Edinburgh

TODD VARIOUS

☆☆☆

If you startle easy (as I do) the crack of a whip on a crowded street can be a terrifying sound. However, in the case I am describing, it indicated something awesome was to come.

Street performance is really cool inherently, and to do successfully requires crazy impressive showmanship skills.  If someone comes to a stage show, they’ve already spent their money on a ticket, and are thus likely to stick it through regardless. But street performers have to make the audience committed. Todd Various was one of the best street performers I have seen in this regard. Mr Various, with his cowboy persona and vicious looking whips was genuinely funny in a relaxed way that kept the crowd both entertained and at ease throughout the show.

The insane thing is, Mr Various doesn’t do a massive amount of tricks in that time. He actually only does a couple. But due to his entertaining chatter and undeniably likable personality, it seems like a lot more happens.

The tricks that are performed are pretty impressive to see, but the truly great quality was his talent as an entertainer. Mr Various could make jokes at peoples’ expense without being nasty about it, convince dubious tourists to play along with his show, and keep an audience enthralled on a chilly day in Edinburgh for nearly an hour- all without guarantee that they will give him money for his performance. But they damn well should (and I was happy to see did) because this funny, startling, captivating show was absolutely fantastic.

If this was a stage show I would say here where it is playing and at what time but ??? uh Royal Mile, Edinburgh, in the afternoon? Look for the guy wearing a cowboy hat and just stick around until he does something interesting?

+ I realize at no point in this review did I explain the purpose of the whip I mentioned in the beginning. Good. Be curious.

++ I accidentally saw this show twice (there is v little to do on Sundays in Edinburgh. I am not actually a stalker) so this review basically covers both performances at the same time.

More information on Todd Various can be found here

COLIN CLOUD: THE FORENSIC MIND READER

☆☆☆☆☆

Any act that incorporates Sherlock Holmes will always have my automatic affection. But the effortless ease with which Mr Cloud incorporated his fascination with the character is spectacular on it’s own merits.

One challenge of the Fringe is that which room you are in definitely sets the tone for your show. And some of the Fringe venues are a little bit shoddy, or even nice but unintended for the purposes they’re now being used for. I got that impression off the Just the Tonic room that Mr Cloud’s show was in. However, his minor additions manged both to blend with the initial surroundings and, for lack of a better phrase, “class the place up a bit.” The tightly packed audience (sold out!) combined with the backdrop, gave off the sensation that you could, in fact, have been transported back to the Victorian era, and found yourself in the fictional detective’s sitting room- both dubious but undeniably curious at what secrets you were wearing in your facial expressions that he would see right through to.

And as if straight from the pages of one of these stories, Mr Cloud delivered his astonishing skill. The audience was repeatedly stunned at the ability he had to seemingly pick thoughts right out of his participants heads- the word from a favorite childhood book, a random number they had only then decided upon themselves, an image chosen from countless possibilities recreated right in front of their eyes. All done with a practiced air of charm and just a little bit of impatient disdain for participants who had trouble following simple directions. After all, nothing could be more Sherlockian. His showmanship was thoroughly on point, softening the adopted affect of superior wisdom by sharing his audience’s enthusiasm.

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.

The last three days of Colin Cloud’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe run at Just the Tonic are currently completely sold out, but you may be able to snatch up returns a couple hours before the performances at 5:55pm.

 

More information on Colin Cloud and his performance dates can be found here