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Forget everything you know about magic and magicians… now remember it all again.

When This Is Not a Magic Show premiered in Edinburgh (UK) 10 years ago, it changed the rules of the game. This is a trailblazing work of theatre-magic in which Vincent Gambini questions the show itself, and all our expectations along with it.

It is both a unique performance of astonishing sleight-of-hand magic and a theatrical exploration of magic’s invisible mechanics, its clichés, and what it tells us about live performance and make-believe.

Cards transform inexplicably before our eyes, silver coins appear out of nowhere, and our own perception of reality explodes into a thousand mirrors.

Through his conversational yet crafted approach, Gambini presents a show within a show. It’s about magic, theatre, but mostly about ourselves, and how easily we suspend our disbelief.

Vincent Gambini is an award-winning, critically acclaimed magician and theatre artist based in the UK. He combines magic with elements of theatre, performance art, and spoken word to create new forms of deceptive theatre.

Over the last 20 years, his performances have taken place in theatres, arts centers, and galleries across the UK, Europe, and the United States.

Recent magic-theatre projects include the film The Disappearing of Vincent Gambini (2021), the intimate one-to-one performance Close-up, which toured UK seaside cafés (2024), and his latest book, Compromised by Magic (2026).

Vincent Gambini is the pseudonym of Augusto Corrieri, who, alongside his magic career, is a theatre artist and published writer.

"There’s something deeply satisfying in the chill, philosophical style of Vincent Gambini." ★★★★★ — Exeunt Magazine