Late Night Horror Magic Show, Colin Cloud and Magic Quest @ Edinburgh Magic Festival

While other magicians slink on-stage with a leather briefcase or a glass cloche of tricks, or more likely, no receptacle at all, Luke Eaton stumbles into Summerhall’s Anatomy Theatre for his Late Night Horror Magic Show [★★★★★]  wielding a toolbox and a grin. Eaton plays with extension cables while chatting with the crowd, adjusts his faded jeans, hugs his volunteers, then tells them that, yes, it is fine to use this hammer to ease this nail into his nasal cavity.

For those of us who are so inclined, the addition of gross-out horror to the already impressive tricks is pure liquid wonderment. Eaton himself is affable, amiable and absolutely true to his word. He promised something unique from the fringes of the magic world; something we’d never see anywhere else. He delivered on this promise to the extent that our stomachs are taken on a whirlwind tour of emotions. He leaves us trying to figure out if this is an illusion, or if Eaton just discovered that he could fit a three-inch nail into one of his sinuses without killing himself?

Meanwhile, Colin Cloud previews his mentalism show Kills [work-in-progress] before it arrives at the Fringe. It's a lesson in the art of deduction, which brings us from the all-too natural urge to read minds and influence people to the supernatural ability to actually do so. Cloud uses his background in criminal psychology and his knack for noticing the unnoticable to pay homage to the Great Detective Sherlock Holmes, decipher a whisper in a room full of cheers, and perform the kind of finale which requires a release form to be signed on-stage first. A charming and deft performer, this is already a slick show. How much will the finished hour differ in August?

Aside from the odd moment hammering a card onto a magician’s face or having your mind read from across the room, much of the MagicFest’s adult programme involves sitting back and watching a master at work. Throughout the festival, though, there is a range of immersive, educational treats for the under-16s and their beautiful grown-up assistants. We tried our hand at Magic Quest [★★★], a step-by-step mission to rid Summerhall of the evil demons that have somehow snuck through into our dimension. Though a little imagination is required to turn simple props into the snakes and ancient artefacts we are dealing with, the six stages present a nice spread of challenges, from physical to logical, and with a bit of costume design and dragon-slaying to round it all off. More experienced warrior-magicians can solve more bewitching puzzles in the Tower of Illusion at Camera Obscura later in the day, too.