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Steve Short and Scott Penrose "Alan Shaxon - The Sophisticated Sorcerer"
The Nottingham Guild of Magicians
June 2015
Reviewed by Dean Grimshaw
The
Nottingham Guild of Magicians welcomed Steve Short and Scott Penrose to the
guild on 18/06/2015. The evening started with Steve Short presenting clips of
Alan’s life as a magician. Steve’s enthusiasm of all things Alan Shaxon shone
through when talking about the days of Robert Harbin, John Wade and the double
act with Anne, through to his days as the president of The Magic Circle and their
100 year anniversary. One of the highlights of the first half was a key point in
Alan’s television career, all I really need to say is “Eddie Spangle and
Monique”. The presentation was full of anecdotes and photographs which were not
only interesting to see, but, the way they were presented instilled a passion
and enthusiasm to perform and achieve what each magician has set as their goal
to achieve in the trade we all love.
The second half was presented by Scott Penrose and was all about Alan’s tricks
and secrets, It started with a trick that ensured everybody was speechless no
matter how many times it had been performed: Aerial Fishing. Followed by a very
well composed rabbit in the hat routine coinciding with a slick disappearing die
routine which marred into a perfectly executed 5 minute performance. This was
followed by the very impressive Confabulation, The Ultimate Nudist Deck,
Headline Prediction and Card in Whisky Bottle. It was performed with a kind of
zeal and intensity that ensured that you couldn’t keep your eyes off the
performance.
I never had the opportunity to see Alan Shaxon perform live only on
videos/DVDs, TV and YouTube. It was great to see some of his trademark tricks
performed. Steve and Scott did so with the kind of professionalism that I
believe (through watching clips) Alan would have been proud of. I would highly
recommend this lecture as something that is not only in its execution well put
together but interesting and different to any other lecture on the circuit at
the moment.
Photo: l to r Steve Short, Andrew Morrision (President of the Nottingham Guild
of Magicians), Scott Penrose.
© Dean Grimshaw, Publicity and Marketing, The Nottingham Guild of Magicians