The Magical Adventures of Pete Heat

If there was ever a niche in the market for hip twentysomething fans of minimalist stage magic, it is now well and truly filled. Pete Heat (Pete Hathway) is surely the Channel 4 generation's Houdini, and his Fringe run should absolutely not be missed.

By interweaving absurdly shit non-tricks into an otherwise legitimately impressive line-up of actual tricks, Hathway's audience is artfully bewitched into an altogether unusual state of goofy awe.  If at times that conceit means that the 'real' magic pops up too abruptly for its audience to register what's happened, it should not be at the cost of those absurd non-magic gems (something to do with a loaf of bread and an angry weasel).

Hathway, in a nutshell, may very well be the most charming magician you'll come across at the Fringe. An argument could be made that he is the most likeable magician working today, full-stop, but that may not sound like much amid the cocaine-crusted Criss Angels and borderline-smarmy Derren Browns of the world. He's Noel Fielding performing sleight of hand, some lanky, cuddly love-child of Demitri Martin and Mitch Hedberg, and a welcome alternative to straight standup and/or that particular type of laboured punk-magic that's been cropping up since the early noughties. Even when he botches a trick toward the end of the performance, his man-pixie demeanour alleviates any awkwardness and, frankly, prods our curiosity about the actual execution of these tricks in a way that shiny Vegas-magic never really does.