Isle of Wight star of Confessions of a Card Cheat show

Mitch Ward, who grew up on the Isle of Wight, specialises in close-up magic and brought his narrative show to the festival, telling the story of how he used to cheat at cards. 

Mitch started getting interested in magic at 12 years old but didn’t have the patience to practice, so his audience could work out his tricks.

After impressing people by doing a riffle shuffle, his passion for cards was reignited.

Mitch Ward during his Ventnor Fringe show (Image: Isle of Wight County Press)

“I spent years and years learning tricks, and at the same time, I was very interested in how to cheat at cards.

"I often tried it as a child and I used to cheat at Top Trumps a lot of the time against my family members. It took them years to realise I was cheating at it!” 

Mitch’s earliest memory of a magician came at age six when he was picked out of school assembly at Nine Acres Primary School by Island magician David Randini.

“He threw something into the crowd at school and whoever got chosen would come up and do a magic trick.

"Funnily enough, a couple of years ago I saw him perform at The Needles. He looked into the crowd and he pointed at me and said ‘Do I know you? You look really familiar!'

“I didn’t want to have all eyes on me, because he was entertaining, so I just said ‘I don’t think you do’ modestly.

"Maybe he recognised me, maybe he didn’t, but it was a nice moment of me realising just how far I’d come 20 years later, from seeing my first ever magic trick at school to performing shows to people.” 

As Mitch developed his relationship with all things misdirection, he got into playing poker games around the Isle of Wight, employing skills he had learnt tactically.

“If you cheat all the time people would find you out very quickly. It’s a very situational craft. You’ve got to know when to cheat, when somebody’s looking away when the time is right. And I’d employ a couple of those techniques; I won’t say where, because people might read the article and won’t want to play with me anymore!”

Instead of conning people, Ward decided to use his craft to entertain people, which became the basis of his fringe show.

“The show itself wasn’t a magic show, it’s very similar but chronicling my story about how I got fascinated with the idea of conning people at very small stakes.

“I thought I would use the skills that I learnt in a performative way to entertain people and tell them my story. I’m putting myself, pardon the pun, on the table for people to see.”

After the success of his Ventnor Fringe show this year, Mitch, a teacher, aims to return to the festival in 2025.