STAGE SHOW COMPETITION 2005

7 February 2005

Thanks to all of the acts that took part in this years stage show competition. The standard was very high and it was one of the biggest stage competitions for some years. Give yourselves a huge pat on the back!

All of the acts were polished to a really high standard and hugely entertaining (making it difficult to vote!) but congratulations to Mike Pettit on a winning routine!

The acts were as follows:

Andrew Jeffrey - Appearing semi-naked from behind his table proved a bit of a shock but (thankfully!) Andrew became fully clothed in less than a second (How on earth does that happen!). Andrew followed this with a little mayhem and craziness and a super fast Rizla to jumbo coin routine. Next up was a comedy head turning illusion involving nothing more than a cardboard box and Andrew moved on to a great act involving the eating of invisible chocolates to find a previously selected card. Andrew continued to reveal a predicted word in a dictionary (very nicely done!), gave a quick comedy cups and balls routine revealing just the finale fruits and then undressed yet again (He obviously enjoys it) to slow down time and catch a falling weight dropped by a spectator in a 'splat the rat' style routine. A great act full of comedy and fun!

Matthew Parr - Matthew set the scene with a little mentalism and managed to send a random number to a spectator using mind power alone. To continue the mentalism theme Matthew revealed a selected card from under a spectators heel and after getting the trick wrong (or so we were led to think!) instantly changed the card into the correct selection which looked very impressive! Matthew then brought our attention to three paper balls laid on the table and a spectator was given a very fair choice to select a paper ball - The spectator unscrewed the paper ball he had chosen to reveal the words -'You will choose this ball of paper' then went on to open the other balls which clearly stated 'You will not choose this ball of paper' A very clean routine! To finish the act Matthew showed us a sealed and unopened deck of cards which had been in full view of the audience for the entire performance. A spectator merely thought of a card before the pack was opened. Matthew proceeded to open the sealed deck revealing just one card reversed in the deck - The chosen card! A really strong mentalism routine.

Andy Hart - Andy gave his own version of how to bend spoons using the power of the audience which were divided into two halves and asked to think of the word 'Bend'! Using the forces necessary Andy gave us proof that indeed he (and us!) had the necessary powers to make spoons bend. Eventually the end of the spoon he was holding fell straight to the floor! Andy then showed us a whole tray full of spoons and asked for a spectator to join him on stage and choose just two of the spoons on offer. After this was done the spectator was asked to test the solidity of the spoons by using rather a dangerous method (Hitting them on Andy's forehead!). After donning a war helmet the rigidity of the spoons in question was verified yet Andy managed to bend the spoon with ease and eventually caused the end to drop to the floor! A really clever routine that was very entertaining.

Mike Pettit - The winning act started with a well animated story of road signs and a great routine involving confusion over which way to drive - Glad I wasn't getting a lift home with Mike. Mike continued the act by producing coins from all over the place including a very ordinary ashtray. Mike continued the coin theme by getting the audience to throw invisible coins into a glass which clearly seemed to materialise as he caught them in the glass he was holding. Mike then demonstrated how to make more money by producing yet more coins from under a hankie! It was a good job Mike had made some money as the act continued to show him setting fire to one of his hankies and burning a large hole straight through the middle of it! The hankie was then instantly restored to its former glory. Next was a Rubik's cube puzzle that solved itself mid-air and a great four card monte routine with black and red cards jumping from one place to another. After showing us the magic Mike gave us the chance to teach ourselves a trick with quite a brilliant sucker routine involving the palming (or not!) and changing colour of red and yellow silks. A really fun act that was a joy to watch!

Brenda Trowell - The final act was a musical and colourful collection of visual magic that started with the production of a white rabbit from a top-hat and the production of some colourful silks from a jumbo playing card. Brenda moved on to a great 'CD' routine with a clever 'zig-zag' trick chopping a CD into three moving parts! The colour from the CD was then magically vanished and turned into a shiny silver ribbon. The act moved on to producing numerous silks and boxes of flowers from an empty paper bag (which seemed impossible!) . For the finale Brenda vanished a large Indian silk in a cardboard funnel and finally revealed the silk tied between two other silks with the popping of a balloon. A colourful display that was very entertaining!

Again well done to everybody that took part in a great competition!

Jamie Clark

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