American comedy provocateur Natalie Palamides teamed up with Las Vegas-based circus trailblazers Spiegelworld to build their next multimillion-dollar Las Vegas Strip spectacle, live and in full view of audiences at the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Lady Magic, written and directed by Palamides, is a chaotic, clown-led work in progress that sees a troupe of long-suffering magician’s assistants finally seize the spotlight. Wild, unpredictable, and still in the making, Fringe audiences were given a rare, behind-the-scenes glimpse into how a major Las Vegas production is born.
Throughout history, the magician’s assistant has put up with a lot: being sawn in half, dodging flying knives – all while wearing high heels, a skimpy costume, and a smile. Lady Magic is a show where the assistants finally get their chance to make the magician disappear, in increasingly desperate, deadly ways. It’s a show of foolish mayhem (and illusions that wouldn’t fool anyone) for anyone who has ever hated their boss.
BUZZ
“…a fantastically silly and anarchic show with the brilliant Natalie Palamides directing and devised with the cast as they go.” – FINANCIAL TIMES
“Expect your conventional magic show completely turned on its head, inside out, and all over the place.” – WHAT’S ON STAGE
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Comedian Natalie Palamides on Lady Magic, her new Vegas-bound collaboration with circus company Spiegelworld
News
We are in a rehearsal room in Craigmillar where Palamides is devising a new work, Lady Magic, with fellow Fringe favourites Spiegelworld, the entirely mischievous contemporary circus company who have helmed the Atomic Saloon Show and Vegas Nocturne on previous visits to Edinburgh.
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Edinburgh Fringe top picks: three to see on day three
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Natalie Palamides has become one of the hottest names of the Fringe – recent show Weer was a five-star sensation – and this year will be back with a new show, billed as “a chaotic twist on the classic magic show.” What’s more, it’s currently in development – so you, yes you, can help shape what might be an international smash one day.
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MORE WATERMELONS PLEASE
News
To put on a new show like Lady Magic at Edinburgh Festival Fringe costs a fortune. But even if we sell out completely, do we make money? I don’t care. I just love being there.
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CREATING MAGIC
News
I’d been thinking about creating a magic show featuring talented female magicians for several years. The early working title was SLOM (Sexy Ladies of Magic), which I came up with as a joke during a speech at the launch of Ski Lodge. It got a laugh from the crowd but was rejected by the marketing […]
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