The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Ben Hart: Wonder
Webster Theatre, Arbroath, February 7; Dundee Rep, February 8
Watch very closely...now you see it, now you don’t.
Magician Ben Hart is bringing his own brand of illusion, trickery and conjuring to Arbroath and Dundee next weekend.
The 29-year-old from Winchester finished third in last year’s Britain’s Got Talent series, with judge David Walliams describing him as “the living embodiment of magic”.
Ben started learning the art as a child and at the age of 16 was named the Magic Circle’s Young Magician of the Year.
Since then he has become one of the youngest members of the Inner Magic Circle, the secretive organisation’s highest level.
A few years later in 2014 Ben was given his own TV show. Killer Magic ran for two seasons on BBC 3 and pitted five magicians against one another as they competed to win various tasks.
The show picked up a gong at the
National Reality Television Awards and led to more television for Ben.
He starred in Ben Hart’s Life Hacks and then Ben Hart’s Life Hacks with The Voice, which saw the musician play magical pranks on celebrity judges of The Voice, including Boy George, Paloma Faith and the Kaiser Chief’s Ricky Wilson.
He also landed a prime time slot on BBC One’s Now You See It, presented by Mel Giedroyc.
When he is not performing in front of the camera, Ben, who lives in London, scripts and invents magic. His work as a magic designer has seen him create special effects and illusions for film, television and theatre.
He has designed illusions for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Old Vic, the Globe and the Hampstead Theatre and was the magician behind the special effects in the West End production of The Exorcist.
On The One Show he “teleported” a volunteer to the top of Broadcasting House and he created the “world’s first 360-degree magic trick” for the Royal Television Society using virtual reality headsets and 360-degree cameras.
Ben’s first Scottish performances were in 2013, when he brought his one-man show The Outsider to the Edinburgh Fringe and was nominated for the Time Out Cabaret Award.
Since then, he has toured all over the world, performing in America, Australia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Next week will see him bring his box of tricks to Arbroath’s Webster Theatre on Friday and Dundee Rep the following evening.
Ben has become known for a unique performance style that mixes original magic with storytelling and theatricality – one reviewer memorably described his stage persona as a mix between Tim Burton and Hannibal Lector.