Neil Henry is back after his five-star sell out show last year with Mindwangler, which promises more magic, shock and amazement.
This is a Fringe show that is actually appropriate for all the family. The audience comprised of the very young to the very old, and all were left in the same sense of wonderment as Henry manages to switch polaroid photographs with a boy who is holding it in his teeth.
The show very much continued in that fashion. Trick after trick was performed flawlessly and there was plenty of audience interaction – chosen at random obviously by Jess the cat (name may vary). Henry called people on stage to help with mind reading tricks. He even got an audience member to correctly predict what the contents of 5 cans were!
While everything went right in the show, I just failed to connect on any particular level. It's not that I wasn't impressed, it just felt flat. A lot of the tricks I have also seen previously, although Henry did dress them up in an entertaining way. Getting the audience to accurately predict the numbers on a lottery ticket has been a staple of magicians for years now, although the way he got us to contribute numbers at random throughout the show was a neat twist on the formula.
That feeling wasn't helped by the layout of the room, where those at the back missed out on the subtler nuances and visual displays Henry put on, although that is not as in his control.
None of this should detract from the overall enjoyment of the show, and if you have young children, they will absolutely love it!
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Neil Henry: Mindwangler is on at the Pleasance Dome at 16:00. Tickets and more information can be found on the EdFringe website.
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