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At Home with Tony Griffith
Sunday March 8th 2020
Reported by Paul MacLeavy
Tony
Griffith has been a full time professional magician for over 30 years.
During this time he has done everything in magic from performing stage
magic, close-up residencies in hotels and restaurants, children's shows,
science magic school shows, trade shows representing some of the UK's
top companies, lecturing all over the world, corporate entertainment,
writing numerous books, conducting workshops with magic instruction,
after dinner speaking/entertainment, talks on the history of magic to
WIs, Probus clubs, etc, the list goes on. He has originated and marketed
many tricks and routines - all of which are highly practical and
commercial.
Over the years he has held a number of one day events at his home where
he has provided comprehensive tuition in the presentation and
performance of magic for the real world. While the information he has
provided has been invaluable, the cost of attending these "At Homes" has
been very reasonable - in fact, a bargain.
The latest "At Home", said to be his last one ever, was held on Sunday
8th March. Eight magicians, ranging from the relatively inexperienced
newcomer to one or two full time professional performers, gathered at
Tony's beautiful Somerset home at 10.30am. We received a lovely cheery
welcome from Tony and his wife Judith and were immediately offered tea,
coffee and biscuits.
After introductions and learning of each others magical interests, Tony
outlined the programme for the day. We were each given a specially
produced book containing 52 pages with ten tricks or routines and ten
articles on the performance of magic. These books (and they were books
not lecture notes) would be worth at least £20 if sold.
The day was in the form of two sessions, morning and afternoon, divided
by a two hour lunch break where we were able to relax and get to know
each other better over a delicious buffet lunch provided by Judith.
During the day, Tony performed and explained about 35 tricks and
routines (I lost count) covering a very wide spectrum, and included a
workshop on the use of the thick card (Tony's favourite accessory) and
routines with it. A thick card, made by sticking the two jokers
together, added to the pack turns it into a trick deck, but on removal
the deck reverts to an ordinary, examinable pack. Tony performed and
explained seven "killer" routines using the thick card - all could be
called "reputation makers".
In summary, this was a very comprehensive "teach-in" day of magic and
wonderful value for money. As well as the fore-mentioned book, we were
all given a free magic trick to take home, and there was the opportunity
of buying other books and tricks of Tony's at reasonable prices.
The day came to an end with tea/coffee and cake before we departed at
about 5.00pm.
If I was asked to sum up Tony's magic in three words it would have to be
Practical, Commercial, Entertaining. I would have no hesitation in
recommending that you do everything possible to attend Tony's next "At
Home". But Tony is adamant that this is his last. Unless he changes his
mind, the only other thing to do is get one or more of his books. These
can be obtained from his website
www.tonygriffith.co.uk. I would recommend 'The Essence' which is a
compilation of his best routines.
© Paul MacLeavy, March 2020