Review Centre: Family Entertainment

"we had magic den for our sons 4th birthday party today and couldn't recommend him highly enough, kept all children entertained from start to finish, 5 star."

Rating: 10 / 10 Share this review:

"Had him come to a family reunion and the kids LOVED it! Highly recommend! "

Rating: 10 / 10 Share this review:

"Sam’s warm persona, showmanship, professionalism and his willingness to go the extra mile (at all times) will surely make your event a glowing success."

Rating: 10 / 10 Share this review:

"Serendipity is what you’re aiming for in Edinburgh: a happy discovery out of the blue. Yes, it sounds like a paradox, like “expect the unexpected”. But up here, you must not just expect it, but welcome it. So if you hear, for instance (in a genu-ine example from a few years ago), of a 15-minute musical about a stewardess called The Jolly Folly Of Polly The Scottish Trolley Dolly playing in a minor venue towards the bottom of the Royal Mile, well, it’s not much time or money, so you’ve nothing to lose by taking a punt on it. And if you’re staggering across the Royal Mile in the small hours and meet a crowd of drunken loud¬mouths, wait for a couple of minutes before writing them off: it could be comedian Arthur Smith’s legendary Alternative Walking Tour. This event, though, is now in semi-retirement following an incident in 2000 when the reeling mob was mistaken for a bunch of nocturnal anti-Ann Widdecombe protesters (no, honestly), which led to the arrest of comic Simon Munnery for assaulting a police offi¬cer . . . “assaulting” in the sense of getting in the way of the cop’s body- charge. (Munnery’s tried and acquittal were amusing, too, but took place outside Festival season.) The true Edinburgh expe-rience is being knocked side-ways by a show, trying to explain it to others and real-ising that there’s no way you can do so and still sound remotely compos mentis, such as the piece about 10 years ago which consisted of a Hungarian woman in a sealed Perspex tank, per¬forming a dance routine whose duration and moves were limited by the available air in the box. If I were to say that last week I was affected beyond words by a Polish theatre company singing the ancient Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh in the strange polyphonic harmonies of southern Albania, you’d no doubt wonder whether I’ve been getting enough sleep lately. Yet Chronicles: A Lamenta-tion by the Piesn Kozla com-pany is a remarkable piece admirable and impressive, though hardly shattering. And then, walking away from the venue a few min¬utes after it was over, I had to stop in my tracks: I was fighting back tears, for no reason I could identify. Somehow the piece had bypassed the conscious areas of my mind and tapped into the well of basic emotion. Harrowing stuff. But the main discovery of the month so far is altogether more joy-ous: a bunch of Ukrainian paper-tearing clowns: Around 1990, Italian “ori¬gami impressionist” Ennio Marchetto was the hit of the Fringe, performing a series of mime impersonations while wearing amazingly intricate costumes he had constructed out of card¬board. Marchetto returns this weekend for the first time in several years, but he may find his thunder already stolen by the Mim-I- Richi company and their show Paper World. Not that their show is as painstakingly designed . . . dean me, no. They sim¬ply tear loads of plain paper up and play with it. And I mean loads: possibly around an acre of the stuff per show. You walk into the theatre, see a huge paper backdrop and think, “Ah, that’ll be the climax of the show.” Not a bit of it: it’s already in shreds after half an hour, and the fun keeps coming. Mim-I-Richi’s discovery is a simple one: tear paper, crumple it up, and you can pretend it’s just about any-thing: a football, a baby, a maneating monster, what¬ever. It’s the same sort of aesthetic which has informed many of designer Julian Crouch’s projects in the UK with Improbable Theatre, but more endear¬ingly ramshackle. Also like Improbable, Mim-I-Richi relishes the spontaneous and unexpected; it’s that shared delight in the moment which is at the heart of the best clowning. The players go to great lengths to involve the audience in their show, and are happy to take ideas and run with them, even when the “idea” is an uncontroRa- ble little boy in the front row who won’t stop flinging balls of paper back at them. For this isn’t enforced audience participation of the “let’s pretend we’re having fun” kind. The four perform-ers manage to get hundreds of people in the Pod Deco’s main space all pratting about gleefully like kids in a playground; they create an atmosphere of free play that is intensely liberating, and make sure that every single person in the house is car¬ried along. All that without a single word of dialogue. People by the hundred are discovering Mim-I-Richi up here, but that doesn’t make the joy of serendipity any less when you find them yourself."

Rating: 10 / 10 Share this review:

"Will entertained our guest and us on our wedding, everyone loved the whole experience and even after weeks gone by people are still talking about it, top class entertainment, nice person to be around and while we were organising the night he was quick to reply too, he made everybody believe that magic is real. Toni-ann Durrands 22/09/19"

Rating: 10 / 10 Share this review:

"Ian is absolutely amazing at what he does! We are so pleased that we chose him to be part of our special day! His magic is mind blowing and he is such a talented chap! If you are wanting something a little different and a total crowd pleaser he is definitely your man! Highly recommend!"

Rating: 10 / 10 Share this review:

"Many thanks for travelling to Barcelona and entertaining the family on Saturday. They absolutely loved it."

Rating: 10 / 10 Share this review:

"Dante was so amazing and the absolute highlight of our son's 6th birthday. Both the parents and the kids really enjoyed his show, he had all ages engaged (not to mention truly lol'ing). His show is a balance of humor and impressive magic tricks that he delivers in a highly considered and professional manner. In addition to him being a great performer his real magic is his understanding of children. You can tell he has a kind heart and he is focused on making sure the kids are comfortable and having fun, and he knows how to roll with the unexpected additions that young ones might bring to a show. My son didn't want to take part in the show as he is a bit shy for that sort of thing, but Dante made sure he felt special by adding special touches that still made him feel like the star of the show. I really appreciate everything that Dante brought to the party, I had multiple parents coming up to me afterward asking to get his information, even saying they wanted him at their own birthday parties! After everything that we've been through with the pandemic Dante's show felt like pure joy and something I know my son will always remember, and that's worth everything to me."

Rating: 10 / 10 Share this review:

"absolutely everything you ask for in a drag act. super friendly, bubbly, just a great person and entertainer. never too busy to have a general chit chat with you. Best drag act I've seen in a long time. you are amazing. keep being you"

Rating: 10 / 10 Share this review:

"Great fun, close up magic perfect for a dinner event"

Rating: 10 / 10 Share this review:

"Ian is the very best in the business.......he is the Pavorroti of Magic!"

Reply by Ian McCoy
Thank you George - and thank you for having me on your TV show! Bst wishes Ian

Rating: 10 / 10 Share this review:

"Craig was absolutely fantastic performing at our work event. He kept everyone entertained and astounded in equal measure! I'd definitely recommend him and book him again without hesitation. (Taken from Google Review)"

Rating: 10 / 10 Share this review:

"Will is the ultimate professional. I have seen him at a large event working the tables and also at a small family party charming small groups of guests from teenagers to 90 year olds. The magic is fabulous and mixed with Will’s charm and sense of humour he was an addition to our party that will definitely be remembered. Joy Flanagan 13/09/19"

Rating: 10 / 10 Share this review:

"This review is way overdue, but when you still want to write one months after the event, it's only for a very special thing which was our experience with Dante. We hired Dante to do a magic show for our son's 5th birthday at Safari Run in Sunnyvale, and it was a hit! The audience participation was incredible, all the kids wanted to be the magician's assistants. The kids' age range was from 3 to 5, and everyone had a blast including the adults! We'll definitely hire Dante again; he's an amazing artist and also a great person, easy to talk to and make plans with. He promptly responded to all of our emails, answered all of our questions, and called us the night before the event to confirm. Thanks to him, entertainment was one less thing to worry about, and we really appreciated that. I wish I also had videos to share for this review, but the truth is, every time I picked up my phone to do that, I was so distracted by another trick that I failed to record a single video of decent quality - he was just that good! I highly recommend Dante for any kids' event and I'm hoping to have him host another magic show for us in the future."

Rating: 10 / 10 Share this review:

"I saw his show in Copenhagen and he is a terrific magician, very unique."

Rating: 10 / 10 Share this review: