Bullet Catch, Arches, Glasgow Star rating: ****
Gregor MacGregor Star rating: ***
Do you believe in magic? Do you believe in free will? These two shows are very different in content, form and presentation but do share an underlying theme: let's call it collusion in the illusion.
Bullet Catch sees Rob Drummond, in the affable guise of stage magician William Wonder, entice us into a tricksy realm when he declares his intention to risk all ... and catch a speeding bullet in his teeth. One shot from a gun fired by a randomly-selected member of the audience. And of course, we laugh - disbelieving the possibility of any danger, even when he weaves the story of William Henderson into his act. Henderson was killed on-stage, in 1909, during a similar attempt. Will Hannah - recruited to be Wonder's assistant - pull that trigger?
Here's where Drummond's magic lies. His conjuring skills are genuine and very impressive, but his ability to make a profound philosophical meditation into a hugely entertaining magic show is cleverer still because it is so subtly done.
Gregor MacGregor, as it turns out, was a bit of an illusionist himself. Al Seed and Guy Veale stumbled across this 18th-century soldier/adventurer/con-man when researching earlier collaborations. Seed reads while Veale delivers the sound and images that flesh out far-reaching reflections on what defines real and imagined nations - and lures us to invest our hopes, even our cash in them. Mighty persuasive - I now own Plot 2 in the Seed-Veale scheme of things, a wee portable bag of soil with useful information for fellow travellers. I'd now like to believe Gregor MacGregor would expand into a full-scale production.
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