Kevin Quantum: Invisible Force
★★★★★ Infectious fun
Assembly Rooms (Venue 20): Thur 6 – Sun 30 Aug 2026
Review by Juliette Johnstone
KQ Productions return to the Assembly Ballroom with Kevin Quantum: Invisible Force, a lively new show for 2026 in which magician Kevin McMahon sets out to illuminate the science of our everyday lives using magic, along with a good dash of silliness.
McMahon’s famous win on Channel 4’s Faking It, all of 21 years ago now, might mean that he has abandoned his science career in favour of magic, but his background as a PhD science researcher still comes through.
Kevin Quantum exerts an invisible force on a ping-pong ball. Pic: Grant Deans.
Directed by William Miller, who also acts as magic consultant, McMahon’s Kevin Quantum persona is highly adept and well rehearsed, but he retains a playfulness and sense of curiosity about both science and magic.
It’s there whether he’s presenting relatively traditional coin, card, or disappearing tricks; and it is present in the larger, more interactive set pieces, which allow him to incorporate his thoughts on the science of probability, synchronicity, and free will.
Loud, energising music plays as the audience files in to the Assembly Ballroom, each clutching the black envelope they’ve been given to open at the end of the show. Despite the crystal chandeliers, the stage is dressed in a black, minimalist set, lit by Azariah Felton with blue and purple.
self-deprecating banter
McMahon spends a while setting up his theme, demonstrating ‘invisible forces’ with a ping-pong ball, a hairdryer and a balloon, then it’s straight in to the funny, self-deprecating banter that has become something of a hallmark, and the first of many participants is chosen.
There is absolutely nothing to fear from audience participation here. At every stage McMahon has a way of bringing the whole room with him, whether he is directing a giant game of Rock, Paper, Scissors or inviting people to lark about onstage with a pair of chairs, a handful of tissues and a very long chain.
On stage with Kevin Quantum. Pic: Grant Deans.
These lo-tech props and funny use of sound design are part of the Quantum brand. He’s down to earth, his successes are often deliberately lampooned or downplayed, and his experiments and tricks are presented as games. He’s also remarkably good at being in the moment, spontaneously reacting to audience members’ input, choosing his moments to reward people with a Penguin bar, and cracking seemingly ad-lib jokes.
But he is very much in control, especially when seeding an idea about free will at the start of the show and having it come full circle at the end, bringing all the loose threads together.
unexpectedly lovely
Attending Kevin Quantum: Invisible Force is not a passive experience. Even those not invited onstage will take part in a hearing-pitch experiment, a personality test, and absolutely everyone will be united at the end in an unexpectedly lovely set piece, involving those mysterious black envelopes.
At this, the entire audience has a 100% probability of going ‘Aaaaaahhhh’.
Running time: One hour (no interval).
Assembly Rooms (Ballroom), 54 George Street, EH2 2LR (Venue 20).
Thursday 6 – Sunday 30 August 2026.
Daily: 6.45pm.
Tickets and details: Book here at EdFringe.com.
Tickets direct from venue: Book here.
Kevin Quantum website: quantummagician.com.
Facebook: @kevinquantum.
Instagram: @kevinquantum.
Kevin Quantum and his audience. Pic: Grant Deans.
ENDS
