☆☆☆

Alex Kouvatas is back at his venue in the basement of the Burrito’n’shake, an admirably central venue. This year they seem to treat him and his fellow performers a bit better, with a relatively quiet environment. If there is the occasional disruption, Kouvatas is ready and willing to get them to quiet down. This year’s show, The Magic of Love, is well themed and performed, if there is the occasional area for improvement.

Kouvatas is an incredibly likable performer. The reviewed show on a weekday afternoon may not have had the largest audience, but he got everyone involved and engaged with the show. Given a slightly longer time slot he would have undoubtedly transformed the group of strangers into new friends. If there is a slightly juvenile element to his performance, especially at the start of the show, it almost feels like an adjustment period as he code switches from performing his children’s show earlier in the day. Performing two shows for an entire month is tiring, it’s not surprising that it takes him a minute to switch to adult mode, although the effect may be slightly jarring to those who don’t track the Fringe magic schedule so closely.

This year’s tricks have moments of exceptional creativity. There’s an unusual visualization trick that gives the audience participant an especially pleasant experience. While this may be limited to the one audience member, they can share it with their neighbors as they retake their seat. Kouvatas also performs a lovely effect involving a story about his family, with impressive magic and a heartfelt message. As Kouvatas continues to develop his brand of themed storytelling magic hopefully more and more of the show will be this beautiful.

There are moments in Kouvatas’s performance where the experienced magic fan may note a slight clumsiness in his performance of certain effects. It’s not all of them, but even with one like the previously mentioned effect involving his family story, the method of the trick could be better concealed. On the other hand, there are moments like the visualization trick that were perfectly performed. Kouvatas’s magic feels like a work in progress, but hopefully one that he continues, as he is a charming and creative performer.

For a sweet magic show with easy access to burritos, The Magic of Love is the one to go to. Kouvatas is always improving and pushing himself creatively. Every Fringe the audience leaves his show wanting to see what he comes up with next.

More information on The Magic of Love and its performance dates can be found here.

☆☆☆

Burritos, milkshakes, and magic are an unfortunately unusual combination. Each one of them is great on its own, but together? Unbeatable! The only place to experience this incredible trinity at the Fringe this year is at Alex Kouvatas’s show Movie Magic, in the basement of Burrito’n’Shake, handily located on a key tourist thoroughfare.

However, aside from providing a frankly iconic combination of refreshments, Kouvatas’s venue did not do him any favors. Staff crossed the stage with some regularity and the music from the restaurant was audible in the performance space. Such are often the trials of the newer PBH venues. The space has a great potential, and hopefully with a bit more experience of the benefits of hosting they will treat their performers with more respect.

Kouvatas was nevertheless unstoppable. Some of the more notable aspects of his performance actually did not include magic tricks. In the show reviewed he performed at times in two languages, neither of them his native language, to ensure that Italian-speaking members of the audience were included as well as the English-speaking majority. He went out of his way to get them involved in ways that were accessible to them. Kouvatas included all of the audience in his show. A participant in the show reviewed was especially enamored of his prop banana, reported to be “pleasingly soft and fun to play with”. While her delight with and repeated caressing of his banana did briefly distract Kouvatas, and indeed the entire audience, this only increased the audience’s engagement.

The magic was well performed and themed to the movies. Kouvatas brought along a special movie card deck, so audience members could choose the movies he themes his tricks on. A moment that feels especially on brand for a magician is when he uses a card trick to try to get one of his participants to fall in love with him. While the participant at the reviewed show did not leave her partner for him, it was a fun romcom take on the effect. That being said, if Kouvatas’s magic could use any advice, it might be on the timing. There was the occasional moment, for example with is escapology trick, where it felt like the timing wasn’t quite right—but this did not detract too much from the overall enjoyment of the audience.

His inclusivity of the whole audience sadly did not always have a positive effect. One participant got a little too enthusiastic and grabbed Kouvatas’s bottom to try to catch him out on a trick. He laughed it off, and even got the rest of the audience to laugh through the uncomfortable moment, an impressive testament to his professionalism despite overt and unacceptable (even if unmalicious) harassment.

While touching his bottom is not advised, Kouvatas’s delightful banana is freely given to a chosen participant, just one of the many reasons why Movie Magic is worth a visit. Kouvatas is an inventive and engaging performer who will get the whole audience involved in the show.

More information on Alex Kouvatas can be found here.

☆☆☆

The 2021 Fringe didn’t feel like a real Fringe, and there is a noticeable trend of some performers re-doing their prior shows for those who missed them last year. Alex Kouvatas joins them with his 2021 debut, Something is Missing. If he is a bit less popular this year it is probably because he was so popular last year, Edinburghers and regular Fringe-goers will have already seen him, plus apparent venue troubles may have resulted in difficulty in finding him. However, for those who manage to seek him out it is worth the effort.

With a small audience at the reviewed show, Kouvatas was able to get everyone involved. The first participant in particular was especially excited to join him, waving to her friends and posing for their cameras. The effect that she was involved in is a highlight, showcasing Kouvatas’s excellent ability to weave his tricks in to stories—in this case a magical, non-threatening take on William Tell shooting an apple off of someone’s head. While there is less of a theme running through the show this year, which is missed, that storytelling remains a strong point.

With his venue change, and falling victim to the small audience plague that is running rampant throughout this year’s Fringe, one would think that Kouvatas had more than enough misfortune to deal with. However, unfortunately at the reviewed show he also had trouble with his table, which dramatically broke part of the way through the show. He managed to play this off admirably well—the audience seemed to half expect him to wave a plastic wand and the table would restore itself. However, it was just a misfortune. Aside from the incident itself the show did not appear to suffer for the lack of the table.

Despite the misfortune surrounding this year’s iteration of Something is Missing, Kouvatas’s passion and showmanship shine through. He has clearly been hard at work, he no longer has to refer to a script and has a more consistently strong transition between tricks. While the theme and ideas behind the prior iteration are missed, these may be a casualty of the troubles Kouvatas faced this year. The overall improvement in his performance is noticeable. The show reviewed was towards the end of this year’s Fringe, but hopefully he has better luck next year.  Kouvatas deserves to reach a wider audience.