Review – Pete Firman: Jiggery Pokery, Pleasance Dome, Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Sadly the Whingers were sitting too near the back for Phil to volunteer Andrew for Pete Firman’s guillotine trick. The thought of Andrew’s neck positioned between a pair of carrots with a blade hovering ominously conjured (no pun intended) a glorious image in Phil’s mind.

But the Whingers would happily sit through Firman’s breathless magic show Jiggery Pokery again (and still be none the wiser), so it may yet happen. Next time Phil will bring his knitting, this was the best guillotine scene since Danton’s Death.

How does he do it? We have no idea and it would be churlish to reveal the tricks with which Firman boggled, but the word-from-a-book trick is absurdly fiendish. It’s an hour of fast-paced trickery with the charming (and,  Phil thought, rather comely) Middlesborough magician who delivers the prestidigitation goods in tandem with terrific stand up comedy.

Ad-libbing brilliantly with his “victims” the hour passed all too quickly and when do we ever say that? He works his audience with a crowd control that wouldn’t go amiss on the nation’s streets.

Fantastic entertainment.

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