Inside

Tom Cassani

Photo of Tom Cassani in the middle of swallowing a sword, with the handle and upper section of the sword still visible. He is looking upward, has long curly brown hair, and is wearing a black long-sleeved button-up shirt. The image is taken indoors against plain yellow walls.
Photo by Camilla Greenwell

About Inside

LIMITED EARLY BIRD TICKETS AVAILABLE*

An intimate performance dissecting the hidden labour intrinsic in the apparently life-threatening art of sword swallowing.

Tom Cassani deconstructs this very rare act into intricate sequences of movements, learning, and understanding, to offer a considered reflection on artistic dedication, repetition, and transformation.

Inside is a meditation on the body’s potential, an exploration of private and public risk, and a reimagining of what it means to embody magic and danger in contemporary performance.

*Early Bird discount applies at checkout

Cassani toys with us, replaying his mystifying act with variations, even standing right among the audience.

The Guardian on Iterations, 2024

Intertwining entertainment with performance art, Cassani both captivates and inspires introspection.

Springback Magazine on Iterations, 2024

About Tom Cassani

Tom Cassani is an award-winning UK based performance maker working with choreography, magic, sideshow, and live art. For ten years Tom has developed a practice and toured performance work that draws on an expanded approach to magic, examining the nature of perception in performance.

Cassani’s illusory texts, imagery and physicality expose the body as an unreliable measure of truth. Tom was recently awarded a practice-based PhD Scholarship from the University of Huddersfield to study performance Magic, focusing on Expanded Magic practice. Tom is one of the 2024 selected Aerowaves Artists and has performed his shows across Europe and the UK. Tom also works extensively as an outside eye, consultant magician and dramaturg of deception.

https://www.tomcassani.com

Cast & Creatives

Directed, written and performed by‌ Tom Cassani

Outside eye: ‌ Ocean Stefan, Florentina Holzinger, Thom Shaw, Tallulah Haddon, Flick Ferdinando

Magic Consulting: ‌ Tay Lane, Maxime Weinman

Technical Manager: ‌ Maxime Weinman

Production / Tour Booking: ‌Yellow Everything

Credits

With support from: ‌The Place, London;‌ Sands Ends Arts Centre, London;‌ Screaming Alley, Ramsgate; Théâtre‌ Silvia Monfort, Paris; Lowry, Salford;‌ Lancaster Arts, Lancaster.

  • Portrait of Tom Cassani shown from the waist up, standing and facing the camera. He holds a sword with both hands across the front of his body. He has long, curly dark hair and is wearing a black long-sleeved button-up shirt. The photograph is taken indoors against plain yellow walls, with part of a fireplace visible behind him and four different swords displayed in the background.
  • Six swords of different types lean against the armrest of a grey velvet sofa. At their base lies a metal swallowing chain with two ball-shaped ends. The scene is quiet and still, with a calm, almost unsettling atmosphere that contrasts with the dangerous nature of the objects.