@ Edinburgh Playhouse, until Sat 19 Mar 2016
Audiences will be hard pushed not to be impressed by some of the magic, trickery and sheer insanity on display at the Edinburgh Playhouse this week as the “magic spectacular” show, Impossible, comes to the capital following a successful run in London’s West End.
The show, the brainchild of Jamie Hendry Productions who have also produced such musical successes as Let It Be and Legally Blonde: The Musical, delves into the history of magic.
The compère role falls to Ben Hart who warms into his role as the show goes on providing a lively mix of humour and magic, but it is daredevil (and seeming madman) Jonathan Goodwin who steals the show, at one particularly terrifying point, even setting himself alight!
There is much audience participation, delightful for those in the first few rows but tedious for those sitting in the dress circle who miss much of what is going on during these interludes. Similarly, there are a number of tricks on display which are difficult to see from afar and, despite a video link on a screen above the stage, at these points the show loses some lustre and certainly some magic. Veteran performer, Lee Thompson, however, gets it just right delivering a showstopping trick involving the entire audience and causing a great deal of laughter when he pickpockets an unsuspecting audience member live on stage.
Madcap Chris Cox adds energy and fun to proceedings as he bamboozles the audience with his mind-reading skills, Josephine Lee adds some sass and glamour while Magical Bones, otherwise known as Richard Essien, combines card tricks with breakdancing to cleverly mixed tracks from DJ Yoda.
It is an eclectic mix and in a smaller, more familiar setting will pack a punch; but is a large theatre really the best venue for such a show? The audience probably haven’t paid to watch a performance through a video screen and yet, too often throughout the show, that is what most of the audience end up doing. The show harks back to the early days of magic as a street performance and perhaps Impossible would be more impressive performed in the street rather than in a capacious auditorium.
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