Month: August 2025

PENMAN THE IMAGINATOR: YOU

☆☆☆

Hypnotism is a popular genre at the Fringe. Fraser Penman, hypnotist of Penman—The Imaginator—YOU is so popular that he even managed to pull a decent crowd even for the reviewed show at which he was playing against Oasis. With his playful style, he ensures that the entire audience enjoys the show, whether they’re onstage with him or watching from the safe seats.

The first hurdle of a hypnotism show is tempting volunteers to come try to be hypnotized. As Penman makes clear, hypnotism requires consent from the hypnotized. Anyone considering buying a ticket who is unfamiliar with hypnotism can be reassured that they won’t be forced to do anything against their will, even if they choose to sit onstage they have to be willing in order for Penman to hypnotize them. With these reassurances Penman has no problem getting people onstage, even slightly overfilling his allocated spaces in order to ensure that no one who wants the experience misses out.

Penman’s hypnosis process has a decent success rate at the reviewed show, and Penman is kind in escorting those who don’t respond in time back to their seats. He is a responsible performer and ensures that participants are fully recovered from any hypnotic effects before they leave the stage. Non-participants can enjoy the initial hypnosis as well, Penman has a great voice for it and listening to him go through the steps is a pleasant experience.

The prompts that Penman gives his hypnotized participants are definitely silly but not anything especially embarrassing. Hypnotism is by its nature a tricky business and at the reviewed show a good few participants seemed to “wake up” from their hypnotic state at various points, but they played along with Penman’s prompts until he could get to them for either re-hypnosis or dismissal back to their seats. He comes across well onstage, those who joined him evidently wanted to see his show be a success.

Penman—The Imaginator—YOU is a great time both for those wanting to be hypnotized and those who want to witness others having that experience. Penman is a practiced performer who has put together a personalized, stylish show. Fans of hypnotism would do well to attend.

TOM BRACE SAWS HIMSELF IN HALF

☆☆☆☆

There’s a big illusion in Tom Brace’s latest Fringe show, Tom Brace Saws Himself in Half, and chances are most of the audience will have guessed what it is by the time they have bought their tickets. With such a famous historical illusion the element of surprise is no longer available, as soon as anyone sees that table with a box on it they’ll know what’s about to happen, so what’s left is the showmanship. On this front, Brace certainly delivers.

As The Sawing happens right at the end of the show—Brace does not perform the entire show while sawn in half—there is plenty of time for him to demonstrate other effects. The goal of the show is to get himself in to the magic hall of fame, so Brace has put together a series of tricks that exemplify the relevant criteria. His favorite random number generator makes a return appearance for a numbers effect that gets the entire audience involved, to mass amazement, even with the necessary limitation of having just one person in the random number generator itself. In a show that plays on a classic magician/assistant illusion it feels especially fitting that this particular prop makes an appearance. If Brace could be said to have an onstage “assistant” in his career it would probably be that random number generator, which, while it cannot fit in an illusion, is in all other respects his constant, reliable sidekick.

Brace gets a few members of the audience involved, with the trip into the random number generator being the biggest task asked of any one of them. For that task he makes sure to pick from a pool of volunteers who demonstrated their willingness to be a part of the show via a pre-show task. Audience participants can be a tricky bunch, and at the reviewed show Brace had to deal with a participant who did not know the details of the ring she brought up for him to do magic on. Ever the professional, he had the audience laughing with her, and made sure to get his reveal completed suitably impressively.

With such an odd title, Brace takes a suitably slightly sarcastic approach to the magic that he performs in Tom Brace Saws Himself in Half. This builds to the event itself, in which he attempts an impossibility even by magic standards. While it would be a shame to reveal what happens in that moment, it’s a great take on this classic. Brace balances poking fun at the sketchy history of this effect with demonstrating it in a genuine, impressive way.

When watching the traditional version of the sawing in half illusion it’s easy to think, ‘maybe the coward waving the blades should take a turn in that box if he wants a share of the applause that comes after’. Tom Brace Saws Himself in Half is the show for people who have had that thought. It also feels like a love letter to magic as an art form, acknowledging its imperfections and mixed history and working from a place of affection to drive its progress forward. A magician sawing himself in half isn’t something that even magic fans see often, if ever. If you’re curious, you won’t be disappointed.

JOSEPH WESTBURY: REALITY REIMAGINED

☆☆☆

Joseph Westbury may not be working from the largest Fringe venue, but he’s a popular performer and filled out the space even at the reviewed weekday lunchtime show. Notably, several members of the audience had received flyers from Westbury and were so impressed by that interaction that they had come along to the show. Giving and receiving flyers is a staple Fringe exchange, but it is somewhat rare to see it work out so well for the performer. Westbury is clearly very persuasive. And it’s not his only strength as a magician, as Reality Reimagined contained an impressive amount of very well executed effects.

Westbury favors physical magic but found a great range of classic magic props to demonstrate. While there are no tricks that would likely be new or even usual to magic fans, the magic is performed very well across the board. Westbury even performs his rope tricks with a noticeable flair, getting the audience on his side with jokes gently poking fun at this well known basic of magic. The illusion work performed is also particularly impressive. This genre of magic does have a bit of a reputation for and history of objectification, but Westbury manages to sidestep any potential issue with the help of his glamorous father in the role of the traditional assistant. His father performs the role with style. Illusion magic is one of the less common genres at the Fringe, and at the PBH free fringe in particular, so it is exciting to see it here.

With a small venue and lots of tricks, Westbury manages to include pretty much the entire audience in the act in various roles. He is a personable performer and makes all feel welcome. For one effect that involves a bit of reading it would have been nice if he could include the participant in the reveal—it’s a shame when the star of the segment misses the magic—but for the most part audience participants are treated well.

The theme of Reality Reimagined is lightly threaded through the act. It’s not an unusual theme for a magic show as it’s relatively easy to make a trick fit this theme; all the magician has to do is perform the magic properly and the audience can experience their reality become reimagined. That being said, Westbury shows an interesting inclination to get more creative with his magic, perhaps best displayed in the reveal of his Schrödinger’s cat themed card trick. This is great to see from a debut performer in particular, when the natural instinct may be to just run through a list of their favorite tricks.

Westbury’s performance of Reality Reimagined was only set for a short run, so by the time this review is published it will no longer be available. Hopefully he will return; the audience at the reviewed show walked out eager to see more from him. Westbury even earned compliments from a legendary Fringe magician who had taken the time to see him. With his magical skill and great jokes, Westbury is a welcome addition to the Fringe scene.

CHRIS COOK: FAKE

☆☆☆☆☆

If anyone is most qualified to tell the world not to believe everything they see, it would probably be a magician. That’s what Chris Cook would like the audiences for his new show Fake to believe, at least. A Fringe veteran and mainstay, Cook is notable for creating an all new show at each Fringe, making him exciting to see every year. Fake is no different in that respect. Cook squeezes even more in than usual this year yet his hour long show flies by.

Despite his trademark approach of illustrating his points with a relatively minimal amount of magic, Cook’s excellence in magic is crucial as ever, and he does not disappoint. Even those who have seen Cook perform a few of his favorites in prior years would have trouble spotting the exact moment when the magic happens, and there is magic that is new to him this year too. A returning favorite is Cook’s take on the linking rings trick, but here he also demonstrates the classic. Cook’s returning fans may be surprised to even see this prop sitting on his stage as they walk in. They will be reassured as he performs—Cook’s magic remains as creative as ever.

The theme of artistic fraud for a magic show could go in so many different directions. Cook keeps his story straight by mostly sticking to art history, with a few relevant diversions, telling the tale of the art fraud perpetrated by a specific forger. One of the main differences between art fraud and magic is that magic audiences expect and welcome deceit. Where the purchaser of a fraudulent work of art might feel ripped off, the magic audience that is deceived has gotten their money’s worth. That is to say, to those who don’t know art history, Cook’s entire art history tale could be made up, for all they know. Cook demonstrates to the audience that he is not a reliable source of information—entirely appropriately for a magician—and thus shows them the modern relevance of discussing historic fraud. ‘Fake news’ may be a modern buzzword, but humans have had limited knowledge and attention since probably forever. It’s not a new problem and no one is immune, not even art experts, magic fans, or magicians. For humanity, falling for misdirection (whether it’s magic, art fraud, or fake news) is a feature, not a bug. After Cook’s show his audience will have had an entertaining demonstration of just how easily they are fooled. Maybe he won’t fix the culture wars in one Fringe, but raising awareness of the flawed innate tendency to believe that one’s own view is the only true objective one chips away at what fuels them. Cook is once again making the world a better place, one audience at a time.

With his lightly magical approach, the audience is slightly more safe from being called upon to join in the act than they may be at the average magic show, but participation is still an element. At the reviewed show Cook made some great picks for his participants. One in particular helped him with imagined props, getting in to the fun and enhancing the sequence. Ever the professional, Cook ably balanced giving his participant his due with making sure the show stayed on track.

Cook is a master of crafting perfectly themed magic and storytelling shows. Fake is exactly that, a magically told story, with the chance to look at some art on the way. Cook’s final message is uplifting, for those who look to art for meaning in these troubled times. And either way, the show will make the audience think. For a bit of magic, a bit of storytelling, and a lot of heart, Cook’s Fake is the show to see.

ANDY BOYD: THE PROFESSIONAL SHOWOFF

☆☆☆☆

Andy Boyd can do anything, probably…. Or at least that’s the impression that audiences will get after watching his show The Professional Showoff. A friendly and hilarious performer with a unusual breadth of skills, Boyd presents a range of entertainment feats across the genres of magic, juggling, and robotics.

While all of his routines are fun, the cutest are by far the ones with the robots. Boyd has built himself a robotic assistant—cultural commentary on the role of assistants in historic magic is perhaps implied with a raised eyebrow, but it’s not that kind of show—and this adorable helper successfully performs a magic trick of its own, with Boyd assisting in getting an audience member to participate. Boyd’s juggling and adjacent skills are impressive as well. He opens his show with a series of hoop tricks, and even those who have seen this prop used before will probably see new variations from Boyd. It’s very mildly intimidating for the audience but super cool to watch.

There is of course plenty of magic as well. Boyd’s card tricks are fantastic, and at times these blend with his other skills—as with the robot. Even when he’s just using the cards, the more physical elements of the performance have a flair that reveals his juggling abilities, with the particular skill he brings to these elements. His finale is so impressive that, at the reviewed show, audience members who arrived as strangers clutched each other in amazement.

Boyd gets a significant proportion of the audience involved to varying degrees. Luckily for the audience, they are not asked to come to the stage for any of the mildly intimidating bits, Boyd keeps all the difficult moments for himself. Boyd is a friendly performer and, at least at the reviewed show, seems to attract an especially friendly audience. Many bits of audience participation are performed from the seats, and none of the participation is scary.

Andy Boyd has such an infectiously high energy in The Professional Showoff, and everyone in the audience walks out smiling, looking in higher spirits than when they went in. It’s the kind of medley show audiences would usually expect from a group of performers, but here all done by one exceptionally skilled one. Boyd radiates pure joy. The Professional Showoff is the show to go to for an incredible time and a genuine energy boost.

AN UNBEFLEAVABLE MAGIC SHOW

☆☆☆

It takes all kinds of events to make the Fringe the unique festival that it is. An Unbefleavable Magic Show is one of the stranger ones, bringing the wonderfully weird energy that the Fringe is best known for down to scale for the little ones: young children and, of course, fleas. The fleas are assisted by human performer Jamie the Hopscotch Magician, who skillfully keeps his younger audience engaged, encouraging involvement from the willing and showing kindness to the shy.

While the focus is on the fleas showcasing their acrobatic feats, Jamie also performs flea-themed magic and juggling himself. The way that Jamie demonstrates “the fleas” in action is fun to watch. Children will be the most entranced, but adults can appreciate the creativity and care that has gone in to inventing such an unusual act. The primary apparatuses are contained in an adorable little miniature circus, even smaller than doll size, into which Jamie has placed all the expected paraphernalia of an actual circus. The fleas he describes are in the expected archetypes for circus performers, showing Jamie’s attention to detail.

Interspersed and tied in to the main event is Jamie’s magic and juggling skills. These are clearly designed for young children to follow and participate in with ease. To an adult magic fan the tricks themselves may seem fairly basic, but they are well performed, suit the purpose, and the children are suitably impressed. Jamie gets a lot of mileage out of his rope trick in particular, with a couple of children participating in various stages.

The audience participation is largely geared towards the younger audience members. Jamie often asks for volunteers, and at the reviewed show was able to include all who put themselves forward. As the audience was quite young on average there were more interruptions than usual, whether from an excitable baby or enthusiastic youths. Jamie took this all in stride, responding in kind where he could, and ensuring that the show stayed on track.

With a great location along Leith Walk that’s convenient for a few of Edinburgh’s neighborhoods and a fun and creative subject matter, An Unbefleavable Magic Show is a great choice for family oriented entertainment. Adults will have a nice time as well, but the emphasis is definitely on entertaining younger kids, a good niche to have at the Fringe. And with the PBH free fringe setup, there’s no reason not to give the fleas a chance.

DAN BASTIANELLI: IDENTITY

☆☆☆☆

Talented Fringe regular Dan Bastianelli returns this year with a show called Identity, in which he explores just that. With an interesting premise and great variety of magic, Identity makes for a fun hour of magic.

With flyer art featuring Bastianelli playing with his cards, it should come to no surprise to Identity audiences that playing cards feature heavily. Bastianelli is a skilled card magician, even impressing with his cardistry moves before he gets in to the magic. The card magic is a highlight, with magical classics performed with his distinct flair. Bastianelli varies the type of magic he performs with playing cards, to get a great deal of use out of this one type of magic. There is other magic too that uses a greater variety of props—audiences won’t be bored in Bastianelli’s audience.

The identity theme weaves in and out of the show, at times taking center stage, while at other times feeling more tangentially related to the effect being performed. A particularly strong moment of thematic magic is the restoration effect. The themes of being confident enough to be individual, and “destroying” the past self to become truer to one’s own nature, fit perfectly with the effect that Bastianelli performs. On the other hand, some of the routines seem to be explained to be related to identity simply because they are magic and being a magician is a part of Bastianelli’s identity. On the one hand, this feels like an appropriately cheeky use of theme for a magician, but after seeing Bastianelli advertise such an interesting theme it would have been nice to see it explored more deeply.

In an appropriately intimate venue for a show that involves so much close-up magic, and with Bastianelli’s friendly stage presence, the frequent participation in the show is not a concern for the audience. Audience members do all the usual tasks: picking cards, checking props, and letting Bastianelli read their minds. When Bastianelli distributes gifts to select participants, these are thoughtfully constructed pieces of magic, giving them impossible items to remember him by.

Identity is a lovely showcase of Bastianelli’s incredible range of magical talent. The reviewed show was unsurprisingly busy. Fans of close up in particular will appreciate Bastianelli’s latest.

1 HOUR OF INSANITY

☆☆☆☆

Newly arrived sister show to the ridiculously popular 1 Hour of Insane Magic, the thematically named 1 Hour of Insanity may just have one magician rather than three, but more than makes up for it in insanity. The performers spend most of the show separately demonstrating their skills, although they do join in each others’ acts at times. It’s popular with a good crowd even the day after 2-for-1 tickets ended—while the show may be new, the talent of the performers has evidentially already gained renown.

Each performer is highly talented in their own right. The two most obviously visually exciting are perhaps the circus performers. Hunter the juggler transfixes the audience with his juggling skills, injecting playful humor into his performance. Meanwhile, Miss Lily Phoenix’s excellent hoops routine surely demonstrates an insane amount of skill, and she brings along a variety of exciting hoops for her part of the show. While circus women who sign on to the same show as a magician run the risk of taking on “assistant-y” roles, and Phoenix is no exception, her fellow performers do at least return the favor, glamorously assisting her in accessing her props.

Comedians and magicians may not have the same reputation for being visually exciting, but this is an hour of insanity, and the resident comedian and magician give it their all. Comedian Josh Glanc emcees the entire production, and also includes the audience in a couple of his own sets. His invitation to join in on the clowning is happily accepted, and a whole band of audience participants has a great time onstage with him. Magician Tom Bolton also brings an exciting series of tricks, including a card finding routine that gets plenty of the younger members of the audience involved.

There is plenty of audience involvement in 1 Hour of Insanity. A family friendly show, there are plenty of children in the audience, and plenty of ways for them to get involved in age-appropriate ways. There are also moments that call for adult involvement, and the performers balance these well throughout the show. The audience is always a wildcard and Glanc experienced this the most at the reviewed show, with one of his participants not behaving in the way that Glanc expected. Glanc dealt with this well, playing the situation off in good humor and quickly pivoting to an audience member who was willing to join the fun.

1 Hour of Insanity is quickly proving popular, often selling out and seemingly always selling well. It’s like a family-friendly version of Fringe legend La Clique, perfect for circus and variety fans who have children, or even adults who prefer to enjoy their variety shows without the risk of getting covered in butter and other substances. For a bit of everything and a lot of craziness, 1 Hour of Insanity is the show to go to.

THE UNFAIR ADVANTAGE

☆☆☆☆☆

With a lunchtime slot, for many of its Fringe attendees The Unfair Advantage is probably their first show of the day. The central location is a bonus, both for those who travel straight there and those who take a more circuitous route—at the reviewed show, at least one group was there because they had just walked out of a nearby show that they found far too disappointing, and were intrigued by this interesting premise at a nearby location. No one walked out midway through The Unfair Advantage—in fact, the entire audience stuck around even after the final reveal for an optional Q&A. Harry Milas has expertly put together this magic experience that is part performance, part education, part autobiography, and entirely fascinating.

The stated premise of The Unfair Advantage is that Milas will show the audience how to cheat at cards, using the card handling techniques he learned as a youth with an interest in magic. He does fulfill the brief, after the audience signs an NDA to ensure that his secrets remain so, demonstrating his skills both quickly and slowly, and from a variety of angles, so the audience can get a good look at what he’s doing. The show works as both an educational experience and an entertainment event. Milas balances information with performance with practiced skill.

When the audience gets involved in the show Milas largely asks for minor bits of input just to keep him on his toes, and ensure that those watching can verify that the techniques he’s using are what he says they are. It’s a deliberately intimate audience to ensure that everyone gets the best view of his table, making such tasks easy and unintimidating. There is one audience member who has a more involved role, but for this task Milas is sure to request a volunteer. It’s worth the unexpected attention for the effect of having a member of the audience take on this task, and Milas keeps the pressure off, making it as fair as possible.

Milas is open about the fact that the techniques that he demonstrates took him a long time to perfect—his goal is not the undoubted impossibility of teaching the audience how to do them over the course of a Fringe show, but raising their awareness and showing how they could develop these skills themselves if they want. This is certainly directly helpful for gamblers. However, Milas also makes clear the relevance of his memory and attention direction skills outside of that field, and points out just a few of the many other applications for the techniques that he uses in the show in everyday life. Even this expertly scripted and performed Fringe show is, in a roundabout way, an example of that. Milas created this hourlong unusual and therefore memorable experience that helpfully makes the lessons of his performance stick in the minds of his audience.

The Unfair Advantage is the perfect balance of information and entertainment for a Fringe show. It’s the perfect event for fans of card technique in particular, regardless of whether they come to it from a magic or gambling perspective. While magicians advertising that they will teach their audience card handling is certainly not unique, Milas’s practical advice and his perfectly formatted and executed show set The Unfair Advantage apart. This is the show to see to get your Fringe day off to the best start.

HONEST FRAUD

☆☆☆☆

Newcomers to the Edinburgh Fringe Ricardo Malerbi and Rudi Solon are tackling the dark side of deception in their show Honest Fraud. Every magician commits fraud against their audience, but at least in a magic show the audience is signing up for it. This is the dynamic that Malerbi and Solon explore. They make examples of real life fraud into entertainment, so their audience gets to examine fraudulent scenarios in the safe environment of a magic show. As a theme it has a lot of potential, and if Malerbi and Solon make a few detours, it’s no problem for the audience, who are along to enjoy the ride.

Malerbi and Solon use plenty of audience participants, and make participation particularly fun. The fun starts in their selection method. As Brazilians, they celebrate one of the cutest of their country’s native creatures, the capybara, throughout the show. There are several capybaras onstage, with the smallest and softest being tasked with participant selection. This mundane element of magic shows becomes newly adorable in Honest Fraud. Once selected, participants have a great time onstage with Malerbi and Solon, taking care to be the eyes of the audience and inspecting the magic tricks for any undisclosed deception.

The magic performed is interestingly personalized. An early highlight is a coin trick performed in Malerbi and Solon’s native Portuguese. For those who don’t speak Portuguese this would be an especially interesting section to bring a Brazilian friend to, to compare notes with. However, even those who couldn’t understand the words could enjoy the trick. This was a great demonstration of magic as a universal language, and the power of a well executed sleight. Malerbi and Solon also inject a lot of humor into their magic, most notably in a second series of coin tricks involving an audience participant selecting coins for them to mind read the color and values off of. The hilarious ending works so well due to their flawless demonstration of their mentalist skills moments earlier.

Honest Fraud has an interesting theme, but it could be developed further over the course of the show. The detour into coin and money themed magic is sensible enough as money is so often the goal of real-life fraudsters, but the effects, as impressive as they are, don’t feel like a real continuation of the theme. That being said, audiences looking to be wowed by magical reveals won’t be disappointed, and indeed the overwhelming chatter amongst those leaving the reviewed performance was of amazement at the reveals throughout the show.

It’s always exciting to welcome new performers to the Fringe, and Malerbi and Solon’s debut is no different. With their distinctive style and humor they fit right in with just how much they stand out. Audiences will leave in amazed delight and excited to see what they bring next.