Halifax magician and actual wizard Vincenzo Ravina returns to the Halifax Fringe with his new magic show, Actual Magic.
Audiences should expect to be surprised and baffled by unusual events around potions, playing cards, books, and murder.
We learn more in this Q&A with Ravina.
Actual Magic plays as part of the 2023 Halifax Fringe Festival at Neptune Theatre’s Scotiabank Stage from August 31 – September 5. Visit the Halifax Fringe ticket outlet for tickets and information.
This interview has been edited.
Tell us about Actual Magic. What can audiences expect?
Audiences should expect to be surprised and baffled by unusual events around potions, playing cards, books, and murder.
What inspired Actual Magic?
The top inspirations for this show would probably be Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot stories, Twin Peaks, The Twilight Zone, the feeling you get when you look up at the stars, my displeasure with AI creating art, and the theft of the Mona Lisa in 1911.
Also, this show is sort of a skewed alternate version of some of my previous shows. Over the past year, in addition to private events, I’ve been self-producing my show, Actual Wizard, for the public at different venues around town, such as the Maritime Conservatory of Performing Arts. That show’s ending directly contradicts this show’s ending, so I’ve started thinking of Actual Magic as an alternate-reality version of my previous shows. It is not a sequel or a prequel but a parallel show in which things are similar but different. So anyone who has been closely following the canon of my magic shows, meticulously taking notes, and finds canon violations upsetting should understand that going in.
Why this particular show now?
Whenever Fringe comes around, I use it as an excuse to force myself to write a new show on a deadline, and I know that because it’s the Fringe, it can be as unusual and experimental as I please. So it’s time for this particular show now because I just wrote it.
What do you hope audiences leave Actual Magic talking about?
I hope they leave talking about how much fun they had and how surprised and delighted they were when the aliens dropped down from the ceiling (kidding, no spoilers, it wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you about the aliens) and discussing plans to have dinner with every other member of the audience because they all became friends as a result of coming to the show.
And if they liked it, they should consider coming to see Actual Wizard at the Bus Stop Theatre on October 30, 2023, which will be entirely different from this Fringe show.
Why should someone come to see Actual Magic?
Someone should come to see my show if they like absurd magic. If they don’t, they should definitely see a different show.
Actual Magic plays as part of the 2023 Halifax Fringe Festival at Neptune Theatre’s Scotiabank Stage from August 31 – September 5. Visit the Halifax Fringe ticket outlet for tickets and information.
The Halifax Fringe Festival returns from August 31 through September 10, with more than 60 productions taking place at venues across the city.