Fresh from his sellout run in the 2014 Edinburgh Fringe and win of the Skinny Magazine's 'Talk of the Town' Award, Colin Cloud returns to the Fringe with a show that could see him literally get away with murder. But, as the website says, literally is illegal and also very wrong. This still doesn’t stop him from blowing your mind in sixty minutes of what can only be described as pure genius.
We’re all aware of Sherlock Holmes and his powers of deduction – Benedict Cumberbatch made us all very aware – however, Holmes is a fictional character. Colin Cloud is not.
On arrival at the Pleasance Above, a venue perfectly suited in size for this kind of event, Cloud sat blindfolded on a stool. I entered the room knowing nothing about what was set out before me and having no expectations of what was to come.
After what some may describe as guess work or pure luck, the blindfold came off and the real spectacle began. Cloud used as many people in the audience as possible to solidify his claim that nothing is pre-arranged. To be honest, even if he had memorized pages of pre-written information about every audience member in August, that will still be a pretty great achievement. However, he didn’t. He merely uses his skills in criminal profiling to deduce the most simple pieces of information from an audience that were left nothing short of stunned.
Along with his unbelievable powers in deduction, Cloud is completely charming. His Scottish brogue filled the room with laughter on more than one occasion, something that also upped the enjoyment factor.
The highlight for me was the ending, something so wonderfully unexpected that when I left the room I was literally shaking.
Along with the multiple questions you’ll leave the show with, the main one is: Does Colin Cloud Kill? The answer is something you really need to go to find out for yourself. If you don’t yet have a ticket for this, get one right away. You will not be disappointed.
7-30 August (not 17) @ 6:20pm , £9.50 (Concessions £8.50).