West End Magic

West End Magic, at the New Players Theatre in London on Saturday evening, was a one-off event to showcase the talents of a group of magicians who had all attended the Demon Magic Club, a school for young magicians run by Davenports.

The two highlights were Oliver Tabor and Phil Blackmore, the amazing juggler.

Oliver Tabor's act is my idea of magic at its best: lots of action and no waffle, subtle, clean and intelligent. It involves violins, doves, manipulation of musical notes and a host of other creative ideas, and is performed, smoothly and beautifully, to classical music. I always enjoy it when a whole act is themed and I thought this one was brilliant.

It's nice to see more and more magic shows being put on around the country. Particularly in London, you can find live magic being performed at an ever-increasing number of clubs, cabarets and theatres. Richard Leigh and John van der Put are two of the busiest but there are loads of great magicians out there. We just need a few more doing public shows in Manchester!

Magic shows in London

Having not seen a magic show for a while now, I’m looking forward to taking in three while I’m in London at the end of this week. It will be interesting to see David Major performing Richard Leigh’s Magic Cavern show and I’m also intrigued to see Jay Fortune’s Magick and Mayhem show.

Before I get to these, however, I’m excited to be finally going to visit Simon Drake’s House of Magic. Probably best known for the legendary Secret Cabaret, Simon Drake went on to turn a derelict pub into a Victorian House of Magic, a sort of a magical theme park (though without any of the tacky connotations thereof) that is an experience in itself. The centrepiece of the evening is his mind-blowing show and I can’t wait to see it!


You can find out more about these events and see some pictures by joining their fan pages on Facebook:
Simon Drake’s House of Magic
The Magic Cavern
Magick and Mayhem