In 2025 Cosentino celebrates ten years as Australia’s most successful magician, illusionist and escape artist. To mark this huge achievement, Cosentino is embarking on a huge national tour.
In the ten years since Cosentino became an overnight sensation on Australia’s Got Talent, he has become a household name in Australia and a genuine super-star on the global stage. Cosentino was the first Australian magician to have his own TV show. He has written, produced, and starred in nine highly successful prime-time specials, which have now been broadcast in over 40 countries and seen by over 500 million people.
Cosentino spoke to Glam Adelaide in the lead up to his national tour about the show, the creative process in designing new illusions and what it is about illusions that drew him to pursue a career in the industry.
“Growing up, I had a lot of learning difficulties. I didn’t learn to read until I was 12, which was driving my parents insane. My mother was a school principal for over 30 years, and she was going crazy. I was in all these specialist classes after school and at lunchtime, I had to go see the optometrist and hearing specialist. My mother took me to the local library, which of course is the last place a kid who can’t read wants to be. I was looking at books with pictures, because what else could you do? I came across a book with these beautiful posters and pictures of these vaudevillian magic shows from the late 1800s and early 1900s. My mother thought it was great that I had shown interest in a book, so we took it home and she read these stories and adventures and escapades of all these great magicians to me.
“I was fascinated. I loved hearing about Harry Houdini and all the tricks he would perform. I thought he was a superhero. The more I learnt about him I worked out he wasn’t – he was a guy who actually had these kinds of skills and that he was actually doing it for real. In the back of the book, there were magic tricks. To learn the tricks, it wasn’t like there was a YouTube or a Google or anything like that – you had to really pay attention and break down each word and analyze it. For me, it was a big process, but I went through it and I learnt some magic tricks. I learnt to read but I had no intention of being a magician or getting into the entertainment industry or anything like that. I just learnt to read, and that gave me confidence. Then I started performing magic, and as this shy kid, being able to perform boosted my self-esteem.”
Cosentino shared where he draws his inspiration from when designing new illusions.
“Anywhere! Inspiration flows from every source: reading books, watching a lot of films, and being inspired by the past. I love to deep dive and get obsessed with magic from the past to grow my understanding of magic and how to develop it into something new and exciting. I guess it just comes from being very inquisitive and wanting to know how things work.”
A winner of multiple Merlin Awards, the highest accolades in the magic industry, Cosentino has been awarded both the ‘International Magician of the Year’ and the ‘International Escape Artist of the Year’. The Merlin Awards are presented by the International Magician’s Society in New York and previous winners include David Copperfield, Criss Angel and Penn & Teller.
“It’s always great to be acknowledged by your peers, which is good. But more than anything it shines a really nice positive light on our industry in Australia. We do tend to look abroad when it comes to illusionists, in America or the UK. But here in Australia we are a melting pot of all these different cultures and we have a wonderful array of illusionists and magicians right here.”
One thing Cosentino prides himself on is making sure his tours include regional centres around Australia, not just the capital cities.
“I started my touring with regional tours as that’s the only way I could get a break. I had to put on my own shows and try to put bums on seats and create my own posters – all before social media. I would print posters and stick them on shop windows and all that stuff. The regional centres I toured to all embraced me and took me in and that’s how I kind of learnt my craft on the business side of things. So I have a very soft spot for the regional audiences. I’ve been saying for a decade now to people, to friends, to colleagues: it’s not a national tour, guys, if you’re only doing the five cities. You are starting to see performers slowly start to include regional locations on their itinerary, which is good.”
Decennium is Cosentino’s brand new show and is a 90-minute stage spectacular, which was written, produced, and choreographed by Cosentino. Watch as he performs his most death-defying escapes that will thrill your senses, his greatest mind-boggling stage illusions and cutting-edge street magic that twists your view of reality.
“I don’t say this to try to be clever, but I always say expect the unexpected. I’m really reluctant to say to people, oh, this is what you’re going to see. I mean, I can break it down for you, but I always say expect the unexpected. You’ll see people appearing and disappearing and levitating and you’ll see these crazy death-defying escapes in these weird contraptions and you’ll see very technical sleight-of-hand magic that requires a lot of dexterity and borrowing objects from people, and it’s very interactive and immersive.”
Decennium is touring Australia and includes four performances across South Australia.
Renmark – Chaffey Theatre: Saturday 18 January
Whyalla – Middleback Arts Centre: Monday 20 January
Port Pirie – Northern Festival Centre: Wednesday 22 January
Adelaide – Her Majesty’s Theatre: Wednesday 22 January
Further information and tickets can be found at https://www.cosentino.com.au/
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