Reviews & features: Magic

Return of the Close Up Magician

Phenomenal close-hand tricks from a consummate performer

Close-hand magician Lewis Barlow is a likeable performer. Unlike Derren Brown and his ilk, Barlow creates a show where magic is not swamped by the overbearing personality of the performer, but rather one where magic takes the centre stage. Beginning…

Ian D Montfort

Pseudo-psychic satire that has its cake and eats it too

Having effectively retired his hospital radio DJ Ivan Brackenbury, Tom Binns returns to the Fringe with one of his fresher character creations: Sunderland psychic Ian D Montfort. It’s a spot-on satire of the cult of cold-reading, with Montfort’s…

Lewis Barlow divulges his favourite close-up magic tricks

The magician is appearing at the Edinburgh Fringe with his own close-up magic show

Despite being a magician, I’ve never experienced the urge to saw anyone in half. Instead, my passion is for close-up magic, where impossible things happen to ordinary items within reach of the audience. Here are four of my favourite effects, each one…

Piff the Magic Dragon in . . . Jurassic Bark

Deadpan laughs in shabby show which works an understated magic

Here’s the thing about Piff the Magic Dragon: if it wasn’t for his deadpan delivery, the show would fall flat. Many of the tricks can be identified as shop-bought gadgets, and it’s usually plainly obvious how larger set pieces are being carried out. And…

Obsession - A Life with Magic

Winning performance Ian Kendall, whose obsession with magic stems from Asperger’s Syndrome

Ian Kendall sits front and centre as the audience files in, greeting everyone in turn and encouraging people to fill up the front rows. He throws in a few neat tricks while people are still entering; it’s this casual attitude to performing a set is what…

Chris Dugdale: 2 Faced Deception

Overly slick presentation with rehashed tricks

If you haven’t caught a whiff of Chris Dugdale’s act before, his opening gambit may well blow you away. Unfortunately, if you have seen it, you’re in for a tedious introductory ten minutes, as he rehashes his most famous work over again (and then…

The Magical Adventures of Pete Heat

Genuinely funny anti-magic mixed in with the odd spot of ‘mind-reading’

There are several moments in Pete Heat’s set – the substitution of sliced bread for cards, the cheeky moments where he purposefully betrays the audience’s trust – where you suspect he doesn’t actually like performing magic tricks. Not that he needs to…

Doug Segal: How to Read Minds and Influence People

Refreshingly open and honest take on the Derren Brown formula

Doug Segal does not beat around the bush – from the off, he tells us that his ability to ‘read minds’ is in fact an elaborate system for planting information in people’s heads, drawn from his past experiences in the fields of psychology and advertising.

Alan Hudson’s Not So Secret World of Magic

A look back at a life in magic is packed with warm reminiscence, if light on tricks

More of a biography-with-tricks than an out-and-out magic show, Alan Hudson’s show is a must-see for any novice magician. Tracing a career from schoolyard sleight-of-hand through kids parties, cruises, weddings and comedy clubs, nice guy Hudson throws…

Pete Firman: Hoodwinker

Hilarious and polished performance from high profile magician

There’s a scene in superlative US sitcom Arrested Development where a magician talks disdainfully about the ‘howdy-do-dats’ – the gullible punters who stare on slack-jawed when a trick is successfully pulled off. Pete Firman is one magician who can not…

Lie. Cheat. Steal. Confessions of a Real Hustler

Slightly underwhelming show from Paul Wilson, writer and star of BBC3'S The Real Hustle

It’s a tricky old business recreating small screen success on the theatre stage, but Paul Wilson, writer and star of BBC3’s The Real Hustle handles it with reasonable gusto, albeit in a far more confined environment. It was The Sting movie, which…

The I Hate Children Children's Show

Dude in pith helmet does close up magic to Muddy Waters soundtrack

I wish I had a louche American uncle who cracks open the ‘champagne’ (warm cava) at noon and does magic tricks in his skanky flat while the lodger strums a blues guitar. The I Hate Children Children’s Show is the next best thing: Paul Nathan is as…

Magic and mind control maestro Chris Dugdale reveals his career highlights

Magician bring show 2 Faced Deception to 2012 Edinburgh Fringe

Pretending to be a black man in front of 5 million people and Jonathan Ross on ITV’s Penn and Teller: Fool Us. Jonathan had no idea -- genuinely! Entertaining Her Majesty the Queen and 9 friends. Surreal and lovely. Entertaining at the UN with…

Five of the best magic shows at 2012 Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Sleight of hand and scary tricks are the chosen paths for these Fringe acts

Pete Firman Middlesbrough’s number one magic man and author of Tricks to Freak Out Your Friends, Firman will be a Hoodwinker this August. Expect an hour of highly impressive/potentially quease-inducing illusions. Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, 4–26 Aug…

Fringe Bribes 2011: week two winner - Stuff and Nonsense by Paul Harry Allen

Also: Politically Erect, Liam Mullone and Paul Nathan

Stuff and Nonsense is a celebration of the random tat on sale at jumble sales, charity shops and the like. The show’s creator, Paul Harry Allen, shared this love by sending us a set of coasters, tumblers and creepy drinks stirrers, packaged in a…

Jus’ Like That!

Recreates Tommy Cooper's final performance

Eschewing a biographical narrative, this show about stage magician and comedian Tommy Cooper simply recreates his final performance in all its balmy, cheeky glory. It’s a crowd-pleasing celebration of the utterly unique variety show talent, and Clive…

Chris Cox

Odd-looking comic successfully combines magic and comedy

Finding the middle ground between a traditional magician and stand-up, Cox wins over even the most reluctant of audience participants with an engaging, geeky charm. Extra bonus points for highlighting his resemblance to the love child of Sue Perkins and…

Barry and Stuart

Showing and telling their magical mysteries

Be-suited Aberdonian purveyors of macabre magical comedy, Barry Jones and Stuart MacLeod have struck upon one hell of a gimmick. First comes The Show, filled with their favoured brand of slightly gory trickery and presented by the twosome with their…

Lewis Barlow on The Seven Wonders of Magic

5 crucial pieces of advice to fellow Fringe performers

Virtuoso close-hand magician Lewis Barlow introduces Fringe audiences to the seven basic elements of magic in his exciting new show. Here he offers five crucial pieces of advice to his fellow performers 1: The quality of your performance is more…

Paul Zenon - Lounge Wizard

Old tricks with some new twists

Paul Zenon was once a TV regular. Now he’s performing in a Chinese-themed nightclub basement on the Five Pound Fringe. His quips to that effect, while delivered with self-deprecation rather than bitterness, carry an uneasy ring of truth that echoes…

Magician Paul Nathan on the magic of sharing laughter with your children

Man behind The I Hate Children Children’s Show

5 reasons people should come and see your show. The show is hilarious for kids and adults; everyone learns how to do a trick and there are tricks and videos available after the show; we have an arrangement with Dr Ana Aguirregabiria, one of…

Barry and Stuart bring the Festival magic back for 2010

Aberdeenshire magical jesters threaten to unleash the terrors

This pair of Aberdeenshire magical jesters have been firm List favourites for a number of years now; we even awarded them a five-star review and a cover story a couple of Fringes back as they proved that they could very nearly walk on water. Now, Barry…

Edinburgh International Magic Festival joins city's roster

The first ever Edinburgh International Magic Festival, running between 7 - 11 July 2010, promises to situate the crowds 'inches away' from the action. Top illusionists, hypnotists and mind readers will descend, as if by magic, upon the city for five…

Lewis Barlow: Close-Up Magician

A magical hour in a safe pair of hands

Barlow starts the hour by not claiming to be a comedian or perform any flashy illusions. Magicians are notorious liars, though, and this masterclass in card and coin tricks proves to be very entertaining, and as jaw-droppingly impressive as any of David…

The Last Witch - Rona Munro

Outside of panto season, it’s difficult to find a dramatist these days who’s keen to write about witches. While the idea of witchcraft might bring a certain primal frisson to some, and a sociological fascination to others, the contemporary theatre has…