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Tom Wright Lecture
Blackpool Magicians' Club
Tuesday, 11th July, 2017
Reviewed by Quentin Reynolds
My first thought was, “Do I really need to see a lecture by someone who thinks
it’s a good idea to have his seated-at-tables audience members stand up to
watch?”
I did go and quickly realised that Tom Wright is a “worker”.
The first half covered the varied methods he uses in animation, floating
effects, and psychic touches. It’s obvious Tom has put a lot of time and effort
into working these out and overcoming the challenges many magicians have with
these type of effects. A very clean Haunted Deck that happens on the hands of a
spectator stood out, as did the easiest method I’ve come across for tying bands
of elastic thread.
After the break Tom shared a nice bit of business that leads into a bottle
production, a clever use of the Coin Unique, a powerful card transposition, some
interesting and simple card controls, a thoughtful and motivated approach to the
Card From Mouth, and how he handles Alan Hudson’s Chop Glass (the best
incarnation to the Chop Cup I’ve seen) all presented with detailed thought on
how the effects are perceived by the audience. Tom shared many of the gags he
uses and how to set them up for maximum reaction.
He finished with a discussion on Stand Up Table magic. As mentioned in my
introduction, this is something I was pretty sceptical about. Tom related how it
came about and the ten benefits from it. He made a lot of sense and shows how
someone like me can be prejudiced to trying a novel idea.
Overall I really enjoyed the evening and I’m very glad I went. It’s always a
pleasure to see a working pro share their thoughts, ideas, routines, and most
importantly, why they do what they do.
© Quentin Reynolds, July 2017