Edinburgh Fringe Preview

Following sell-out runs of Jew...ish (2019) and Man of 100 Faces (2022), Unleash The Llama returns to King's Head Theatre with In Defiance of Gravity, the extraordinary story of the greatest spiritual medium to have ever lived.

Opening at the final séance of his career, In Defiance of Gravity charts the improbable rise of Ezra Montefiore: magician, hellraiser, psychic. According to the testimony of hundreds of eyewitnesses, he can speak to the dead, heal the sick, and levitate 70 feet into the air. He defies all scientific explanation.

But when details of an intimate affair with his flamboyant genderqueer Russian patron, Prince Felix Yusupov, threaten to surface, Ezra faces a deadly bind: either publicly denounce himself as a fraud, or face the deadly vengeance of Rasputin.

This is an extraordinary story, told in an extraordinary way. Under the direction of professional magicians and dynamic physical theatre practitioners, three performers tell one incredible tale through multi-roling and elegant stage illusion. Audiences will experience first-hand the exhilaration of psychic phenomena: from levitation to telekinesis, table-tipping to teleportation.

Celebrating their 10th year at the Edinburgh Fringe, Unleash The Llama is pleased to present In Defiance of Gravity - a show which tackles contemporary themes of disinformation, delusion and belief - once again putting untold narratives that represent queer historical figures in the foreground, in order to reflect on not only our present, but also our future.