WHAT’S THE STORY?
AS a former young Scottish magician of the year, Edinburgh-based director Ross MacKay has always wanted to weave some spookiness into a play.

Now he’s adding to the magic of the Festival Fringe with a new production based on the belief in Victorian times that séances could be held to solve murder mysteries.

Created by MacKay and Aussie playwright Suzie Miller, Velvet Evening Séance is the first piece of contemporary new writing that Aberdeen Performing Arts are producing at the Fringe under the banner Freshly Squeezed Productions.

MacKay, has also had support and advice from Jamie Harrison, of Glasgow-based Vox Motus, who designed the magic in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

Velvet Evening Séance takes place in Victorian-era Scotland when young medium James McGregor is on trial for the murder of his brother and partner in spiritualism, Thomas. In order to clear his name, James enacts a loophole in the Victorian court system, calling on his brother from beyond the grave to speak on his behalf.

At the end of the show there is a creepy séance and the audience is left to decide whether he is innocent or guilty. So far it’s 50/50.

IS THERE REAL MAGIC?
IN the play, actor Scott Gilmour is the magician and MacKay taught him some magic specially for the part.

“I would say he’s better than me now,” laughed MacKay, who became intrigued by the world of magic when he was a teenager.

“My cousin got into it and I was jealous of him being on stage so I decided I wanted a bit of the limelight. I was never as good as him at the sleight of hand but I enjoyed the showmanship. I gave up magic when I realised it wasn’t the best way to get girls.”

Now a freelance director with Perth Theatre, MacKay decided he wanted to work magic into a show and the idea of a séance came about when he talked it over with Miller.

“She used to be a lawyer in Australia and she came up with the idea of a court case involving a séance,” he said.

“I found out evidence of cases in Victorian times involving séances and even found that in 1996 there was a court case in England that was thrown out because four of the jurors held a séance in their hotel room. The reason the judge said he was throwing it out was because they held it in the hotel room and not the jury room. It’s really incredible that that would be okay but it was discussing the case outside the jury room that was wrong.”

AND THE ABERDEEN CONNECTION?
MacKay and Miller developed the idea during a Cove Park residency and then did a read through at the National Theatre of Scotland in Glasgow where Aberdeen Performing Arts picked it up and helped produce it.

“This is the first show of theirs outside Aberdeen under the Freshly Squeezed Productions banner so it’s pretty exciting,” said Mackay.

Also showing at the Assembly Hall during this year’s Fringe is My Name Is Irrelevant from Edinburgh-based Matthew Hall.

An Assembly Roxy Theatre Development Award finalist and Fringe First winning cast-member Hall, explores how our mental health is affected by today’s pace of life in his solo show.

Grown from a single poem written at his lowest point, and developed in spoken word nights across Edinburgh, the show has a live original score performed by Jim Harborne who also appears in Velvet Evening Séance.

My Name Is Irrelevant explores how, when sheltering from reality, everything can begin to distort and our own narrative can take over.

ANY OTHER HIGHLIGHTS?
Meanwhile the Scottish Storytelling Centre is the venue for an innovative LGBT theatre production for children.

At a Stretch from award-winning Scottish-based theatre makers Jordan & Skinner is premiering at the Fringe until August 15.

The pioneering production brings an LGBTQI+ love story to a children’s theatre audience of ages six years and up, presenting a lesbian relationship onstage in an accessible and meaningful way for young audiences.

It was created by Jordan & Skinner, a visual theatre company led by director Caitlin Skinner (director for Village Pub Theatre, Lung Ha Theatre Company, A Play, A Pie and A Pint) and performer Melanie Jordan (Surge, Clown Cabaret). They have returned to the Edinburgh Fringe after the success of their 2014 hit Sanitise which won a Scotsman Fringe First and was nominated for an Arches Brick Award.

The company’s aim is to create playful, vivid visual theatre exploring questions of personal and political importance and At A Stretch is the company’s first work for young audiences. The Fringe is a springboard for a Scottish tour of the production, with support from Creative Scotland.

Velvet Evening Séance is in the Rainy Hall at the Assembly Halls from 4.30pm, until August 28 (no shows August 15 and 22).

My Name Is Irrelevant is at the Assembly Roxy from 3pm daily 3pm, August 15-20, 22-28.

At A Stretch is being at the Scottish Storytelling Centre, until August 15 at 1pm.