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MAGICFEST CHRISTMAS SPECIAL Futuristic magic show provides a different take on festive fun

This year’s MagicFest Christmas Special is a collaboration between Scottish magician- scientist Kevin Quantum (pictured), and high-tech Swedish wizard Charlie Caper. The Miracle of Christmas Future uses sleight of hand, state-of-the-art technology, illusions and science to give audiences a small peek into a future world where Santa’s sled is a hybrid and the elves have been replaced with robots. Enjoy everything from levitations to misdirection as the two performers show you what Christmas in the 21st century truly looks like.

As well as their main Christmas show, MagicFest have partnered with Edinburgh Young Carers and YouTube superstar Professor

Richard Wiseman this year for Now You See It, Now You Don’t. The jaw-dropping exhibition of photographic illusions recreates a series of the most famous optical illusions, staged all over Edinburgh, with 30 young carers aged between 5 and 17 involved in the planning team and as models. ‘In addition to our Christmas Special live

show, we’re excited about expanding our Christmas programme this year in collaboration with Edinburgh Young Carers,’ says MagicFest founder and creative director, Svetlana McMahon. ‘MagicFest has had a relationship with them for the last three years. The Local Event Fund from Edinburgh Council has allowed

us to develop that relationship and create fun, mind-blowing artwork with these Edinburgh kids that will be seen by tens of thousands of people living in and visiting Edinburgh.’ The Scottish Storytelling Centre will present pictures of the illusions themselves, while the Museum of Childhood will offer a big reveal, explaining how the illusions were created, featuring interviews with some of the young carers who were involved. (Arusa Qureshi) The Miracle of Christmas Future, Traverse, Edinburgh, Thu 27–Sun 30 Dec; Now You See It, Now You Don’t, Scottish Storytelling Centre and The Museum of Childhood, Edinburgh, Thu 13 Dec–Sat 26 Jan.

1 Nov 2018–31 Jan 2019 THE LIST 79

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