All The Magic You Missed At The Edinburgh Fringe

The Edinburgh Fringe is the world's biggest arts festival, where performers showcase their talents, hone their craft, and try to make back the money it costs to go there in the first place.

It's always worth examining the shows and trends as they tend to be a good indicator of who will command each art form in the future.

Audiences can enjoy a selection of over 3,000 shows as street corners, pub backrooms, and even garden sheds are transformed into venues.

After a massively reduced line-up in 2021 during the pandemic, this year has seen the most magic shows since the government lifted COVID restrictions.

Over 70 magic shows were listed in this year's program, with roughly 50 shows in 2022 and 2023. This trend suggests that magic is growing to become a staple genre of the festival!

Okay, sure, in the grand scheme of things, 70 out of 3,000 shows seems small. Famously, the Fringe primarily consists of comedians. But after spending 48 hours there this year, I couldn't walk down the Royal Mile without a flyer being thrust upon me as someone said, "Straight from Penn & Teller: Fool Us!" or a bus whizzing past me with a giant image of Arturo Brachetti.

If you're a frequent Fringer yourself, this year you'll have noticed the return of established Fringe performers such as Ben Hart, Colin Cloud, Tom Crosbie, Cameron Young, Arron Jones, Ava Beaux, Kane & Abel, Jack Moodie, Suhani Shah, Pete Heat, Dom Chambers, Hudson & Hudson, Kevin Quantum and *BREATHES* Tom Brace, to name but a few.

Nathan Earl and Jason Maher were amongst the street magicians gracing the city's busking pitches. However, some made their Edinburgh Fringe debuts, including Arturo, Chris Fleming, Adam Bownass and Andrew Frost. Father and son duo Rodney and Harry Piper also featured, the latter of whom is believed to be the youngest magician to perform a solo magic show at the Fringe (sorry, Preston Nyman, you've been dethroned!)

This year also saw the return of Insane Magic: Cameron Gibson, Elliot Bibby, and Luke Osey. Following a sell-out debut last year, they offered two shows: the family-friendly 1 Hour of Insane Magic and the raunchier, adults-only edition, Insane Magic: After Dark.

The trio also appeared on BBC News, performing a brilliant three-person version of the Pegasus Page Book Test, which completely stunned the reporter. Not only was this great publicity for their shows, but a front-page news bulletin showcasing magicians can only put magic in a good light!

I wish I could have seen everything during my visit, but when you're in Edinburgh for only 48 hours, time is of the essence! So here are my thoughts on what I was able to see:

First up, Arturo Brachetti's Solo. Those of you who attended the Blackpool Magic Convention in 2020 can confirm that Arturo's show is a must-see for fans of magic. Solo is arguably the most impressive quick-change performance you'll ever see. Arturo powers through a whole host of iconic characters from pop culture and history, over 50, in fact, at a remarkable pace.

Amongst his quick change, there's shadow puppetry, sand art, lasers, video effects, and levitations; it's incredible to think how much is packed into a 70-minute running time. Not only that, but the guy is 66 years old and performing the most cardio-intense magic I've ever seen!

The show is admittedly really weird, and that's the fun of it if you accept it for what it is. As more and more wacky characters made cameos, the audience understood the assignment and got into it.

The audience enjoyed the show, but I don't think they quite realized how impressive the quick change was. Some seemed to assume they were watching multiple performers. An announcement at the start along the lines of "what you are about to witness is performed by one man only" would be good to help people appreciate the skill at play without tipping the methods.

Next, I saw not one but TWO of Arron Jones' shows: the One Hour Straight Jacket Escape and Rockstar Magician, both part of the Free Fringe.

I saw Straight Jacket when he first brought it to the Fringe two years ago. The premise is genius: Houdini escaped from a jacket in under 3 minutes; Arron is going to do it in about an hour. What then follows is a magic show where the tied-up magician can't do any of the magic, so everything is done by the audience.

It's a genius format with great magic. Sadly, I think this is the last time Arron is doing this version of the show, so if he brings it back in the future, I highly recommend you see it. 

Rockstar Magician is another great show, and I can see why Arron has chosen to rebrand himself around the whole thing. He's even selling Rockstar tote bags—I mean, come on! This show had the crowd simultaneously amazed at the magic and banging their heads to the music. Just like with Straightjacket, I think this is the last outing of Rockstar, so I look forward to seeing what's next from Arron.

Sunday evening, I went to see Pete Heat's Bogus. I love Pete. I saw his show Blimey back in 2022 and instantly gelled with his blend of Mighty Boosh/Harry Hill whimsy crossed with intelligent and ambitious magic.

Heat's latest show lived up to everything you'd want a Pete Heat show to be with a brilliant premise: in a world where fake news and misinformation are rife, it seems as though we are all being manipulated by the exploits of magicians! I laughed constantly throughout the show.

In the show I saw, he had to think on his feet and adapt live to something unexpected that happened early on. As a magician, it was great to see him succeed and to enjoy what was genuinely a hilarious and entertaining show.

The final magic show I saw was Andrew Frost's Cards On The Table. Directed by Sam Lupton, this was a very simple format: an hour of card tricks. But afterward, my girlfriend said to me it was the best magic show she'd ever seen, and she'd seen me do thousands of hours of magic, so that's high praise indeed!

Genuinely, though, I'd have to agree: it was sensational. Andrew is able to create a gritty atmosphere, the venue being very intimate, lit by nothing more than a desk lamp, while also remaining very comforting. The audience feels safe to either take part or remain seated, which puts everyone at ease and much more up for participating. The tricks he performed were, well – it's Andrew Frost, so what can you expect other than awesome?

Usually, magic shows in Edinburgh can't just be magic shows; they have to have some storyline or, arc or gimmick. Bizarrely, Andrew's gimmick was… it's just a magic show, and a really good one to boot. 

When Rory wrote about the Fringe magic shows of 2023, he highlighted Ben Hart's show as helping to put a lot of faith in the future of magic. I'm sure Rory would be saying something similar about Frost's Fringe Debut.

Suppose you weren't able to make it this year; worry not! Many of these shows will likely go out on tour, so keep an eye out if any have caught your eye. Next year, you should definitely try to go up there, even if it's just for a weekend. I have to thank my friend and magician Hugh Newsam for putting me and my pals up in his flat so we could enjoy the shenanigans ourselves.

And if you're feeling really up for it, why not put on a Fringe show next year? It's a big commitment, and I'd be lying if I said it was easy, but knowing you're part of something so big is an incredible feeling.