Laughing Horse @ The Temple (venue website) Comedy 7, 12-14, 19-21, 26-28 May, 9:00pm-10:00pm
Suitable for age 18+ only.  Warning: Contains strong language.

Let’s get one thing clear from the start: Peter Campbell-Wells really isn’t psychic.  What he is, though, is a hugely entertaining and talented illusionist, whose great-value act held us hopelessly spellbound at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe.

Disarmingly proclaiming that “clairvoyance is absurd”, Campbell-Wells blows raspberries at your standard mentalist – candidly admitting that his mind-reading powers are based on psychology alone.  All the same, in Edinburgh we praised his seemingly-impossible feats of foretelling, which started with standard stage-magic tricks yet built to a confounding conclusion.  Afterwards, our reviewer wrote, the audience spent the rest of the evening trying to untangle his secrets – aided (or misdirected?) by the few props he’d “accidentally” left behind.

Campbell-Wells even blows the whistle on a few of his own secrets, explaining how less-reputable “psychics” hook gullible patrons with cheap parlour tricks.  But even knowing what he’s doing – to the limited degree that he allows – doesn’t reduce the impact of this thought-provoking show.  So whether you’re seeking intellectual exercise or just some OMGs, we see a pleasant evening in our crystal ball.