The Colour Ham will give you a magical and very silly evening to remember. These three performers have discovered a unique dynamic which makes them stand out from the pool of magical comedy and offer a slice of something a little more different and interesting. One magician, one mind-reader and one comedian, The Colour Ham will take your breath away, hide it and then make it appear in someone else’s pocket.
Based in Edinburgh, Colin McLeod, Kevin McMahon and Gavin Oattes are a delightful trio of guys who seem to really enjoy performing together and have memorable on-stage chemistry. They are unafraid to passionately kiss each other on stage and, touchingly, they seemed to find each other’s improvised moments very funny. The show‘s success is in the relationship between these guys. This is not to say that it lacks substance, but there could be a higher concentration of tricks and fewer slightly weak slapstick jokes of the ‘Not this one, that one’ nature.
Kevin, founder of the Edinburgh International Magic Festival, knows what he’s doing. His unwavering smile and charm carries his sleight of hand through with confidence. He can be a little cheesy at moments, but this quality has its place in the trio’s repartee and banter. Particular highlights of the show are the impression of Gaelic children’s television character Dotaman and the final illusion is spectacular and completely unexpected. Gavin provides light relief between effects and helps glue the show together; his face is incredibly watchable and he helps create a very effective funny man versus straight man effect when he’s used in one of Colin’s tricks, ‘I love being hypnotised.’
There are a few disjointed moments; they began a mind trick with a couple from the audience which never ran to completion and instead went into another skit. There’s an odd ‘spin the bottle’ routine which allows for some good wordplay but seems unnecessary - it comes from nowhere and doesn’t really pave the way for the next section of the show either.
The Colour Ham could do with a little more meat; their show would definitely benefit from the addition of some more of the effects and illusions that they are clearly competent enough to produce. However, this is fast-paced magical comedy from three very talented and likeable guys: they will leave you hungry for more.
