AROUND TOWN
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EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL MAGIC FESTIVAL Tricks and treats in store at this year’s MagicFest
Edinburgh’s International Magic Festival, (or MagicFest to you and me) is back with a week of illusions and wizardry designed to get you asking that age-old question: ‘How did they do that?’ This year’s newest spectacle is a three-day MagicFair at
Summerhall, a multi-room experience where you can catch up to ten live shows. Morning sessions welcome families with kids under seven for Magic School workshops, treasure hunts and wand-crafting (adults might be down for that too). Afternoons feature a mixture of close-up, theatrical, and stage magic with performances from Jango Starr, Gary Dunn and Tricky Ricky. Evenings are for grown-ups only, think late-night horror magic from
Luke Eaton, plus plenty of drink to make the illusions all the more wondrous. Between shows, festival goers can explore the Ribbon Maze, call in at Sam the Scam’s Bunco Booth and visit the Magic & Circus Shop for your very own top hat, or wand (if you missed the craft class).
Returning favourites include the Magic and Variety Gala Show,
now with added matinee performance. There’s also South Korean Digital Time Traveller Hun Lee (analogue time travel is so dated), alchemist Young Min Kim, Spanish magic world champion Héctor Mancha and hula hoop artist Miss Polly Hoops, all compered by Chris Henry. Secret Room is once again at Lauriston Castle: explore hidden passages and clandestine laboratories with three magicians, as they bring the building’s colourful past to life.
Big names at the festival include magician scientist Kevin Quantum (pictured), whose new show Illuminations, features plenty of light trickery, culminating in a rainbow created live on stage. Star of BBC’s The Real Hustle, R Paul Wilson, shows why he’s a leading authority on con artistry in Impossibilia. And if you’ve a secret playing on your mind, best avoid mind-reader Colin Cloud and his latest show Exposé. (Rowena McIntosh) ■ Various venues, Edinburgh, Fri 1–Fri 8 Jul
2 Jun–1 Sep 2016 THE LIST 59