Theatre Review: The Journey, Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh

How uncanny, really, is a good magic show? With our rational minds, we simply assume that it’s all a matter of smoke, mirrors and clever sleight of hand; but sometimes, when the magician seems to predict our very thoughts before we’ve had them – well, then a deep shiver can run down the spine, along with the suspicion that we really are in the presence of something supernatural.

It’s in this space between what we rationally think about magic shows, and what they sometimes make us feel, that playwright Rob Drummond and the brilliant young illusionist Scott Silven have created their new lockdown show Journey, playing this week via the Traverse website. The online audience is strictly limited to 30 people, all of whom must be prepared to take part; and as the show starts, we see powerful visual images of Silven – who, we are told, recently returned to the place where he grew up in Scotland after a long world tour – walking the beautiful, rough West Coast landscape of his childhood. He arrives at a derelict cottage; and then the live action begins, brought to us by Scott Silven from his Edinburgh living room, a place full of interesting objects and strange porous walls, covered in patterns of light.

He tells us stories of a boy called Cally who grew up in a remote west coast village, much as he did; and after each episode of the story, he draws the audience into an interaction that raises questions about the nature of time – about how it can stretch and compress, and whether it is possible to swerve round a timebend into the future, and to see what is said, thought and written before it comes to pass. In a sense, of course, this is what all illusionists do; they show you the card they set aside five minutes ago, which somehow is the same one you just thought of.

Here, though, the magic is woven into story about time and its ravages so beautifully written and told that the illusions carry a powerful emotional weight. And with every member of the team – including director Allie Winton Butler, designer Jeff Sugg, sound designer Gareth Fry and composer Jherek Bischoff – conspiring to deliver a seamlessly beautiful and well-crafted 60 minutes of screen entertainment, what emerges is a rare and moving exploration of the borderland where tricks that are beyond our wit begin to shade into truths that are beyond our understanding – and perhaps will always remain so.

The Journey at the Traverse until 29 November; details and tickets at https://www.traverse.co.uk/whats-on/event/the-journey And The Journey will return in April 2021, by popular demand

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