Hello Wizards, It was nice to see a few of our members at the Easter Parade. Those who weren't there missed a treat with Paul Daniels being the main guest of honour with a questions and answers session and an enjoyable presentation of his act as known for the whole second half of the Gala Show. Darren and I managed to bring home some trophies again, mine in the Stage Competition in which I came second, to Robert Temple, won the comedy cup (third time in a row that one's come back to Bradford) and the Max Andrews Cup for originality. That one came a as total surprise. Darren won the Vice Presidents Cup, representing Bradford Magic Circle as well as winning the Jim Lumley Cup for first place in the Close-up Competition and this in his first year in the Senior competitions. Discussing the competition with friends there were mixed feelings as to who would win. I stuck with my gut feeling it would be Darren as his act was a set along a theme, which appealed to me and I guess the judges. Well done, Darren. There were also some controversial moments one in particular that is ongoing and so I choose not to go into it as it would not be appropriate here. Something I can tell you though is that I nearly blew the British Ring President’s head off at the opening of the convention. Sam Mallinson had asked another and me if we could fire two tubular party poppers, you know the biggies. He also told us how to operate the tube i.e. which way to twist it. So I took aim over the heads of Sam and Joy Mallinson, Mark and Joan Raffles and Paul Daniels and right on queue, tried to twist the bloody thing. It didn't turn that way but the other way. This momentary lapse in concentration was enough to have moved the tube off its plotted course and straight to poor Mark's head! I went with a serious bang, Mark hammed it up wonderfully, Sam and I... there's no other way of putting it... we shit ourselves, the audience roared with laughter and Paul Daniels rose to the occasion, remarking, "Who's selling these on their stand?" my opposite number couldn't work his popper either so Paul had a look at it and "accidentally" fired it into the audience! Talk about starting things off with a bang! During the week that followed I took part in a new event over in Ilkley set up by an innovative young man whom is hoping to put Ilkley back on the map, artistically. The evening is called Open Mike and it is an opportunity for people to get up and do a turn, music comedy, magic or anything else. During the evening there was a charity auction and proceeds of that went to Ilkley Moor Lions Club along with other money raised on the same evening. It seemed only right to offer my services and do a turn as well. Guess what I sang! Kidding, of course, I did a little magic turn. I mention it here because I can extend the invitation to members who may wish to take part in one of these evenings, the next one being on May 18th. It presents an opportunity to work in a real world situation, with a fun riotous crowd and while it wouldn't be a paid booking, it is a chance to gain some experience outside of the artificial environment created at Circle meetings and conventions. I would liken the environment to something like Jongleurs or the Comedy Store. If you're interested in taking part or just popping across to see what it's all about, give me a call. A week on again and on the 26th April I went across to Harrogate to see Geoffrey Durham's Show – No Hat, No Rabbit. This is the third of his one-man shows that he has presented and as with the others, I recommend it as a wonderful night out. We had the opportunity to see it when it was presented at the Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield, unfortunately though, it was on the same night as the Hey Presto Show. Seeing that the show was appearing at Harrogate, I made sure I didn't miss the opportunity. There were a few familiar faces dotted about the Harrogate Theatre, a quaint 400 seat theatre that has an atmosphere you only find at such theatres as the old ones like Leeds City Varieties. Some of the guys from Harrogate Society of Magicians were there and I spoke to John Hotowka and Lorna Heginbotham. I went across there with Ken Mitchell. I thought a few more might have gone as Alex had put the flyer up on the website. Still, your loss if you didn't go see it. The new show, Geoffrey explained was to be one of magic with everyday objects. With these everyday objects, he tore and restored a newspaper, cut and restored a length of rope (which he repeated several times), swept up the bits of rope with the brush he produced from the paper carrier gag he had brought on at the start of the show. A volunteer was put to use with a wonderfully presented cards to pocket. Spoon to fork was a quick trick that took us to a very well received borrowed coin in bottle. This in turn was followed by a Three Card Monte effect with cups and carrot juice. A cup was marked with a large red spot after being shown to be empty. This cup was left to one side of the stage. One of the remaining three cups had a tot of carrot juice poured into it and the three cups were mixed, the audience trying to follow the one with the juice. Time and again it was not in the cup thought to contain the juice until eventually all three cups were upturned and the juice found to be in the fourth cup marked earlier with the red spot! A game of Whist was played and following Geoffrey's instructions, the volunteer who felt she had no chance of winning any tricks with her hand won all five. Geoffrey closed the first half with a trick that he admitted used a rectangular tube that was not entirely an everyday object and some children's building blocks, with numbers on them. No matter order or arrangement one set of block were sought into, their counterparts on emergence from the tube were seen to have followed suit. During the interval, Geoffrey went amongst people in the Circle Bar and the Stalls to present some close-up magic. Amongst these was one where three beads were threaded onto two lengths of velvet only to penetrate the cloth tape. He also showed a few rubber band tricks where at the end, one of the bands is twisted to look like a star and then holds its shape as a star. Paul Sunderland does that one, if you'd like to see it. Leaning over the Circle front, I saw Geoffrey doing some sort of a haunted matchboxes trick and he also tore and restored two pieces of tissue paper that on being restored, made a lovely hat. Kicking off the second half, a two figure sum was constructed in the fairest of means possible. The number (which at that show was 95) was written down on a in a box drawn on a board. Above that box was a grid sixteen squares arranged four by four and into these boxes, Geoffrey wrote down numbers, which made up a magic square. It was delivered with real punch and intrigued the audience as it had been orchestrated to be presented in layers. The final layer was when we discovered that behind the card was a second piece of card and sandwiched between these cards was an envelope and inside the envelope was a second envelope and inside that one was a piece of folded paper upon which was written, 'The though of number will be 95.'! Think of a Card, where an invisible deck was used and one card out of the whole pack was eventually chosen and found to be in a purse frame. A quick bit of magic with a Rubik Cube was followed by a wonderful presentation in which three borrowed finger rings linked together and were of course separated after. We were then treat to his take on the Scotch Egg Bag with the finale being where a shot glass wit a tot of whiskey is brought from the bag. On the final lap, a 20 pound note was borrowed and accidentally burnt. It was eventually found in a chosen playing card that the spectator had 'card stabbed' himself. The bill was between the two layers that make up a playing card. Some fun with a large cardboard box within which was a dining chair which somehow managed to turn upside down whilst within the confines of the box. Geoffrey confessed that he was cheating and brought out of the box that he'd earlier shown to be empty a second chair. To close the fabulous show, what else but his Hydrostatic Glass, Geoffrey's glass holding four pints. And so after being entertained in the Harrogate theatre for just over two hours, the show came to close and Geoffrey left to thunderous applause. A busy month but it's all worth it. It's all good fun. See you next time. |
