Stu-pendous

The promotional poster for Stuart Lightbody's show, Stuperstition.

Stuart Lightbody is no stranger to Grahamstown. He has been doing shows at the National Arts Festival for years, and Grant has been at every one. Ever since Stuart dazzled Grant with his street magic at the Rat on one of his nights out, Grant has been hooked, and it is the only show that he pre=booked for this year's festival.

When Grant found out that Natasha not only knows Stuart, but that he has lived with two of her brothers, the first thought that popped into his mind was of one of Natasha's brothers waking up, making himself some breakfast, looking down at his plate as he sat down to eat and then looking at Stuart with a knowing glare.
"What's in your pocket?" Stuart asks with a grin on his face.
Natasha's brother looks down at his shirt pocket to find his fluffy, soggy scrambled eggs squashed in there.
Needless to say, I found this scenario both entirely humorous and entirely unlikely. But nevertheless, Stuart's show was one that we had to go to, even more so because Natasha knew him personally.

As we entered the small room that housed Stuperstitious, Stuart welcomed us one at a time, shaking our hands, greeting us with a smile. It was a personal touch, and the first I had seen at Fest. Once everyone was seated, the show began with Stuart's own death-defying stunt. I won't explain what it involved, not wanting to ruin the fun for anyone who would see the show, but let's just say that it was on par with other death-defying stunts like the bullet catch.

From card tricks to slights of hand, Stuart entertained the crowd while explaining his stance on superstitions. Unlike many of the magicians that perform magic shows, Stuart does not pretend to have supernatural powers, and everyone in the audience knows that there is something going on behind the scenes. There is no denying it. Instead of trying to deny it, Stuart tries to explain some of it - how magicians (and psychics and mentalists) manage to fool people into believing that what they do is real magic. However, this does not make his tricks any less interesting, fun or exciting and his showmanship is what makes the show.

The tricks are impressive, the magician hilarious and overall, Stuperstitious is a show that everyone should see. Fun, funny and family friendly, I can't think of a single person who might dislike the show. Except John Edwards perhaps. But who cares about him!