Diary of a Magician – C Arts, C Aquila

In my years on this planet, I have discovered people fall into two categories – those who love magic and those who loathe it. Magic at the Edinburgh festival falls into two categories – vibrant, exciting and interesting and pretty poor.

I was delighted to find out this production at C Arts Aquila falls into the former category. It is an intriguing, exciting mix of magic some parts have never been seen before. I’ve been watching magic for a long time now and I continue to be beguiled and enchanted but there were tricks and turns in this piece, which I’ve never encountered before, which I’d never known of so was delighted to see. It’s certainly not the best venue at Edinburgh.

It’s a rather damp, dark day, but the sun shines as soon as our magician comes onto stage and intrigues us with an array of tantalising, intriguing, bewildering and baffling magic tricks. This is top quality card magic and the fringe needs it. There’s a huge circle of magicians out there all of varying qualities and it’s a delight to see someone who has travelled so far to give us something so intriguing and bewitching.  I would urge anybody to come to C art tequila  and relish the amazing art of prestidigitation.

It’s a slick, beautifully executed and  choreographed show working just a well for adults as kids in a poetic and mesmeric way from a truly bewitching performer who held both his cards and his audience in the palm of his hand. Totally unique and hypnotic. Mu-Syuan Chang allows us glimpses of his personality which shines in the comic moments and also gives us a series of narratological bridges between the set pieces.

Of course it’s a black box – what isn’t at Edinburgh? – dimly lit with our magician dressed in black using very slight, sleight of hand to convince us of his special, magical skills. There’s smoke, there’s cards, there’s rope – all bound together in a beguiling smorgasbord of magical tricks and illusions as our solo performer standing on the stage commanding our interest for 50 minutes in a vibrant and creative and wondrous array of tricks and illusions suitable for all the family and all ages. The idea of the diary could be extended and developed further, but as a wholesome family show it is perfect!

Reviewer: Peter Kinnock

Reviewed: 18 August 2024

North West End UK Rating: