Edinburgh Fringe 2026
Ben Hart: Labyrinth
Genre: Magic and Mentalism
Venue: Palais du Variété at Assembly George Square Gardens
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
A captivating blend of magic, mentalism and theatricality from a performer of considerable skill. Ben Hart’s unsettling energy gives Labyrinth an intriguing unpredictability, while some astonishingly creative set pieces leave the audience rapt with wonder. Inventive, accomplished and frequently baffling in all the right ways.
Review
Ben Hart: Labyrinth is playing at the Palais du Variete at Assembly George Square Gardens at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2026. A captivating blend of magic, mentalism and theatricality, Hart creates a pensive atmosphere where we are never entirely certain whether a trick has finished or another reveal is waiting around the corner.
Several retractable lights can descend all the way to stage level, helping to raise the tension and at times, completely change the shape and feel of the performance space. Multimedia is also used well throughout, with a handheld camera feeding onto the large screen and allowing the audience to get up close to some of Hart’s more intricate work. He doesn’t want us to think he’s cheating.
Hart himself is a slightly frenetic and off-kilter presence, scattily jumping from thought to thought. He takes to the stage with the confidence of a magician and mentalist who knows his tricks are going to work, while simultaneously playing with the idea that they might not. There is great tension and humour in the suggestion that either Hart or one of his audience volunteers could get something wrong, adding jeopardy to the proceedings.
One of the standout moments is actually one of the least overtly magical. Making wonderful use of the projector, Hart creates an extended piece of shadow puppetry using his hands, head, hair and seemingly any other body part that might help. Doves, goats, dogs and human figures appear with astonishing precision, all set to a dark music track. It is a beautifully simple demonstration of human dexterity and creativity that leaves the audience rapt with wonder.
In terms of setting up the set-piecers, Hart doesn’t necessarily have the silky-smooth delivery associated with some mentalists, though his off-the-cuff work is good. His energy is stranger and more unpredictable but largely he gets away with it because the magic itself is so impressive. If anything could be refined, it is perhaps the way some of the bigger reveals are allowed to land with us. At times, the audience seems unsure whether to offer the huge round of applause a trick deserves or hold back because Hart has already established that another reveal could be coming. Occasionally, this slightly disrupts the tension and flow. Audiences like to be led, particularly when they are being deliberately wrong-footed elsewhere.
Nevertheless, leaving Labyrinth there is little doubt that Hart is a magician and mentalist of considerable skill and experience. Performing this kind of work in an enormous, multi-sided space only makes some of his achievements more impressive. Labyrinth is an inventive and seriously accomplished show.
