feeling? What should happen next?”
Jared and the choreography bring another layer entirely because suddenly magic isn’t just something that happens onstage. The entire stage can move and breathe around it.
My role gives the show another rhythm. I can release tension, build anticipation, talk directly to the audience and then hand them back into the theatrical world of Majika.
As for whether I get sliced in half, I have made it very clear that at 49 I’m already experiencing enough structural deterioration without professional assistance.
TCR: Your thoughts on City Hall as the space for Majika? The last major College of Magic show that you were involved in was online pandemic era. Now you’re at City Hall?
ST: There is something wonderfully full-circle about it. During the pandemic we were trying to create magic through computer screens. Which was fascinating, but magic really loves a room full of human beings.
Now suddenly we’re in Cape Town City Hall, which has history, scale and grandeur. You walk into that building and immediately feel that something significant should happen there. And Majika deserves that scale. Magic is often presented very intimately, which I love, but this is an opportunity to make it feel huge: music, lighting, choreography, illusion and spectacle all living inside one of Cape Town’s great buildings.
Also, as somebody who started doing magic in his parents’ lounge in Grassy Park, City Hall represents a fairly decent venue upgrade.
TCR: As host, do you give input into the conceptual and aesthetic arc of Majika? It isn’t simply a showcase of illusion. It is grounded in Africa visually, sonically and in terms of its ethos.
ST: That’s one of the things I love most about the show.
For many years our idea of “big magic” came from somewhere else. Las Vegas. Television specials. Men with suspiciously dramatic hair standing beside tigers. Majika has the opportunity to say: what does spectacular magic look and sound like when it comes from here? The African identity isn’t decoration added afterwards. It’s part of the atmosphere and heartbeat of the production: the sound, the movement, the imagery and the people onstage.
So yes, those conversations absolutely influence how I approach the hosting. I don’t want to stand outside the show making jokes about it. I want the humour to belong inside the world we’re creating.
And for me, that’s what makes Majika exciting. You’re not simply coming to see some clever tricks. You’re coming into a fully realised theatrical experience.
TCR: Can you talk about how Majika as an epic theatrical platform of illusion, with dance and visuals is not only for children?
ST: I think people sometimes hear “magic show” and imagine something mainly for children.
Majika is much bigger than that.
Yes, bring your kids. They’re going to love it. But bring the adults too, because this is theatre, comedy, illusion, choreography, music and spectacle all wrapped together.
And there’s something genuinely wonderful about sitting in a theatre and experiencing something you cannot immediately explain.
We spend our entire lives Googling the answer to everything.
For two hours, come and enjoy not knowing how they did it.
That’s a pretty good night out.
TCR: Chad Findlay, will the entire City Hall be ignited with illusion, with sideshows, sleight of hand and magic in the foyers and staircases, or is the focus on the auditorium?
Chad Findlay: The main focus will be the auditorium, which we’re transforming into a spectacular magical theatre. City Hall is such an extraordinary building, with incredible architecture and atmosphere, so rather than fight the venue, we want to enhance it with theatrical lighting, effects and a few surprises along the way.
Even our ushers will be College of Magic students, so you never quite know where a little magic might appear
TCR: Insights into the design, set, costumes and lighting for this iteration of Majika? City Hall is very different to Artscape. Is anything radically different?
CF: This year we’ve tried to inject even more personality into Majika. Having Stuart Taylor as our host is a big part of that. We want the show to be great fun, with an upbeat pace, a strong contemporary style and a real sense of occasion. City Hall is completely different to Artscape, which gives us an opportunity to rethink how we stage the show. We plan to use the unique architecture and scale of the venue in some unexpected ways. Majika was a spectacle in 2025. In 2026, we’re making it even bigger.
TCR: Could we expect a new Majika every year as a professional production? Majika already feels like a dynamic platform and brand?
CF: Absolutely, that’s the ambition. We already present our annual student showcase at Artscape each June, but we’d love Majika to become an annual showcase for the very best professional magical talent from across Africa. Cape Town is, after all, the magic capital of Africa.
This year also marks an important step towards that future. As part of the Majika festivities, we’ll launch the FISM Africa Academy Hub at the College of Magic. FISM, the International Federation of Magic Societies, is the global body representing and advancing the art of magic internationally. FISM President Andrea Baioni from Italy and FISM Academy Director Peter Din from France will both be in Cape Town for the launch.
✳ Featured image – Stuart Taylor will be hosting the 2026 edition of Majika – Africa’s Greatest Illusionists, November 7 and 8, Cape Town City Hall.
