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10 YEARS OF 5 STAR REVIEWS

And now for something a little different…

World Magic Review celebrated 10 years of magic reviewing this year (although the first bit was under a different name – extra points to whoever can find that piece of trivia!). In the spirit of magic through the decade, here is excerpt from 10 5-star reviews since 2014.

2014: Colin Cloud – The Forensic Mind Reader

COLIN CLOUD: THE FORENSIC MIND READER

For a tone so steeped in the air of mystery, Mr Cloud does not pretend to be psychic. Rather, he is upfront about the psychological background of the techniques he uses. He perhaps leaves out mentions of old-school mentalist trickery employed, but we are all here to be entertained. There is a certain thrill to being left bewildered, and Mr Cloud knows where to draw the line between explaining how he’s reading participants lies and leaving bits up the the audience’s baffled imaginations. The combination between his skill at mentalism and his clever wit and showmanship make The Forensic Mind Reader a brilliant and utterly enjoyable experience.

2015: Scott Smith – Wonders at Dusk

SCOTT SMITH: WONDERS AT DUSK

This is a mind-reading show, so requires audience interaction in order to exist. But while a less polished performer could lose the ambience here with the awkwardness of audience members, Smith expertly keeps it in hand. While seeing other people being made to participate is always inherently funny, Smith keeps it utterly respectful and never embarrasses his participants, which maintains the air of elegance that permeates the show.

2017: Chris Cook – Control

CHRIS COOK: CONTROL

While the majority of Cook’s show does focus on sleight of hand, he does veer briefly into mentalism in an unexpectedly heartwarming final segment. His more serious themes are predominantly present as an undercurrent for the rest of the show, but here they take centre stage. Cook captivates the audience with his tricks and wit, and then uses that control over his viewers to instill his message of hope and motivation.

2018: Vincent Gambini – The Chore of Enchantment

VINCENT GAMBINI – THE CHORE OF ENCHANTMENT

In spite of its stated conclusions that magic is simply another distraction, the effectiveness of The Chore of Enchantment is evidence in support of magic’s usefulness as a tool for performers to address real world issues.

2018: The Vanishing Man & The Extinction Event

THE VANISHING MAN & THE EXTINCTION EVENT

It’s very, very hard to weave magic tricks into a compelling, coherent story, or at least is must be because it’s very, very rare to see it done well. This is one of those rare times. Both The Vanishing Man and The Extinction Event would be excellent examples of great theatre even without the magic, even on just the strength of their stories, but the physical element of illusions puts them onto a whole new level.

2019: Billy Reid – Watch Closely

BILLY REID: WATCH CLOSELY

The title Watch Closely sounds at first like the issuing of a challenge. Watch closely, because the magician is here to trick you- will you be able to catch him? But that is not actually anything close to the sentiment of Reid’s show. Reid does not present magic as a challenge to be beat. His performance is uncommonly personal, with almost all effects tying into the narrative Reid weaves about his family, his childhood, memories about both his upbringing and more recent experiences that stayed close to his heart.

2021: David Alnwick – Nightmare Magic

DAVID ALNWICK: NIGHTMARE MAGIC

Nightmare Magic is as much a one man play as it is a magic show, and he easily holds his audience’s attention without it. As much as Alnwick establishes that he doesn’t need magic to be an effective performer, being a magician he did of course create a show that uses magic to bring his stories to life. His variety of mentalist and sleight of hand tricks are performed perfectly. Between the perfection of his execution and the well thought out props, the magic blends seamlessly into the plot of the show.

2022: Ava Beaux – Which Witch

AVA BEAUX: WHICH WITCH

Ava and Beaux each charm the audience in their own way. Ava has her hilarious stream of stories that keep the audience laughing while marveling at her tricks, while Beaux’s unfettered delight at finding herself in the audience’s presence immediately wins us over, in spite of the warnings. Neither one makes her audience participants feel unsafe in her presence; while Beaux is less predictable any potential for destruction is focused on her own props.

2023: Ben Hart – Jadoo

BEN HART: JADOO

Hart tells stunningly beautiful stories through stunningly beautiful sleights. From transforming a simple cloth into airborne moths, shocking the audience with his capacity for pain, and performing the impossible with something as simple as sand, Hart captivates the audience with his skill and storytelling. To again mention the physical surroundings, it is a choice of surprising bravery to have a magician perform in a room literally ringed with mirrors. If at times this boldness betrays him, it is to no real detriment to the overall show, for the force of his personability keeps his audience thoroughly on his side and hypnotized by the magic unfolding in front of them.

2024: Pete Heat – Bogus

PETE HEAT: BOGUS

As per usual in Heat’s Fringe offerings, magic does not make up a huge proportion of the show. Heat is a comedy magician who gives equal weight to both the comedy and the magic. The magic is remarkably slick, even if there are members of the audience who have seen Heat perform the same tricks before it’s by and large impossible to spot the moment that the deception is achieved. Those who take part in especially novel effects may find themselves quizzed by other members of the audience after the show, as they simply can’t believe that the participants are not stooges.

JOHN ACCARDO: METHOD TO THE MAGIC

☆☆☆☆

Magic can be many things, based on everything from the taste of the performer to the perception of the spectator. Magic can be challenging, exciting, classic, smug, one or any or none of the above but something else. But in John Accardo’s Method to the Magic, above all else, magic is joy.

Accardo is a wellspring of effusive, infectious enthusiasm. It is abundantly apparent just how much passion he has for magic, and how much delight he takes in sharing it. This devotion transfers more and more strongly to his audience the longer he spends with them.

Method the the Magic is a very casual show. Accardo chats with his crowd as they come in, banters easily, and makes no attempt to restore order when certain moments of audience participation dissolve into farcical levels of confusion and self consciousness. Rather, he leans into it, letting every moment develop naturally. This cannot and should not be mistaken for lack of control. Accardo is a sharper and more skilful magician than he’s willing to let his audience think he is. The silliness inspires goodwill for him in his spectators, and thus Accardo has won the crowd.

Accardo uses classic magic effects very well integrated into his narrative for the show- explaining what it’s like to be a magician and (almost, sort of) what it’s like to do the tricks. He jumps from mind reading to card tricks and beyond with equal and impressive mastery, and every part is- there’s this word again- a joy – to watch.

This is John Accardo’s first time at the Edinburgh Fringe, but hopefully the first of many. Because it won’t be long before the crowds of Fringe goers discover that in a bunker plopped down in George Square is a hidden gem of the Fringe magic world.

More information on John Accardo can be found here.

ASHTON CARTER: MYSTERIOSA

☆

In Ashton Carter’s Mysteriosa, he explores the stories of his family history through a series of illusions, both revisiting the mysteries of his ancestors lives and toying with the concept of reaching out to them, through Spiritualist practices, after their deaths.

The beginning of the Fringe can be a stressful time for performers. The material is often untested, the audiences unknown. For a magician, there comes an even more challenging twist to this anxiety: their audience is anxious too. Though you cannot go to a magic show and not expect the looming threat of having to participate, you do not know what form this participation will take. The audience depends on their magician to win- not quite their trust, but their support, from the beginning moments, or else what’s left is difficult to salvage. Ashton Carter begins, and continues his show, visibly terrified by the situation at hand. His hands shake, his voice shakes, he gets tongue tied, and is seemingly at a loss for what to do from one moment to the next. This creates a sense of unease immediately that does not go away for the rest of the show.

The audience’s wariness of course is also reflected in a disinclination to interact. No one is inspired to want to take part, and those who ultimately do at Carter’s urging do so begrudgingly. The only common feeling in the crowd is not captivation with the performer, but empathy for one’s fellow onlooker. At the performance reviewed, the show is stolen by a single crack by one audience member. An entire Fringe show, and the sole highlight is a nervous joke by someone else who is also (maybe) paying to be there.

It perhaps goes without saying at this point, but the material itself is not strong. The illusions are tired, the story is tedious, and the climax cloying and out of place. Finally, there comes a baffling conclusion. Through most of Carter’s show, he has achieved a ineptitude that could and should, for the most part, be pitiable. However, he crowns the whole thing off by concept-dropping Christianity, both in a way where it cannot be argued that that is not what he meant, but where he was too cowardly to actually say ‘Jesus’ in a magic show. Because yes, if you start talking about Jesus in a magic show, 90% of the time unbelievers will be uncomfortable and believers will be offended. And taking into account Carter’s decision to use a deck of cards with an ethnic slur on them earlier in the show, Mysteriosa blows past ‘pitiable’ for a strong finish in ‘dreadful’.

More information on Ashton Carter and his performance dates can be found here.