In what has to be one of the strangest years any of us has experienced the Edinburgh Fringe has understandably been cancelled. While appreciating this had to be done for obvious reasons it does leave a gap in August that a lot of people look forward to throughout the year. There is a definitely going to be a completely different feel to Edinburgh for the rest of the summer with the usual buzz and excitement missing and we will miss all the inspirational live shows that are usually on tap. We also feel for the performers in the entertainment industry who have seen there livelihoods put on hold with not much light at the end of the tunnel. Or so we thought until we heard from friend of the shop Magic Gareth…
With a nearly sold out run at last year’s festival Gareth has adapted his shows to provide online magic shows. When we heard about this we had to find out more;
It seemed the entertainment industry was completely dead. How did the idea of doing online shows come about, you have done so many people must be enjoying them?
When lockdown started I tried to remain positive and proactive by doing Facebook Lives for my fans. After the second Live show, I had an enquiry to do a kids birthday party over Zoom. That was the first I had ever heard of then Zoom platform but now it is engrained in the whole world as the unofficial sponsor of COVID-19.
I guess there are challenges with doing magic online, have you found any benefits or positives you wouldn’t have anticipated?
This is the future.
Have you spoken with any other performers doing something ‘Fringe’ related or do you think you are the only one?
I have put the idea into other magicians heads recently so I think there may be a surge of them coming up! However I did notice that the FREE FRINGE is still trying to go ahead online. All the best to them in keeping the art alive.
Who will enjoy your latest show and what can people expect from Live in Your Living Room?Â
My show is recommend for ages 5+ but its for everyone, really! Its going to have a few twists and turns along the way and will be super interactive! Im planning something very interesting for the end – fingers crossed it all works out the way to is in my head!
