Edinburgh International Magic Festival Archives

Magic Awareness Society – The Royal Scots Club

1Jan

By Jessie MartinNo Comments

Scotland

Magic Awareness Society – The Royal Scots Club

Set in the exuberant class of The Royal Scots Club, the highly esteemed Magic Awareness Society has gathered to instil the law - magic is banned and has been for decades. In this meeting we are informed on the dangers of magic, the tricks magicians historically used, and the ways in which we could be coerced by them today. Ironically being performed on the final night of the Edinburgh International Magic Festival, it is soon revealed to us that this meeting is a ruse. In fact, this meeting is a resistance - we are here to oppose the ban on magic and once again be filled with wonder. Leading this show is Tim Licata, accompanied by his right-hand man Dan Bastianelli. Both magicians are clearly very well experienced, dedicating a large amount of focus on the perf...

Jamie Leonard, Wonder Boy – Edinburgh International Magic Festival

1Jan

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Jamie Leonard, Wonder Boy – Edinburgh International Magic Festival

As my final show in this year’s Edinburgh Magic Festival, Wonderboy brought energy, charm and an undeniable sense of youthful confidence. Performed at the Scottish Storytelling Centre, Jamie arrives fresh from a successful 2025 Edinburgh Fringe run and clearly comfortable in front of an audience. This boy unquestionably knows his way around a stage. There’s a strong theatrical instinct at work here, allied to a rubber-faced expressiveness that plays very effectively to a mixed crowd. At just 17, his confidence is impressive, and he leans into his age with a stream of schoolboy humour and routines that feel knowingly pitched rather than apologetic. It’s a sensible strategy, and one that allows him to sidestep the trap of pretending to be more seasoned than he is. That said, ...

Insane Christmas Magic – Edinburgh International Magic Festival

1Jan

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Insane Christmas Magic – Edinburgh International Magic Festival

There’s always a faint risk with festive spin-offs that the tinsel overwhelms the craft. Happily, Insane Christmas Magic avoids that trap entirely. This is not novelty magic with baubles glued on, it’s proper, high-grade conjuring, lightly dusted with Christmas spirit and delivered by three performers who know exactly what they’re doing. The trio, Cameron Gibson, Elliot Bibby and Luke Osey, are no strangers to Edinburgh audiences. Gibson and Bibby in particular have been round these parts many times before, and it shows. There’s an ease to their stage presence that can’t be faked, relaxed, confident, and quietly assured in a way that instantly settles an audience. No visible nerves, no frantic patter, just a sense that you’re in safe hands. Magically speaking, that’s always a good ...

Tricky Ricky, Jingles All The Way – Edinburgh International Magic Festival

1Jan

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Tricky Ricky, Jingles All The Way – Edinburgh International Magic Festival

There’s a particular challenge to the Christmas morning family show: you’re dealing with excitable children, coffee-deprived adults, and a room that’s already humming before you’ve said a word. Jingles All The Way, Tricky Ricky’s festive offering at the Scottish Storytelling Centre as part of the Edinburgh Magic Festival, meets that challenge with confidence, warmth, and a good understanding of its audience. Ricky pitches his comedy in broadly Shrek-style territory, knowingly silly, fast-moving, and deliberately aimed across the child–adult divide. For the most part, it works. The jokes come thick and fast, the tone is inclusive rather than condescending, and there’s a sense that he’s genuinely comfortable working a mixed-age crowd. That ease is hardly surprising: Ricky has spent many y...

30Dec

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

The Secret Room – Lauriston Castle

Perched on the edge of the Firth of Forth, Lauriston Castle is one of those Edinburgh buildings that seems to exist slightly out of time. Parts of the structure date back to the 16th century, though what we see today is largely the result of a late-19th-century transformation, when the castle was remodelled into a richly furnished Edwardian home. Passed to the city in the 1920s, it survives as a carefully preserved domestic time capsule, its rooms dense with objects, stories, and a quietly uncanny sense of lives once very fully lived. I’ve also seen performances here as part of the Edinburgh Horror Festival, and the building proves just as effective for horror as it does for magic, lending both genres an atmosphere that feels earned rather than applied. That quality is central to The Se...

Kevin Quantum ‘Christmas Special’ – Church Hill Theatre

30Dec

By Jessie MartinNo Comments

Scotland

Kevin Quantum ‘Christmas Special’ – Church Hill Theatre

Renowned Edinburgh Magician Kevin Quantum is joined by Taylor Morgan and Rebecca Foyle for an evening of showmanship, finesse, and artistry in Kevin Quantum ‘Christmas Special’ as part of the Edinburgh International Magic Festival. Founded by Svetlana McMahon as well as Quantum, the Edinburgh International Magic Festival has been around since 2010. Now being its fifteenth year running, the festival still continues to bring something fresh and exciting from the world of magic for its audiences. The lineup is certainly star-studded, with Morgan having recently represented Great Britain at this year's Magic World Championships and Foyle impressing with her versatility, using multiple disciplines to complete her act. Of course Quantum himself is a highly regarded magician, ha...