Fit like, loons and quines? If floundering in the fog of ‘Betwixmas’ the answer will have been overwhelmingly positive after 80 minutes in the company of this engaging quartet from the north-east. Tricks, illusions and mirages lurked within a pleasant, easy-going evening of chat and mild comedy, the odd well-aimed barb (mostly at a recently de-frocked prince) adding a note or two of spice. Especially amusing in a self-effacing, Corbett-style manner was Jeff Burns, making the most of his diminutive stature. Clearly the audience volunteers are bigger these days, to boot.
All are members of or connected with, the Aberdeen Magical Society. Smith & Burns (Jeff Burns & Ivor Smith) are sometimes known as Fifth Dimension and have a track record in dispelling the tedium of business conferences with some magic and informative psychology. Which is interesting as well as entertaining, as they acknowledge the elements of distraction and suggestion involved in most magic shows. They’ve won awards, as have the other two players, Eoin Smith and James Dickson.
The momentum of this show is enhanced with plenty of audience involvement, a ‘volunteer’ required for pretty much every routine. It was humiliation-free, if a tad taxing on the nerves; one defies anyone to deal with that spooky doll who reads the minds of would-be artists. And if you’re asked to participate in the Signed Grape sketch, maybe best return to your seat without the central prop. Picking out a coin from that tin of peas can’t have been mess-free either.
What makes any good magic performance so compelling is the ‘just how did they do that?’ ingredient. There are several of these amongst the frivolity involving envelopes, playing cards, pieces of thread and some books. The explanations will be laughingly obvious to anyone in even the outer orbits of the Magic Circle, but… how on earth? We were probably just looking the wrong way. Manifesting as bonhomie and gentle charm the aforementioned distraction and psychology was more than effective and, though we laughed, possibly accounts for the intrusion of a comic dance rendition of YMCA. One left pleasantly diverted, bewitched and… baffled.
Reviewer: Roger Jacobs
Reviewed: 28th December 2025
North West End UK Rating:
There are some works of art which one wishes were fiction and Camdenwalla is one…
An emotional and memorable evening was had at Pontefract Town Hall last night as Encore…
This is a play about the Christian religion, authority and the interpretation of the Bible.…
Hull Truck’s John Godber studio was all abuzz on Thursday evening, full of theatregoers eager…
Handsworth and Hallam Theatre Co raise the bar and the roof with their highly enjoyable…
Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway is a book with a formidable reputation. Its seismic cultural impact…