Magicians of the Future - Showtime!

18 June 2006

Firstly, a big thanks to Matt Parr for organising a wonderfully entertaining show. Originally billed as 'Junior Showtime', Matt suggested giving the evening a more appropriate title: 'Magicians of the Future.' This was readily accepted, and due to the success of the evening could well become a regular feature on the calendar.

There was a very open feel to the evening and there was some great interaction between the performers and the audience. The performers quickly transmitted their youthful freshness, enthusiasm and energy to the audience, who in return seemed supportive and eager to offer their encouragement and appreciation.

Matt Parr - looking debonair and entering to some Bond music - compared the show with confidence and began by performing a 'one ahead' routine.

Ali Ceurvorst was up next. Ali is a talented young chap, overflowing with confidence, who clearly has huge potential. He began with a card trick which had an elaborate presentational theme involving three modelling balloons. He then attempted a 'Magic Square' and a 'Just Chance' effect before ending with a great 'Russian Roulette' routine with eggs. It was a highly entertaining routine with inherent humour; smashing eggs one at a time on his head trying to avoid the one fresh egg.

Matt Parr then performed a really nice card routine; a freely hand-drawn card, complete with signature on the back, turned into a real card. It was a powerful and clever concept, and Matt's ability to keep coming up with new and original material is highly impressive and most noteworthy.

Leon Simmonds was next - and was exceptional. Performing close-up magic, he entertained us with an 'Ambitious Card' routine, a 'Sponge Ball' routine and a 'Signed-Card-to-Sealed-Envelope'. He finished with a 'kicker' in the 'even-for-magicians' category; with the deck arranged in new deck order. His act was beautifully constructed, well executed and confidently performed. There was naturalness to his style; each effect flowing seamlessly into the next. He was engaging, amusing and he was performing really strong magic.

Matt performed some more mentalism; this time demonstrating some speedy mathematics. He then introduced the next act by way of a rather bizarre yet quite amusing game of Charades.

Tall & Small (aka Guy and Rosman) performed a 'Drawing Duplication' between two spectators. Then, in what was billed as a dangerous escape, Guy's hands were chained together and he was sealed in a cardboard box. During the successful escape there was a slightly strange appearance of a severed torso and a 'Jonathan Pendragon' moment with a curtain.

The climax of their act was 'You Do Voo Doo' (the needle-through-arm illusion). With music helping to create the atmosphere, Guy pushed a 10" hatpin through Rosman's pseudo-cataleptic arm. It was a strong piece of theatre and it really is an effective and emotive illusion when seen 'in the flesh'!

It was a really refreshing evening and it is encouraging and satisfying that the standard of magic was so high. And, it was a lot of fun - there was so much laughter throughout the evening; it was widely regarded as being one of the most enjoyable evenings in recent memory.

Well done and thank you to all the performers. The evening was a huge success!

Giles

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