Ben Hart is quickly turning into the most powerful wizard in the world. He’s reached the final of Britain’s Got Talent, become a member of the Inner Magic Circle, and written and starred in seven award-winning original shows at the Fringe. Hart’s the closest we’ll get to Gandalf in this universe. Now he’s back with a new main show, Labyrinth. Taking place in an in-the-round theatre surrounded by mirrors, what could possibly go wrong?
Hart has a unique but utterly engaging energy on stage. He doesn’t just have the simple, smug charisma that most magicians possess; there is an awkwardness here, a slight frantic energy. It quickly wins the audience over. As he curses the people smashing bottles outside with a few choice words, and admits that he has gone ‘way off-book’, it’s easy to feel you are having a one-on-one conversation with the sorcerer. Hart is at his best when maintaining authenticity.
Yet, when constrained to his script, the lines become laborious and generic. He recites the usual mumbo-jumbo about magicians simply telling stories, an act that is as old as mankind itself. These are generic phrases, ‘life is the culmination of choices we make’, which almost give the impression of being AI-generated. The framework of a labyrinth is a loose one. Hart supposedly wants to examine how choices can change our lives, yet that’s such an immensely broad topic that the show has little meaningful drive.
Thankfully, Hart is seemingly a real-life magic-maker, so his tricks make up for the lack of ideological exploration. Audience members’ cards jump positions in packs, handkerchiefs tie themselves together, and keys disappear and reappear. I had the privilege of sitting front row, less than a metre away from the acts, and am still none the wiser as to how such tricks are done. Admittedly, it is clear with some tricks that they rely on rapid sleight of hand, yet it is the show’s finale that I’m positive must require real magic to create. It is genuinely jaw-dropping stuff, and convinces 300 people that Ben Hart must surely be able to read the future. There is no other explanation.
So if you’re looking for sophisticated storytelling with magic as a tool, then head elsewhere. But if you’re after some ‘oooohhs’ and ‘ahhhhs’, with the need to rub your eyes to make sure this is reality, then Hart is the best man out there. I don’t know what position is above the Inner Magic Circle, but surely Ben Hart has now reached the peak of the magic pyramid.
Listings and ticket information can be found here
