Tim Licata: Close up and personal
★★★★☆ Childhood magic
Assembly Rooms (Venue 20): Thurs 1 to Sun 25 August 2024
Review by Marion Geoffray.
Local Edinburgh magician Tim Licata is back at the Fringe with Close-up and Personal at Assembly Rooms. It is a delightful show, filled with autobiographical anecdotes and magic tricks. But there’s more to it than traditional illusions.
Licata makes himself at home in the Assembly’s Front Room: there’s a TV screen, an antique black box, a table-top with chairs and a quirky side unit housing a whisky bottle and glasses. This cosy set immediately draws the audience in and creates a treacherous sense of comfort – until handpicked spectators are invited to join him on stage.
Tim Licata Close-up and Personal publicity image. Pic: Twin City Pictures.
A series of childhood pictures retrace Licata’s love for dressing up, especially for Halloween, his favourite time of the year. His fascination for monsters reveals that he’s always felt “other” and that maybe he too, deep down, is a supernatural creature. A few of his close-up tricks could genuinely convince you that he is.
Licata adeptly uses his prestidigitation skills as an integral part of his storytelling, one enhances the other. His impressive legerdemain is a direct legacy from his family. Hailing all the way from Sicily to New York, he questions their darker connections to the mafia and ponders once again on whether he belongs on the “good” side or the “bad” side. Could Magic be the perfect medium to reunite both worlds, both selves…?
There are plenty of oohs and aahs, gasps and claps from the audience during the show, indicating that the magic is definitely working. He knows how to work a crowd with charm and humour which makes the audience participation and interaction even more engaging and entertaining.
This intimate journey of self-discovery and acceptance is as much about believing in magic as it is about believing in yourself. It’s not too much of a spoiler to reveal that the show culminates in a hold-your-breath moment, enough make your inner child jump for more.
Running time: One hour (no interval)
Assembly rooms (Front Room), 54 George Street, EH2 2LR (Venue 20).
Thursday 1 – Sunday 25 August 2024
Daily (not Mon 19): 9.05pm
Details and tickets at: Book here
Website: www.timlicatamagic.com
Facebook: @tee.licatamagic
Instagram: @timlicatamagic
X: @timlicatamagic
ENDS
