☆☆☆☆

It’s worth noting, to help with expectation management for his future audiences, that Andrew Frost has not been officially deemed The Greatest Card Magician in the World, despite that being the title of his show. However, ‘The Greatest Card Magician in the World’ may very well be one of the greatest card magic shows in the world, or at the very least at the Fringe—a line that Frost is of course more than welcome to selectively quote. What makes it compelling is not Frost’s position on any one person’s leaderboard of card magicians, but how he manages to make card magic so much fun.

As is heavily hinted in the title, in The Greatest Card Magician in the World Frost focuses on card magic. It’s as perfectly performed as the audience will expect from the title. A highlight is a routine that Frost invites multiple members of the audience to participate in. This manages the difficult task of providing a surprise of an ending in a card trick, a format perhaps known best for having the most easily anticipated ending of any magic trick.

Frost gets a lot of the audience involved in the show, and creates a welcoming environment to make this as unintimidating a process as possible. Frost is so personable that, at the reviewed show, a reluctant member of the audience agreed to join him onstage even when Frost allowed for a clear way out if the audience member truly didn’t want to be involved. While one audience participant does have a more involved role, Frost cleverly structures his routines to essentially go through a quick vetting process to pick someone who will be comfortable with the attention. Frost is always in control and the participants are not left at loose ends onstage.

The grandiose name of The Greatest Card Magician in the World isn’t just an attention-getting tactic, but a lead in for Frost to gently satirize magic show and audience tropes throughout the performance. From his spot on advice for audience members who are watching the show to try to work out how the tricks are done, to his teasing of the dramatic backstory for how he got in to magic, right up to the structure of the finale, Frost pokes fun at the stereotypes from a place of clear love for the art form.

It may not be as “shrekxy” as a burlesque show he’s contended with for reviews (what a sentence to experience out of context!), but for fans of card magic The Greatest Card Magician in the World is easily an excellent choice of Fringe show. Frost will teach the audience how to appreciate his card magic and then perform a trick so perfectly that they forget their lessons. It’s perfect card magic in a perfectly written show.

☆☆☆☆

The show is called Cards on the Table. Upon entering the theatre, the audience sees a mostly empty table with a few books, a lamp, and a deck of playing cards. The first thing that magician Andrew Frost says as he steps on stage is, “I hope you like card tricks”. Anyone who chose to come to this show hoping for anything other than card tricks will be disappointed, and that would be on them.

What follows is, as promised, a full hour of card magic. Frost covers the expected types of tricks in this sub-genre, from fancy shuffling through to trick dealing and card finding. With a whole hour devoted to card magic, Frost is able to delve a little deeper and take common tricks that are recognizable to magic fans that extra step further that more generalist magicians wouldn’t often make time for, especially at a festival like the Fringe with its oft-proscribed time limits.

The unifying feature is Frost’s exceptional skill at card magic and his clear passion for this particular type of magic. If anyone is considering getting in to performing magic (or reviewing it) this is the perfect show to see for an example of what card magic should ideally look like. It’s a classic of magic for a reason, and seeing Frost is a reminder for all who need it of just how impressive card magic can look.  There’s no other theme but the cards and the variety of ways that they can be manipulated, which is all that is needed for Frost’s purposes.

Even at the sold out show that was reviewed, Frost got a decent proportion of the audience onstage for various tasks. Frost is an approachable performer and makes his participants feel welcome. He’s especially helpful in explaining card terminology and even in helping his audience with the most difficult bit of audience participation in a magic trick, remembering which symbol is spades and which is clubs. It’s self serving in that it enables his own show to go more smoothly, but the audience also comes away feeling like they have learned something new and that they can be that tiny bit more comfortable participating in future magic shows.

Cards on the Table is a must see for fans of card magic. Even fans of magic in general who have found card magic underwhelming in the past may gain an appreciation for it in Frost’s hands. Come prepared to be amazed by the entertainment value of the often seen but often under-appreciated type of magic.

More information about Cards on the Table and its performances can be found here.