Originally published on L.S. Media. July 17th 2012.

L.S. Media Rating *****

Think you know magic? Until you have seen the spectacle of Gateshead born magician extraordinaire Totally Ninja-David Alnwick on stage, you haven’t seen anything.

Forget David Blaine or any other magician you would care to toss up in the air and with sleight of hand remove it as if they never existed, David Alnwick manages to make them look like complete and utter amateurs. With a lot of magicians you can sort of see where the trick is going; it’s there staring at you in the face all along, you just have to know where to watch, with this young man it’s damn near impossible to even comprehend where to watch. Look at his hands they really aren’t doing anything and yet he managed to make everyone inside The lantern Theatre scratch their heads in bemused bewilderment and start asking their neighbour if they had seen what he did.

As part of the Shiny New Theatre festival at The Lantern Theatre, a magic show might not exactly been the first thing you thought of seeing, it’s a strong bet that David thought of it though, but this show which is heading to the Edinburgh Fringe soon and there can be no doubt that when the audiences get to see this guy, it will raise the bar for any that dare follow him.

With more tricks up his sleeve than a cunning fox wearing a dozen embroidered shirts, it’s fair to say that to even highlight one would be an act of sheer insanity, the only thing any reviewer will be able to say is, “go by the audience reaction on this, you will hear at least one person shout out loud, no way.”

If you are fortunate enough to ever see this young man in action, be prepared to have the very idea of conceptual magic flushed away and reappear in the form of a rather dazzling man from Gateshead.

Ian D. Hall