Liam A Black

LIAM A BLACK: THE MAGIC SHOW – THE RETURN OF THE GLITTERING PRICE OF MAGIC

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The prince returns to a cavernous warehouse underneath central Edinburgh in The Return of The Glittering Prince of Magic – Starring Liam A Black. If magicians use a traditionally glitzy assistant, said assistant is usually dressed in eye-catching sparkly outfits. Here Black is both the magician and the sparklingly dressed assistant. With not just one or two but several glittery coats, he certainly lives up to the “Glittering” description in his title.

The parade of beautiful coats is a highlight of the show. Black is a clothes horse for sparkly fashion. The changes are not exactly incorporated into the act, this is not a quick-change show. Instead, every few routines Black steps offstage to re-dress himself in the next item of clothing. Whoever creates these outfits for him deserves applause, they are magnificent.

Unfortunately, the clothes being a highlight is not the best sign for a magic show. Black does in fact do magic in between changing his outfits. Magic fans will find his tricks familiar. One slightly more unusual highlight is a juggling trick involving unusual balls, which, in the light of the venue, sparkle almost as much as Black’s outfits. However, by and large the magic feels significantly less inspired than the clothes. There is no theme except the glitter, and with the exception of that one mentioned juggling routine, even the glitter is limited to Black’s clothes. Black is not the best magician at the Fringe, despite his intentionally deceptively trimmed pull quote from an earlier review. His performance does, however, showcase quite well why he may have felt the need to subterfuge so desperately.

Fashion fans may find The Return of the Glittering Prince of Magic worthwhile, but even fans on glitter may find themselves wanting more from Black. The magic sadly lacks the sparkle of the clothes. As a show to have onstage in the background while having a drink it could be worse, but it also could be better. Even Black himself seems disinterested in the magic he performs, leaving the audience struggling to care.

THE MAGIC SHOW STARRING LIAM A BLACK AS THE GLITTERING PRINCE OF MAGIC

☆☆

One of the great features of the Fringe is that you can see shows in pretty much any venue imaginable. Bars, pubs, and restaurants all clear out their back rooms to use as venues, the university partners with the Fringe to allow use of many of their buildings, and even churches allow the use of their halls, like the one on Nicolson Square where Liam Black has staged his show, The Magic Show Starring Liam A Black as the Glittering Prince of Magic. The ostentatious wordiness of the title promises a certain kind of show, and Black largely delivers on this.

It has been said that the easiest way to be at the top of your field is to pick a small field. In that vein, Black is indisputably the best magician at the Fringe at costume changes—he has a huge number of them and each costume is more elaborate, more glittery, and overall more fabulous than the last. In fact, it can be safely said that Black’s show has the greatest concentration of glitter of all Fringe magic shows. Aside from his own costumes, Black includes a sparkly assistant and team of glitter-clad dancers in his act, and is actually too much of a pastiche for this to come across as sexist. The group song and dance numbers are a highlight.

However, there are a few areas where Black feels a bit flat, and unfortunately the magic is one of them. At the reviewed show his final reveal, for example, was sadly fairly obvious from the start—the word was written a bit too clearly for it to be hidden from the audience when shown upside down. Black also spent an unfortunate amount of time playfully lambasting the audience at large for not laughing at a few of his early jokes. This was fair enough at first but eventually felt like he was berating his audience for the fact that he wasn’t being funny. Whether the audience warmed up or he moved on to better material, they did eventually start to laugh with him. The show is a solid concept, and there are definitely plenty of elements that felt like he had gotten them right, but also plenty of room for improvement.

That being said, The Magic Show Starring Liam A Black as the Glittering Prince of Magic is more than just a magic show, it’s a satire of classic magic tropes with enough glitter to make a whole church sparkle. At its best it perfectly balances paying tribute to the classic magic shows of the past with poking fun at their less than ideal features. While perhaps not perfectly executed on this occasion, the concept there, and this reviewer for one will be curious to see what Black comes up with next.

More information on Liam A Black and his performance dates can be found here.