What do you get when you subtract the hip alter ego from magician Steven Frayne? And, for that matter, most of the showmanship from onstage conjuring? You get this set from the artist formerly known as Dynamo, his first performed under his own name, after a stint in hospital (Frayne suffers from Crohn’s disease and arthritis) left him doubting he’d ever perform again. It’s an unorthodox show, because our host eschews the usual hype that inflates great magic into dramatic theatre. In its place, vulnerability and a seeming emotional honesty, as 42-year-old Frayne reconnects with his craft and builds a new identity out of the ashes of his old persona.
The tricks are strung together by autobiography, as Frayne gives us a slideshow of family photos, remembers the grandad who encouraged him to take up magic, and screens a video of his recent medical woes. Ostensibly, the tricks are tailored to the personal story – and to Frayne’s recent insight that “the magic is in other people”. In practice, this means audience participation, and the illusion that they are the ones supplying the wonder.
