Ex-science teacher Kevin Quantum thrills Fringe audiences with levitation tricks

“Are you comfortable?”

Lying on a foot-wide plank of wood suspended between two chairs, with my heels hanging off one end and my head off the other, I can’t say comfort was at the forefront of my mind.

The two red chairs holding my weight are best described as folding garden chairs and I can’t help but think how many times I’ve watched ours feebly flop in the wind.

I am about to be levitated on the upstairs level of The Biscuit Factory in Leith. It’s a huge New York loft-style space that could comfortably play host to the most romantic wedding one day and the most gruesome horror movie the next with a simple change of lighting.

Looking over me – and checking in on my comfort levels – is magician Kevin Quantum. He is in a dark-blue suit and I wonder what secrets the pockets hold. I can’t say the list of people I would trust to do my first levitation is long, but he is definitely at the top of it.

Before I mounted the plank, Kevin told me his journey into magic was one of fate. In 2005, the science teacher took part in popular reality TV show Faking It, the premise of which was to train someone in a profession opposite to what they did.

Scientist Kevin was trained to be a magician. In the years that followed, he received training from the legendary Penn & Teller, went on to join the secretive Magic Circle and has sold out venues around the globe.

Levitating

I subconsciously held my breath as Kevin whipped away the chair that was under the feet-end of my board. Miraculously, nothing happened.

I was levitating in the air with only a chair under my head keeping me and the whole wooden board up.

There were no strings or harnesses holding me from above, I had simply hopped up onto the plank, swung my legs up and lay down. It was a strange feeling to be suspended and have no idea how; I had been careful to watch Kevin’s every move as he put the chairs and board in position for the trick and was still none the wiser.

“I actually used to hate levitation because I’d think ‘OK, that’s just on a piece of string’ or something like that, but it has now become my favourite area of magic,” said Kevin.

“If I know you are thinking ‘that is on a piece of string’, I can take that information and let you think that way, until right at the end when I’ll wave my hands in such a way that you know there can’t possibly be any string there.

“Because the expectation is string, you turn off from all the other clues that might have let you figure out how it is done. Before you know it, you’re seeing something impossible.”

© Stewart Attwood

By the time I had dismounted the plank – and tried and failed to make any more sense of the trick – the magician was making a bank note hover in the air between his hands.

It is clear to see why he has decided to focus on the art of levitation for his show, Anti-Gravity, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this month.

“Over the course of the show the levitations become more and more impressive – what starts with something small like a bank note eventually ends up as people floating over the audience,” Kevin explained.

“From a story point of view, I claim I have discovered anti-gravity, so if gravity makes something fall down, this makes it fall up. I have built a machine to control it and that, in collaboration with my magic, allows us, over the course of the show, to do these bigger levitations.”

Science and magic

Kevin said his science background merges well with his magic work, as the concepts and often physical mechanics are complex.

No matter how many times I inspected the apparatus I had levitated on or how many leading questions I asked, he did not let slip how I came to be suspended in the air. Making me wonder, what is the point of it all?

“What I want people to get from my show primarily is escapism,” said Kevin.

“I want an audience to forget about problems they have in their own lives and just watch a really fun, uplifting show, that is the most important thing. I think magic exists to push human ingenuity forward.

“A magician sees something out in the world that they deem impossible – like making money or a person float – but then they find a way to do it on stage. That inspires people. Magic tunes into the part of the mind that wants to solve problems. Keep your eyes open and make the impossible possible whenever you can.”

Kevin Quantum: Anti-Gravity is at The Gilded Balloon at 2.30pm every day until August 26, except 20. Tickets at edfringe.com

Kevin is also performing Edinburgh Magic in the Versailles Suite at The Caledonian Hotel until August 18. See edinburghmagic.co.uk