Month: November 2023

LIZ TOONKEL: MAGIC FOR ANIMALS

☆☆☆☆

The Fringe can get pretty hectic, with shows that don’t even start until the wee hours of the morning. Many such shows are completely dead on weekday nights. The fact that Liz Toonkel could pull a whole first row at her nearly-midnight time slot on a weekday is an impressive testament to the reputation that she’s built for Magic for Animals in the brief time that’s she’s had in Edinburgh so far.

Magic for Animals is deliberately onion-like in its construction. There is little time to think that it’s going to be a standard, classic magic show. Toonkel struts out in her instantly iconic outfit and briefly plays that role, but soon makes her way to what she’s really here to talk about: animal rights (it would be a shame to reveal too much in a review beyond that). There’s a lot in the show for vegans and vegetarians in the audience to love. A highlight of Toonkel’s animal rights themed magic, and in fact one of the effects that gets at the heart of the show is her take on the kind of sleights usually seen in coin tricks but using pearls, and performed in conjunction with a discussion of the abusive nature of pearl farms.

But the true highlight of Magic for Animals is less the trickery and more the perfect, beautiful construction of the show itself. It does touch on serious themes, beyond animal rights, but Toonkel leads the audience to where she wants them to go gently, using a reassuring succession of magic tricks to wind her way to the central thesis point of her performance.  Each trick and story gradually and gracefully leads her to her point, with the structure of the show functioning as the pearl shielding both audience and performer from what’s at its heart.

At the reviewed show, Toonkel played to an audience that was impressive for a weekday, but it was nevertheless an intimate performance. The close scrutiny perhaps didn’t do her magic any favors, some of the mechanics of her effects felt a little clumsy. This didn’t really affect the overall impression of the show. There’s so much more than magic going on, that while the tricks are used illustratively or connectively the magic itself isn’t the point. It wasn’t every trick, there were several great reveals that felt smoothly done.

Vegetarian or vegan feminists who love sequins may be the most obvious target audience, but Magic for Animals has a wide appeal. The way that Toonkel uses magic to tell her story is genuinely beautiful and interesting, the magic feels entirely, consistently in service of the story—magicians and magic fans might especially appreciate this.

YOLLIN LEE AND DAAN HO: COLLAGE

☆☆☆☆

Fringe newcomers Yollin Lee and Daan Ho present a beautiful array of magic tricks in their debut Fringe show, Collage. While the tricks that Lee and Ho perform might not be fundamentally unfamiliar to their audience, there’s a real emphasis on presenting the magic in an aesthetically appealing manner, which is very effective. From the opening sequence of sleights performed in a specially lit picture frame, to a paper-cutting reveal to a mentalism effect, magic has rarely looked so gorgeous. And in a Fringe year with several examples of this effect, Lee presents an exceptionally wonderous interpretation of the classic interlocking rings.

The other appeal, which if it is not unique is definitely at least incredibly unusual, is a specific stunt that Ho performs. Magicians often intersperse their proper magic with scary, dangerous stunts, but, without giving too much away, this one is definitely a huge change from the usual spikes or knives that magic fans are used to. It’s a memorable moment for just how weird it is, in the best possible way. Ho is evidentially well practiced at performing this, it goes off without a hitch.

Lee and Ho generally have a good rapport with the audience, inviting the odd individual up to generate prompts and witness the magic up close. However, a story themed on them trying to pick up women in bars using magic felt a little off. Luckily for them the participant they chose played along, but seeing two men laugh about using trickery to hassle a woman they pulled up from their audience into kissing them didn’t come across well. In a way it was the perfect misstep for their show—Collage is themed on how each one of us sees the world a bit differently, and as men they may not have had the experiences that might make that sequence a bit uncomfortable for the women watching them. A slight change in the way this is presented could easily turn it from an uncomfortable moment into a thematically appropriate acknowledgment of the limits of their own perspectives. However, aside from landing unfortunately close to the finale, this did not cancel out the wonder of all the rest of the show.

Between the beautiful magic and delightfully bizarre stunt work, Collage is well worth a visit. Lee and Ho are charming performers who will hopefully make Edinburgh a regular stop on their touring circuit.