Spirit of War Magician Maskeleyne Brought to Life by Kevin Quantum at Army@TheFringe

Ever heard of Jasper Maskeleyne? Many haven’t these days – but he was quite remarkable. He was known as The War Magician and was a major inspiration for Kevin Quantum‘s ★★★★ Army@TheFringe show The Trick That Fooled.

During the show Kevin, who is based in Edinburgh, recreated magic tricks that fooled the greatest and most creative people ever to have lived.

Kevin Quantum with the cadets and tank

But he also looked at how magic has been used in other ways, and in one instance – for example it was used to deceive the Nazis during WW2.

Maskelyne worked with the British Army, bringing his knowledge of illusion and engineering to confound the Nazis, even making an entire tank battalion appear, made from plywood and paint!

Kevin followed in Maskelyne’s footsteps, by building a tank and then finding a way to hide it and, of course, make it appear for a live audience.

Every day Army cadets helped put together the tank so Kevin could make it appear during his show – and get quite a “wow” from the audience.

Army@TheFringe continues until 22 August and tickets for shows are available from Edfringe.com or www.armyatthefringe.org.