Magic in a soggy field

The great Richard Leigh brought two of his fantastic shows to Wigan yesterday for what was intended to be a bank holiday weekend extravaganza in the grounds of a stately home. Six thousand people were expected to come and watch.

Sadly, the event suffered from a bizarre patchiness of organisation. State-of-the-art stage, lighting, sound system and so on, yet no seats for the audience! The performers themselves had to trail round finding what chairs they could lay their hands on. In retrospect, this may have been prescience rather than bad organisation, since of the 6000 only 15 materialised.

My friend Iain Moran and I arrived a quarter of an hour early for the 2pm Sideshow of Wonders, only to discover the organisers had decided the show should start at 1.15 in case it rained. Could they not have mentioned this to the boy on the gate? Or the girls actually in the performance compound who were checking the tickets? We were furious to have missed over half the show (as was the family who hurried in at two o'clock) but we did get there in time to see Richard's phenomenal thumb-tie routine, which is one of my favourites.

Richard Leigh and his thumb-tie

After this, Richard had ten minutes to turn around before going straight into the Big Top show, scheduled for 3.45. Luckily, we were already there or we would have missed this completely. It's a fabulous show, one I hadn't seen before. Many of the illusions start off in a way that's familiar to anyone who's been to a few magic shows and they are presented in such a laid-back, modest style that it's all the more amazing when each one takes the magic to a level high above the versions we have seen in the past.

Richard (left) and Darren Hoskins from Soft Cabaret perform comedy magic

At the end, we chatted to Jay Fortune and his partner Jen Allen. Jen did a very brief spot on stage between Richard's shows, creating an impressive portrait of Marilyn Monroe in three minutes flat (speed painting is one of her many talents). Poor Jay, however, had been supposed to put on his show the day before, then that afternoon, then they were hoping it might work out for the Monday... I'm hoping to catch Magick and Mayhem at the Barons Court Theatre in November (see http://www.falseimpressions.co.uk/).

For Iain and me, it was a very enjoyable, if slightly chaotic, day. For the performers, it must have been somewhat dispiriting making that much effort for a handful of pretty unresponsive punters - but then, as we all know, the show must go on.

The Magic Cavern on Facebook

If you're a member of Facebook, you might be interested to know that I've started a group for The Magic Cavern (Richard Leigh's marvellous magic show - see previous post). Please join us, so we can share experiences of the show, as well as pictures and so on, and I can keep you up to date with any developments.

This is a direct link to The Magic Cavern group. You'll have to be a member of Facebook to be able to join so, if you haven't yet taken the plunge into the virtual whirlpool of Facebook, come on in. It's free to join, it's easy to use and it's fun!

The Magic Cavern

On Sunday I went again to The Magic Cavern, the little theatre in Barons Court in London where Richard Leigh demonstrates stunning magic at least once a week. I'm surprised this show is not more widely known about because it really is excellent. Richard is a very modest and unassuming performer but his magic is strong and very well executed. It's great entertainment for all the family and I recommend you experience it next time you're in the capital. Check out Richard's website for show times and to buy tickets online.

Richard Leigh after another great performance

There's a more extensive review of The Magic Cavern on We Love Magic and, to find out more about the main magician, you can also read my interview with Richard Leigh.

Magic and superstition

Well, here we are on Friday 13th and I, for one, have had a really good day. Thirteen is actually one of my lucky numbers, though I don't know why.

There are close ties between magic and superstition, as alluded to in my last post: one person's religion is another person's superstition and another person's magic show. If I sound like an atheist, I'm not, but I do find this area interesting, the intersection of magic, superstition and religion.

Although Richard Leigh's magic shows are the purest conjuring fun, it was notable that the shows he presented on Hallowe'en sold out very quickly. Is there something about prestidigitation that appeals to the primeval part of us?