Kevin McMahon, director of the Edinburgh International Magic Festival (Photo: Colin Hattersley Photography).
When: 1st – 8th July 2016
Where: Edinburgh, Scotland
£: Ticket prices vary, depending on the event
What is it?
The Edinburgh International Magic Festival is the UK’s biggest festival of innovative and cutting-edge magic. It will take place from Friday 1st to Friday 8th July, with an enchanting programme of magic events, performances, and stunts.
New for this year, there will be a three-day MagicFair at Summerhall with family events and late night sessions. There will also be a Magic School, a mysterious Secret Room event, and a Magic à la Carte Dinner.
The festival attracts illusionists, mindreaders and magicians from around the world. Expect show premieres from Kevin Quantum, forensic mindreader Colin Cloud, BBC’s R. Paul Wilson, and debut festival performances from Vincent Gambini and David Gerard.
Festival highlights will include:
MagicFair: 1st – 3rd July at Summerhall (tickets from £12)
The MagicFair will allow visitors to watch up to ten live shows, all with one ticket, across morning (10am - 2pm), afternoon (2pm - 6pm) and late (7.30pm – 11.30pm) sessions.
Family oriented morning sessions will feature Magic School workshops, wand-crafting, treasure hunts and six different live shows. Afternoon sessions will offer close-up, theatrical, and stage magic. Evening sessions will be more adult themed, with late night horror magic from Luke Eaton in the Anatomy Room, a special VIP performance from BBC’s The Real Hustle star R. Paul Wilson, and Scottish mind-reader Colin Cloud in Psyche; a fully interactive experiment held in the Dissection Room.
Between shows, festivalgoers can explore the Ribbon Maze, the Magic and Circus Shop, and Sam the Scam Banco Booth. Visitors can also enjoy spontaneous close-up magic, comedy, illusions, and sleight of hand; as well as food, drink, and music in the open-air courtyard.
Magic School & Workshops: 4th – 7th July at the Quaker Meeting House (tickets cost £80 for the magic school)
Enjoy a four-day course, or a two and a half hour workshop. Budding young wizards, under the supervision of Head Master Gary James, will learn, create and perform their own magic tricks.
Magic à la Carte: 7th July at Tigerlily (tickets cost £50)
Diners can whet their appetite for mystery with a delicious three course meal at Tigerlily on George Street. The meal will be complimented by table-side performances from TV magic consultant Lewis Barlow, former Scottish Close-up Magician of the Year, Billy Reid, and four times Scottish champion Chris Dinewood.
Secret Room: 5th & 6th July at Lauriston Castle (tickets cost £20 and £18 for concessions)
The Secret Room transports its guests back in time to explore hidden passages and clandestine laboratories with three of Scotland’s finest magicians - Chris Dinewoodie, Drew McAdam and Michael Neto – as they animate the castle’s mysterious and colourful past with stories, performances and illusions.
Juan Tamariz: 9th July at George Square Theatre (tickets from £16)
Renowned Spanish magician Juan Tamariz (nicknamed El Maestro) joins MagicFest to perform a live public show for the first time ever in Scotland. Tamariz will seduce the audience into his world of wonder through misdirection, manipulation and befuddling card tricks.
Kevin Quantum: 4th July at the Scottish Story Telling Centre (tickets cost £13 and £11 for concessions)
Magician/scientist hybrid Kevin Quantum presents his brand new show Illuminations. A showcase of light-based illusions, including the slowing of time using flickering beams, and, for the first time ever, the creation of a rainbow live on stage.
R. Paul Wilson: 2nd & 3rd July at Summerhall Anatomy Room (tickets cost £13 and £11 for concessions)
Magician and star of BBC’s The Real Hustle, R. Paul Wilson is a leading authority on con games, cheating and the art of deception. Impossibilia will take the audience on a tour through Paul’s repertoire of conjuring curiosities, scams and impossibilities. Expect stories and demonstrations gathered from a lifetime of study and passion for the art of magic.
Vincent Gambini: 2nd & 3rd July at Summerhall Red Theatre (tickets cost £11 and £9 for concessions)
Vincent Gambini presents This is not a Magic Show – part performance-lecture, part deconstructed magic tricks – breaking down sleight-of-hand, revealing the secrets of misdirection and its invisible mechanics and its clichés.
David Gerard: 2nd & 3rd July at Summerhall Cairn Theatre (tickets cost £11 and £9 for concessions)
Magic adventurists are invited to become a player in mindreader David Gerard’s Game Night. A mix of board games and mystery arts, making use of Monopoly and Ouija Boards.
More info: www.magicfest.co.uk and www.facebook.com/edmagicfest