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The
'Up North' Magic Convention
By The Enchanted Rabbit Company
17th-19th April 2026
Reviewed by Walt Lees
This
was small but very friendly convention, held in the Gibside Hotel, Wickham,
Newcastle. Yet the quality of lecturers and performers far exceeded those of
many bigger and more high profile events. Chris Cross, the man behind it all,
had either splashed out a lot of dosh, called in some favours - or both - to
assemble such a star studded coterie.
On the Friday evening Chris, himself, and Luke Jermay provided the
entertainment. The latter working in a deliberate - almost Edwardian - style,
every word and gesture carefully chosen to have the maximum impact. I
particularly liked his use of flash paper in a Linking Ring routine - a novel
and spectacular touch. His needle swallowing finale was very strong too. Chris
did about treble the number of tricks in roughly the same time; an eclectic mix
from the latest manifestation of Tom Harris's classic Balancing Peg to a giant
Three Card Monte with a Newky Brown pay-off. Throughout the accent was on fun,
chaos, laughter and warmth.
Three companies took part in the Saturday morning's dealers' showcase: Discount
Magic, Magic Box and Enchanted Rabbit. The two young guys from Magic Box stole
the show, although unintentionally, as mishap piled upon mishap. They took it
all in good part and it was great fun.
The first lecture came from Simon South, an obviously experienced professional.
One of the highlights was an updated version of Albert Spackman's Voodoo (a
favourite demming line of the late Ken Brooke). Another was Daniel Garcia's
Smoke from Mouth, which, if it doesn't come with a Government Health Warning,
should!
The next to lecture was the elegant Oliver Tabor, one of my favourite performers
on the current scene. He covered many of the items we were to see during his
performance in the Gala Show later. He also talked briefly about the training
and handling of doves. Oliver is a consummate craftsman and offered a lot of
valuable advice to those with the skill and nous to use it.
Professor Richard Wiseman (who genuinely is an academic professor) came next,,
providing novelty and laughter. He gave not so much a magical lecture as a talk,
illustrated with You Tube clips, about how to exploit the medium of one-camera
videos to produce incredible magical effects that could never be replicated
live. Not actual camera tricks but using the camera at unexpected angles and
suchlike. What made the lecture so entertaining was that while the tricks
themselves were intriguing, the explanations were often hilarious pushing
ingenuity to the point of insanity. I don't know if this lecture was designed
specially for magical audiences, but I suspect not. No real "secrets" were
exposed; so it could be presented to any company interested in understanding how
our preconceptions can mislead us. I can truthfully say that this was the best
non-magical lecture I have ever seen at a magic convention.
The task of following was allotted to Luke Jermay. I particularly like his
stagified version of a card effect along the Roy Walton Collectors line but
completely different in methodology. It is clean, simple and plays big. As does
his Egg Bag using an unfaked handkerchief in lieu of a bag. But for me, the real
gem was his recounting of the full facts about Dai Vernon's broken arms. Lewis
Ganson mentioned the incident but did not give many details. To anyone who
studies Vernon's magic (and we all should) the knowledge that he was incapable
of fully straightening his arms throws a whole new slant on his methods and
thinking.
The evening show was open to the public, and there were a few fresh faces in the
crowd. Artistes appearing were Colin Bourdiec Oliver Tabor, Quentin Reynolds,
Simon South, Hayden Parker, Luke Jermay and Marc Oberon. Compere was Chris
Cross.
It was an excellent show but, I'll Just mention a few of the highlights rather
than give a blow-by blow account. Marc Oberon's Miser's Dream using giant
coaster coins which morphed into paper money, and his two ring linking routine
where suddenly a third ring appeared from nowhere; Quentin Reynolds leprechaun
patter for the Gipsy Thread, which really capitalised on his Irishness, and his
"dingle dangle" Chinese Sticks (shades of the song My Ding-a-Ling); Oliver
Tabor's work with bubbles and real balls; Simon South's Edwardian style
(another), vanishing smoke and Sucker Silks segueing into barehand production of
streamers; Luke Jermay's catching a selected card from a tossed-up deck and his
needle swallowing,. There were lots of other good things too, but these are the
ones that stick in my mind.
Afterwards, Marc Oberon deservedly received the Enchanted Rabbit Cup, awarded to
those whom Chris Cross feels have made outstanding contributions to the art of
magic.
And there the convention sadly ended for me. The next day was a children's show
and attendees watched lectures by Quentin Reynolds and Marc Oberon, while a
broken leg, following a fall, meant that I saw the A & E Dept. of the Royal
Victoria Infirmary, an operating theatre and a hospital ward. Such is life!
© Walt Lees, May 2026