@ Summerhall, Edinburgh, until 4 Jul 2015
Colin Cloud brings Sherlock Holmes-esque skills to the stage in this stunning MagicFest show where he both mind-reads and mesmerises the impressed audience.
As the crowd assembles Cloud can be seen sitting centre stage, blindfolded, in his own words “like Zorro”. He also assures the audience that it is this moment they will most remember when they leave tonight…
As the lights flash and the music opens the show, an X-Factor type voice introduces the entertainer for the night: the enigmatic Colin Cloud. His mystique and intriguing persona pulls the audience in as he begins to deduce facts about people he can’t possibly have known already. By getting people to say just “hello” he is able to ascertain exactly whence they have come. One girl is stunned as he initially pinpoints “somewhere near Glasgow” and then correctly picks out Drymen – a village in Stirlingshire of just over 800 people – while a second is “too easy – Enfield.”
And the astonishing acts just keep on coming! All night the audience sits open-mouthed, baffled by his skill and trickery, and everyone wants the evening to just keep on going. He correctly reads memories, helps one woman recall songs from up to twenty years ago, identifies objects from asking just simple word association questions and most impressively, and certainly most terrifyingly, appears to kill a man. I shall reveal no more about that particular trick (so as not to blow his cover) but he admits to it being the perfect murder and it is something which truly has to be seen to be believed.
Cloud provides an hour of incredible, and at times unbelievable, entertainment which even the most cynical would be hard pushed not to be impressed by. He is a phenomenon and one who can also perform – the show not once leaving the full crowd bored. He is coming back for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and is a must-see for anyone interested in the power of the mind, or who just wants to see something daring and different this August.
Oh, and the audience did, despite initial expectations, very definitely remember that moment from the beginning…