As was mentioned at the last meeting coming up later in the year will be our competition night, which may well consist of three different events. They are the Stage, Close-up and One Trick Contest. The latter is a new initiative introduced as a more informal event. There will be no magical judge for a start off. All of the ‘judging’ will be done by the audience as a whole. The individual can score the act anyway they please, as how magical or skilful the trick was maybe or just how entertaining it was. It has not been determined what the prize will consist of. This will no doubt be something that reflects the basis of the contest. i.e. having a good time with our magic. What about the rules of the contest? Well as regards the time limit, this will be set at 5-minutes maximum. What should one-trick consist of? This will be up to the individual interpretation of each audience member as to how they ‘score’ the act. Admittedly, there is a lot of grey in this rather that it being just black and white. It was felt that to try and build a concrete structure of rules would make it a competition and not the fun contest it is intended to be. For me, someone presenting a coin matrix where the four coins arranged in a square all come together in one corner is a trick rather that a succession of the same trick. Should the effect commence with the appearance of the four coins from nowhere, this would for me constitute a second trick. As for the competitions, they are to compete for trophies that have been won by various people over the years with some of the winners going on to win at Northern Magic Circle and the British Ring of the International Brotherhood of Magicians. While there may be no huge cash prize like the £1000 offered by the British Ring, there is some prestige to winning the trophies as some very celebrated magicians have won them ……. and me! The competitions are a bit more intense, having a magical judge present along with the two lay judges. Competitions aren’t every ones cup of tea unfortunately but for those who wish to take up a career, as a professional or even a part time professional (I hate the expression ‘semi-pro’ as I think we should always be trying to give a pro performance), they should take advantage of the opportunity to compete. You can gain a reputation on the competitive circuit and this can lead to work. Of course you can just compete to try further yourself as a magician, try out a new act or a new style. So that’s the competition. Another thing that was mentioned at the last meeting was the award of Honorary Life Membership that was given to Arthur Russell. As mentioned as part of the announcement, the award is in recognition for what Arthur has done for magic both at Bradford and further afield. As a creator of routines and effects and quite possibly the best roll on table (Practical Magic own the rights to that and I think Ken Mitchell has one if you want to see one) he is well recognised. He served for a time on your committee and is well renowned for his constructive (and some may say slightly abrasive, though they never hurt me) criticisms. Congratulations Arthur, and thanks for your many constructive criticisms that along with a few others helped me along magic’s golden highway. Finally, it is intended early next year, which as mentioned previously will be our sixtieth year as a society, to have an exhibition at the Bradford Industrial Museum. Chris Hart has been extremely helpful liasing with the museum. The exhibition will be a celebration of Bradford Magic Circle’s sixty years but also magic in Bradford over 100+years. During this time magicians who performed in Bradford have included Houdini, Dante and Paul Daniels. Shahid Malik presented a superb festival of magic for at Lister Park for the people of Bradford. David Berglas studied for a time at Bradford Technical College. More recently Steve Frayne known to many as Dynamo is taking everyone he meets by storm with his ‘hip-hop’ style of magic. He has gone a long way from the young man who walked through those doors. What’s intended to be there? Our initial thoughts are to have material from the scrapbooks displayed upon screens. It is hoped to have some of the video-recorded magic from several years’ back being played continuously on a loop during the exhibition. There may be live performances from various magicians as well as talks. Any and all ideas would be welcome. Alternatively, you may wish to be a part of our sub-committee dedicated only to the anniversary and the exhibition. Have a serious think about getting on board. Please don’t just leave it to the usual faces; we may miss a superb opportunity. Bradford Magic Circle will be sixty years young in 2008 and we will be celebrating. Well I think two pages is enough. Thanks for reading. |
