We Love Magic

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South Tyneside convention 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Georgie) — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 18:04:00 +0000

Surprisingly, fewer people came to the South Tyneside convention this year, although the line-up was, in my opinion, excellent.

Some of the highlights for me were:

Lennart Green, the Swedish world-champion close-up/card magician. This man is amazing. He is famous for his careless and chaotic handling of cards, which is amusingly convincing yet covers a frighteningly sharp awareness of exactly what is going on at all times. I was lucky enough to be involved twice: once in his lecture and the second time for the close-up. The trick I helped with in the lecture turned out to be self-working (!), although the presentation was so engaging that I doubt anyone would have guessed this. Lennart’s close-up act was fabulous and, as well as the cards, I enjoyed his version of the three-shell game, done with scarab beetles.

Lennart Green

Brad Manuel, the Australian comedy magician. Far too many people seem to think that ‘comedy’ is an easy way into magic and that standing around telling dirty, corny jokes - and/or insulting the audience - passes for entertainment. Brad, however, understands both comedy and magic and does loads of clever tricks as well as being (genuinely) funny. His trademark running gag is producing a shot-glass of drink from his shoe, over and over again.

Richard McDougall, the wonderful close-up magician I saw at Simon Drake’s House of Magic last Hallowe’en (see my review on this blog). Sadly, he wasn’t doing close-up at this convention but he has a great stage act too, which we did get to see. Richard also gave a lecture, though by no means of the usual sort. It was an analysis of the state of the magical art. I found this riveting and will be writing more about it in subsequent posts.

Simon Drake, who attended only virtually. Martin Duffy, one of the convention organisers, interviewed this legend via Skype, which worked surprisingly well. I’m a huge fan of Simon’s and it was cool to hear his news and find out more of his views on magic how to create it.

The gala shows were of a very high standard. The first was compèred by Brad Manuel and the second by John Archer. Our friend Matthew J Dowden did an impressive manipulation act and Shahid Malik, whom I’d never seen before but certainly want to see again, showed us some fantastic illusions. Jeton, the gentleman juggler from Germany, presented an extraordinary series of feats, including balancing an enormous mirror on his forehead, making it turn a revolution in mid-air and then catching it back on his forehead.

This is a well thought-out and well organised convention, different and stimulating. I always enjoy it and I’m looking forward to the next one already.

Blackpool convention 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Georgie) — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 18:04:00 +0000

I greatly enjoyed Blackpool, as always. It was a different shape for me this year because I didn’t go to many lectures and spent far more time than usual socialising. I met lots of interesting people I had never actually spoken to before, although I’ve known who they were and admired their magic. Among these were Gary Jones from Exeter and John Bannon from Chicago, both of whom I liked enormously.

For me, the Friday evening was dominated by the British Magical Close-Up Championships. Here’s what happened:

First prize was won by Min Hyung Kim from Korea, who didn’t seem to me to be the best but was certainly very good and I liked the way his bottle cap kept reappearing on the bottle.

Second prize was won by Johan Stahl from Sweden, who was fantastic. He set the scene for coffee and cake, and made cups, pens and coffee pots appear, disappear and float in the air with graceful skill and aplomb.

Third prize went to our friend John van der Put. His act was the usual cleverly organised chaos, witty and different.

The other contestants all also put in performances of a very high standard. They were:

Iain Moran, who showed us traditional, skilful close-up magic with cards, coins and ballbearings
Will Gray, who did a great trick with a sealed pack of cards as well as his famous goldfish production
Craig Petty, who did clever close-up to snippets of appropriate songs
Russell Leeds, who revived my soundly dormant interest in elastic bands
Rob James, who gave us high-tech magic and a comedy insight into his thinking, via a voiceover
Stephen Ablett, who remained admirably unfazed after he was interrupted and had to start his act again because the camera battery went dead.

Well done to everyone who took part. It was great fun to watch.

The Saturday evening show was excellent – and more so for being compèred by the marvellous Tony Stevens. The first half was the Intercontinental Stage Magic Championships, five very good acts from Korea, Austria and the UK. I particularly appreciated Dave Allen and Carl Charlesworth’s spoof on an American private-eye sketch. Dave played a ‘magic dick’ and Carl dressed up as the mysterious woman who always appears in such stories.

The second half was Cirque du Magie, an eclectic mixture of acts, mostly from America. I especially enjoyed David Kaplan’s juggling and comedy magic and David & Dania’s incredible quick-change act. I’ve seen David & Dania perform many times now but they’re so good I’m always happy to watch them again.

Those were the main events, for me. It all went very quickly and I’m now looking forward to the South Tyneside convention in the middle of March.

West End Magic

noreply@blogger.com (Georgie) — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 11:39:00 +0000

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!

Josh Jay's new lecture

noreply@blogger.com (Georgie) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 12:09:00 +0000

Renowned American magician Joshua Jay delivered his new lecture in Manchester yesterday evening and very inspiring it was.

Since he was last in Britain, in summer 2008, Josh has been involved in two nasty accidents that threatened to impair his ability to perform magic but, thanks to good doctors, luck and determination, he has managed to overcome all but some minor difficulties. The tales he told of the weeks spent lying in a hospital bed, thinking up magic tricks he could do with one hand, were reminiscent of Rear Window, that marvellous film by Josh's favourite director, Alfred Hitchcock. A great mind restless in a temporarily immobilised body.

Josh has a profound understanding of what makes magic work. Apart from all the technical subtleties he uses to ensure a smooth performance, Josh's magic always has an engaging story. Even the simplest trick can be transformed into a memorable experience for those watching if there is a good story around it - and Josh has got this down to a fine art.

Although he is an extremely capable and accomplished magician himself, Josh offered us in this lecture some straightforward methods of achieving stunning effects, both new and old. A trick doesn't have to be difficult to perform in order to impress the audience: what counts is the presentation. It has to be well rehearsed, confidently executed and motivated (given a story).

Something else I like about Josh is that he applies all these principles to his lectures as well as his shows. The evening is carefully thought-out, structured and paced, and delivered with the energy and enthusiasm we hope for in a lecturer but don't always get.

It's a short tour this time but Josh has thousands of fans in Europe and I'm sure he will be back soon.

Magic and music (2): Arthur Brown

noreply@blogger.com (Georgie) — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 17:24:00 +0000

Further to my previous post, let me tell you more about Arthur Brown.

Arthur was playing the Manchester Academy last week, one stop in the intensive national tour he’s currently doing with Hawkwind. My friend Janice and I had had tickets for a while and were excited about attending the gig anyway but, after my conversation with Marc Oberon, I decided to see if I could get an interview with Arthur, to find out what he thinks about music and magic, amongst other things.

Although my e-mail hadn’t reached him and he wasn’t expecting us, when Janice and I enquired at the stage door whether we could have a brief chat with Arthur, we were welcomed in the most relaxed and friendly way. Despite having just delivered a fantastic performance and been cheered by hundreds of fans, the god of hell fire was completely calm, quiet and grounded. He offered us a drink and answered our questions thoughtfully.

All this is to say, Arthur Brown is an extremely nice man, straightforward, unassuming and not at all the stereotypical rock star. While it’s true that, in their fifties and sixties, the wild men of rock tend to tone themselves down – off stage, at least – (Alice Cooper has become a dab hand at golf), in Arthur’s case, I get the impression he’s always been like this. Eccentric, yes; frightening, no.

Arthur has an amazing voice with a huge range. His act is theatrical and stimulating, visually as well as acoustically. Paint on the face, ultra-violet light and several costume changes - though, sadly, no fire (health and safety, I suppose).

Arthur Brown on stage

Before he became established as a musician, Arthur held a variety of down-to-earth jobs, including postman, road digger and sewage farmer. He put in a year studying law at London University but failed the exams because he changed the questions to ones he felt more like addressing, such as a critique of Marilyn Monroe’s wardrobe.

After that, he moved to Reading University and studied philosophy. He later gained a Masters degree in Counselling and Guidance and is trained in an astonishing array of therapeutic techniques and meditative disciplines.

I asked whether he’d arrived at the hell fire thing from a Christian perspective but Arthur said no, it’s a Pagan thing taken from the Vikings. He’d recognised this as a powerful image and decided to adopt it, with no view to making a point or preaching in any way.

When I ask what his lyrics mean, he tells us that an A-Level class was once studying a poem by CP Snow and came up with six different interpretations of it. They wrote to the poet to ascertain which was correct and he wrote back, ‘How should I know?’. Whatever worked for each individual was right in its own way.

Asked what legacy he would like to leave to subsequent generations, Arthur says he has no interest in bequeathing anything: “Whatever you pass on will fade away and disappear. It’s more important to find a way to be in this moment”. Considering the influence Arthur has had on Alice Cooper, Marilyn Manson, Jimi Hendrix, Mick Jagger, Peter Gabriel and a whole host of other huge names, I can’t help feeling he’s mistaken about the first part, but I take the point that he doesn’t see himself as a missionary.

Arthur backstage

Growing up after World War Two, Arthur Brown and his contemporaries were living on bread and dripping and questioning their belief in life. They were, as he puts it, “looking for something joyful” and, for him, this was music. Describing how he felt as a teenager attending his first live concert, he says, “It was more than excitement. I left my body; all the normal limitations of the mind were gone”.

For me, a really good magic show can induce this feeling and I ask him whether he sees any common ground between music and magic. It seems he doesn’t particularly – not with conjuring. But he reminds us of the distinction between the art of illusion and the real magic (as I have referred to it elsewhere in this blog) of the shaman, which involves such practices as controlling the weather, communing with spirits and healing the ill.

“Music does have a kinship with the magic of the shaman,” says Arthur, “in that both of them can produce resonances in the deepest levels of reality.”

Personally, I believe really well done conjuring can produce similar resonances, by making us question the nature of reality, but I agree with his assessment – and I think Arthur would make a pretty good shaman himself.

Magic and music

noreply@blogger.com (Georgie) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 11:04:00 +0000

I was talking to my friend Marc Oberon the other day about the relationship between magic and music. Marc often performs his routines to music, not only to fill the silence and to cover the sound of any machine that shouldn’t be heard, but because a soundtrack complements and enhances the magic. The emotions evoked by the trick or illusion are echoed and intensified by the music; the emotions evoked by the music are reflected in the magic. A mutually beneficial symbiosis, with magic leading and music supporting.

What about the other way round? We got talking about Alice Cooper, the famous rock star, who does all sorts of dark illusions as part of his stage act, including hanging himself. And then Marilyn Manson, who also does a few (I’m told) and Arthur Brown, the god of hell fire, who doesn’t exactly do magic on stage but is certainly well known for some of the special effects he has used over the years. It’s interesting to note that Marilyn Manson is great friends with Rudy Coby and Arthur Brown with Simon Drake.

It seems to be musicians who want to give the impression of having Satanic powers who tend to use magical effects in their acts. Arthur Brown made the point (see his website godofhellfire.co.uk) that, if he’s going be to “singing about putting spells on people, and devils and gods and unseen forces, it's important that I look like a devil and can do the things I claim.” That makes sense.

But it’s not only this type of music that goes well with magic. Many other singers have introduced an element of illusion into their concerts: Shania Twain, Kate Bush, Bobby Brown, to name but three.

What is it about magic that makes it a good accompaniment to music? Other art forms combined with music can prove to be just a distraction (do you remember the opera-singer/flower-arranger combo on Britain’s Got Talent?) - so why does magic work?

I find this a fascinating question but I haven’t yet come up with an answer. It’s been over a week since my conversation with Marc and I’m still pondering. Anyone else got any ideas?

Quentin Reynolds’s Psychic Game Show

noreply@blogger.com (Georgie) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:51:00 +0000

Quentin Reynolds comes from Dublin, now lives in Manchester and has performed magic all over the world, including Las Vegas. The mixture of conjuring, mentalism and comedy that is the Psychic Game Show, presented in Quentin’s gentle, engaging style, makes an hour and 20 minutes or so disappear in what seems like less than half that.

Two years ago, I saw the Psychic Game Show in Fallowfield, south Manchester, and was extremely impressed. This time, it’s in a private room above the Lass O’Gowrie pub in central Manchester. There’s a lot of new material and, if anything, the show is even better than it was in 2007.

Having written a book called ‘Intuition, Your Secret Power’ (which I much enjoyed), Quentin knows about psychology and he uses this to great advantage in the show. By this I mean both that he treats the audience with respect and kindness - making us feel safe and thus happy to get involved - and that the show is presented as an exploration of how perceptions of reality can be manipulated by the performer.

Of course, the manipulation of perceived reality is inherently what all magic is about. The difference is that Quentin makes the process explicit and offers a ‘psychic’ explanation, in similar (though much quieter) terms to the way Derren Brown ‘explains’ some of his own feats.

In my interview with Quentin Reynolds, he made the point that those who believe in psychic powers can enjoy his show on that level, while sceptics can view what he does as ‘tricks’ and enjoy it just as much.

As a magician myself, I fall in the latter category, although I was struck (and slightly unnerved) by the extent to which Quentin could read my personality from a picture I’d drawn. He hardly knows me and yet he could tell several things that only my family and friends are aware of.

If this sounds scary, it’s not. Quentin would never embarrass or insult a spectator – I’m telling you about this reading just because it was so clever. It’s a very cheerful, uplifting and inspiring show and I recommend it to everybody.

The Psychic Game Show is on again at the Lass O’Gowrie in Manchester on Monday 30th November at 8pm. This is your last chance to see the show for some time, so don’t miss it!

Simon Drake's House of Magic

noreply@blogger.com (Georgie) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:35:00 +0000

Simon Drake’s House of Magic is an experience not to be missed. After six months of looking forward to it, I finally got inside last Friday for the Hallowe’en Special and, nearly a week later, I’m still buzzing.

From the moment I stepped over the threshold of the secret location, just south of the river in London, the atmosphere enveloped me and I felt as if I were in a magical world, dreamlike and lovely. I had been a little bit apprehensive about it all being scary but it wasn’t like that at all; getting cheap laughs from frightening the guests isn’t Simon Drake’s style.

To reach the House, you walk through the enchanted garden, full of low-lying mist, twinkling lights, skulls and tombstones. Inside, the converted pub is a Victorian mansion with lacy cobwebs, bizarre collector’s items of the magick of yore and pictures that appear to be a portrait of Great-Aunt Maud, until you look again and it’s her skeleton.

Before and after the excellent buffet supper, there is plenty of time to look around and enjoy just being in the House of Magic. This is a top-class establishment, where everything runs like clockwork and the staff are friendly and right on the ball. I have rarely felt so well looked after.

Throughout the evening, close-up magicians circulate. We were lucky to have Richard McDougall there on Friday, whose effortless sleight of hand is a joy to behold. He is also a really nice man and he came back to us several times, even though he didn’t have to, because we enjoyed his magic so much.

Every ten minutes or so, Rafe, the cheeky butler, gives a tour of The Haunted Cellar, packed with clever effects and ghostly goings on. Rafe is a fabulous character – I’ve no idea who he is in real life but he is terrific.

You can also sit on the mysterious Whispering Chair and have your fortune told. This is uncannily accurate, so be warned!

At 10 o’clock, it’s showtime. After the warm-up, the Master, the omnipotent Simon Drake, descends to the stage in a cloud of dry ice to perform a series of electrifying feats of the manifestly impossible. Some are gentle and aesthetic, others are gory and weird, but all are executed with an elegant panache that surpasses everything you might have seen before.

From Faust through the Addams Family to the Rocky Horror Show, the world has always been fascinated by the magic of the sexy dark side. At Simon Drake’s House of Magic, you will experience this at its absolute best. The spell it cast on me is still making me smile and drawing me to go back at the first opportunity.

Magic shows in London

noreply@blogger.com (Georgie) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:42:00 +0000

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

Tyler Wilson lecture

noreply@blogger.com (Georgie) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 12:58:00 +0000

On 1st September, Canadian magician Tyler Wilson embarked on a month-long lecture tour of the UK and Ireland. All I knew about this guy was that he was very funny and very hairy, so I arrived at the Bolton Magicians’ Club not really knowing what to expect.

As it turns out, he got fed up with endless bad hair days and now has a short, neat haircut on his head and, since he didn’t take off any clothes at this lecture, that’s all I can tell you. (In case you’re wondering, he has been known to reveal a card prediction shaved into his chest hair.)

Cards are evidently Tyler’s passion and he handles them with assured smoothness. Although he is easily capable of carrying out the most complex and challenging moves, he is not one who believes that the more difficult a trick is to perform the more effective it must be. He understands that, from the layperson’s point of view, it is the effect - and not the method - that counts.

Most of Tyler’s magic, then, is card-based but it’s a long way from the standard pick-a-card tricks. His original slant on established ideas keeps everything interesting and unpredicatable, and his deeply thoughtful approach to presentation gives every trick a satisfying shape. Comedy arises organically out of the magic and there is a delightful absence of the corny jokes that are shoehorned into far too many acts.

The lecture is well constructed and makes a good evening’s entertainment in itself. It’s not too late to experience it for yourself: the rest of Tyler’s tour dates are on MagicWeek.

Tyler Wilson in characteristic pose

Tyler’s excellent book Dominatricks is available through Andi Gladwin's website.

Magic in a soggy field

noreply@blogger.com (Georgie) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 11:45:00 +0000

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.

Festival fringes

noreply@blogger.com (Georgie) — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 10:52:00 +0000

It's been a while since I posted because I've been away but I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed seeing Piff the Magic Dragon in Buxton. Piff is a marvellous creation by John van der Put, a comic genius as well as a brilliant magician.

If you're in Edinburgh, you can still catch the grumpy old princess-kidnapper at the festival fringe and I highly recommend you do so.

Meet The Magic Circle

noreply@blogger.com (Georgie) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 17:17:00 +0000

On Tuesday, I attended one of the twice-monthly Meet The Magic Circle evenings at the wonderful magic headquarters just by Euston station in London.

If you enjoy watching magic and you’re curious to find out more about The Magic Circle, I definitely recommend one of these soirées. They are open to anyone over 14 and, although many people go in largish groups, you can also go as a couple/pair or even alone. The hosts are friendly and welcoming and the event runs like clockwork – in fact, like the secret workings of the clock made by Robert-Houdin (father of modern magic) that you can see in the Devant Room.

At 7.30, Iain Moran appeared at Table 2, where eleven other people and I were eagerly awaiting the close-up session. He and three other talented magicians entertained us with cards, coins, ropes and silk handerkerchiefs – the usual magical paraphanalia and so great to see it in such a totally magical context. After that, it was up to the lovely Magic Circle theatre for a talk on the history of magic, given by the Vice President (a new president will be elected in September to replace the late, lamented Ali Bongo) and then back to the Devant Room for sandwiches and more close-up magic.

The experience concludes with an hour-long stage show. On Tuesday, we saw three very different comedy magicians, excellently compèred by Noel Britten: an uplifting finale to an exciting evening.

Spiral staircase of The Magic Circle

The dragon on the fringe

noreply@blogger.com (Georgie) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 12:34:00 +0000

Piff the Magic Dragon will be appearing at the Buxton Festival Fringe on 22nd, 23rd & 24th July. If you live anywhere near Buxton, this is an opportunity not to be missed!

On 23rd July, High Peak Magic Society is putting on an evening of close-up magic at the Buxton Pavilion. Since Piff is performing from 5.30 to 6.20pm and the close-up extravaganza doesn't start till 7.30, you can easily do both.

As well as the magic, let me recommend Operatastic!, which takes place on 23rd & 24th July at 7.30 and Saturday 25th at 2.30. One of the stars of this great show is Helena Leonard, as seen on Britain's Got Talent.

The power of the mind (2)

noreply@blogger.com (Georgie) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 10:57:00 +0000

Did you hear the Rt Rev Tom Butler, Bishop of Southwark, on the Today programme this morning? His Thought for the Day brought together several of the strands I've talked about in this blog: the power of belief to make someone become very ill or even die, the African curses that exploit this and how those with authority need to be careful what they say.

I've downloaded the podcast and you can listen to it by clicking on this link:
thought_20090616-0954a.mp3

The Magic Cavern on Facebook

noreply@blogger.com (Georgie) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 19:13:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Georgie) — Tue, 26 May 2009 10:17:00 +0000

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.

The language of magic

noreply@blogger.com (Georgie) — Sun, 17 May 2009 17:09:00 +0000

My friend Iain Moran has just come back from Italy, where he performed magic at a dinner party and gave a lecture to Italian magicians. He did all the former and most of the latter in Italian and, as his teacher, I feel both proud and impressed.

Helping Iain to prepare for this trip got me thinking about the importance of language in magic. Often there appears to be no need to speak at all, since the trick is visual and can be readily understood without words. However, the reason for speaking in these cases is not to explain or to amplify - or even to entertain - but to provide verbal misdirection. The seemingly throw-away comment has to be carefully honed in a foreign language so as to achieve the desired effect.

It's always more polite if, when visiting another country, we can make some effort to speak the language. As I have learnt, it can be difficult for a magician to do this because there's already so much to think about when performing magic that delivering the patter in another language requires a great deal of brain power. But, as with the magic itself, it gets easier with practice - and it is so well worth it. Whether you need to communicate what the trick is about or whether it's for misdirection, if you can speak to your audience in their own language, they will really appreciate it. (This is particularly true if you're a native English speaker!)

If you're going to France to perform or watch magic, there's some language on my Paris Magic website to start you off.

The magic of Facebook

noreply@blogger.com (Georgie) — Mon, 11 May 2009 09:27:00 +0000

I've been a member of Facebook for a week now and I must admit it has become a bit of an obsession. It's just so endlessly fascinating to be able to connect with people from all over the world, in such a relaxed and casual way. I've found several friends I thought I'd lost for ever.

In this technological age, it's amazing what we can do - although, as John van der Put pointed out, we take it for granted. Why is it that when a magician finds the four of diamonds it feels like magic, while chatting online to a friend in Australia doesn't? I've talked about this in the blog before but I find it a very interesting question.

Got to go now and check whether anyone has written on my virtual wall in Facebook :-)

Derren Brown, mentalist extraordinaire

noreply@blogger.com (Georgie) — Sun, 03 May 2009 12:36:00 +0000

On Thursday evening, then, I went to The Lowry Theatre in Salford Quays to see Derren Brown. What an amazing man he is!

As I’ve said before, mentalism is a branch of magic that doesn’t particularly excite me but I found myself drawn into this show, simply because Derren is such a marvellous actor and presenter, a consummate showman. (In fact, as I’ve written on my Public Speaking Skills blog, he is an example to anyone preparing to address a crowd.) From the moment Derren bounded on to the stage until the standing ovation at the end, the whole audience hung on his every word and gesture.

I won’t tell you about the effects because it will spoil it for you if you’re seeing the show yourself – and besides, Derren swore us to secrecy. I can tell you, though, that there’s a good mixture of ancient and modern, funny and serious, quick-fire and involved. Derren and his friend and director Andy Nyman have evidently put an enormous amount of thought into the pace and structure of the evening, so that it stands as a cohesive whole and not just a series of tricks. It builds to a spectacular finale that is the crowning glory to a top-quality theatrical experience.

Considering Derren’s immense fame and popularity, this Enigma show could have been much less than it is and got away with it. But there is no question of pot-boiling; Derren has gone to great lengths and created something extraordinary.

The house was full on Thursday (2000-odd people) and will also have been for the other three performances Derren did at The Lowry. I imagine it’ll be the same everywhere he goes. Derren Brown takes mentalism to a new, astonishing level and I’m proud that he’s British!

The Mentalist

noreply@blogger.com (Georgie) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 11:49:00 +0000

Have you been watching The Mentalist on channel 5? If you haven't, it's a new drama series about a TV mentalist/psychic whose wife and daughter are murdered and he later becomes a detective. It's quite good and I'm enjoying it but it has been vastly overhyped. The stories aren't bad but the script is sometimes a bit dodgy and I sense the writers aren't completely sure whether Jane (the eponymous mentalist's name is Patrick Jane) has exaggerated, if not special, powers. He swears he hasn't and that his deductions are based entirely on just 'paying attention' but then he hypnotises an unwilling subject in less than a minute and persuades her to give up information she would prefer to keep secret. Hmm.

Better written, better defined and generally excellent, in my opinion, is the obsessive compulsive detective Monk. This is a funny, touching, engaging programme that I absolutely loved until the fabulous Sharona left and it wasn't the same any more.

Anyway, I'm going to be watching the repeat of The Mentalist this week because during the first showing I'll be at the theatre to see, appropriately enough, one of the world's top mentalists, Derren Brown.

Listen and learn!

noreply@blogger.com (Georgie) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 11:32:00 +0000

I recently spent a day with my friends Marc Oberon and Iain Moran, at Marc's beautiful house in Nottingham, and I came away buzzing. Watching them demonstrating their different styles of close-up magic is always fun in itself but I particularly relish the discussion around it, the evaluation of each trick, the suggestions, the tweaking and reworking, the synthesis of ideas.

Marc Oberon, on a rare day off

If you're a new magician, I encourage you to spend as much time as possible hanging out with experienced, established members of the profession. Apart from the fact it can be so much fun, you can learn tons from just listening to them talk and tossing ideas around. As I've said in my Ten Top Tips for Becoming a Good Magician, get involved as much as you can. Join a magic society if there's one near you, go to conventions, frequent your local magic shop. Of course, not everything experienced magicians tell you will be useful (or even true) but soaking up their ideas and distilling them into your own will save you a lot of time and, for me, anyway, it's a very stimulating process.

The holy grail of public speaking

noreply@blogger.com (Georgie) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:10:00 +0000

My interview with Matthew J Dowden went online this morning (click on the link to read it). Matthew is a very successful magician, who combines formidable technical ability with enthusiastic and engaging delivery. In the interview, he emphasises the importance of building up the technical skill before concentrating on the presentation – and I completely agree with him. Being funny and entertaining is no substitute for being able to do the moves smoothly and invisibly.

However, once you’ve honed your magical skills, you need to turn your attention to how you’re going to present your tricks for maximum impact. Practising your patter is as important as practising your moves. Without the technical skill, you won’t be taken very seriously as a magician. Without engaging delivery, you won’t be hired very often as an entertainer.

In his own words, Matthew described what I consider to be the holy grail of public speaking: rehearsed spontaneity.

You can read about how to achieve this yourself on my website Public Speaking Skills.

Never assume!

noreply@blogger.com (Georgie) — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 14:43:00 +0000

It's Mothers' Day and I'm remembering a magic lecture I went to a few years ago. The magician produced a bunch of flowers (or something - I can't remember the effect but it's not the point) and said, "At this point, I always say, 'You can give these to your mom'. Everyone has a mom and everyone's happy to celebrate her."

This is just not true, even in America. I looked at my friend Iain, whose mother had recently died, and along the row to another friend, whose mother is so critical and controlling that it's as much as he can do to tolerate her, never mind celebrate.

As magicians, playing to crowds of people we've never met, we need to remember that everyone is an individual with a story - and how easy it can be to alienate someone with a casual, well-intentioned remark.

Awkward situations may arise when we're ad-libbing, as happened to Michael Finney at the 2008 IBM British Ring convention. He misunderstood what a volunteer from the audience meant when she said she was a carer for her husband, and started making jokes about women waiting on their partners. Fortunately, Michael realised before he went too far but it was slightly embarrassing and a lesson to us all to check, particularly in an international context, what the person means before we start being funny.

This sort of thing has happened to most of us (I've done some awful ones) but what we can prevent more easily is gaffes in our scripted patter.