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Charlie Caper – The Future

 
Victor Black Review by Victor Black 4 Published: 24 Aug 2025 Assembly George Square Gardens Show Dates: 30 Jul 2025-24 Aug 2025

If you ran a survey among magicians of who the Edinburgh Festival Fringe’s best practitioner of their art is, don’t be surprised to see Charlie Caper ranking some way above his closest rivals. He has also been leading the way in bringing AI and boundary-pushing modern tech into Fringe magic shows long before ChatGPT became a household name, and is still one of the festival’s forerunners across all genres. Caper masterfully designs and creates his own machines and does so to a phenomenal standard.

Can be trusted to deliver in the past, present and future

He opens with his traditional flawless patter and unimpeachable magical skills, with beautiful and creative use of tech-incorporated D-lites, and some of his more familiar robot friends that have been tweaked and updated for the best part of a decade now.

A glorious addition since the last time I caught his show was a Black Mirror-style robopup who performed beautifully choreographed and executed tricks, that were magical rather than magic, and it’s a further testament to Caper’s ingenuity that he’s able to create machines that would capture international headlines had they been shared with the world by a tech billionaire.

For those who have seen forerunners of Charlie Caper – The Future before, there are certainly new treats in store, but he’s also missed the opportunity to update everything, including his Charlie robot performing the same (albeit gorgeous) magic feat it has since inception.

Whether you want to see spellbinding magic by one of the festival’s leading masters of the craft, or breathtakingly creative futuristic robots that captivate and entertain, you’re onto a real winner here, as Caper can be trusted to deliver in the past, present and future.

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The Blurb:

Winner of Sweden's Got Talent – Charlie Caper returns with a magic spectacle full of robots. The most high-tech, sci-fi show you will ever see. Be fooled by a large amount of both cutting edge research robots and custom-built droids. Mind-boggling illusions. Technology indistinguishable from magic. Do not miss this world premiere! 'A master of illusion... A clear genius' ***** (Advertiser, Adelaide). 'There are some rare gems on the Edinburgh Fringe and the multi-talented, Swedish magician Charlie Caper shines out among them' ***** (TheEdinburghReporter.co.uk).