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An Evening with Chris North
Ipswich Magical Society
March 17th 2008
Reviewed by Simon Shaw
I
think it is fair to say that you can learn as much from a performance as you can
a lecture (if not more), which is one reason why seeing Chris North at the
Ipswich Magical Society was a real treat for everyone who attended.
The first half of the evening was devoted to performance in that Chris showed us
part of his current Mentalism show. The second half was a Questions and Answers
session with Chris telling anecdotes from his 40 years in show business and
answering any questions from the floor of which it has to be said there were
many.
Many people will probably know of Chris as an Illusionist. Indeed he has been
performing an Illusion show in one form another since the 1970’s so seeing him
perform mentalism in it’s purest form was quite a treat from such a professional
showman.
As someone who performs a little mentalism myself I found it not just
entertaining, but very useful too and judging by the discussion of the Ipswich
Magical Societies hard core mentalists in the pub afterwards, I wasn’t the only
one who thought so.
As Chris freely admitted none of the tricks he showed were ever meant to be
magician foolers. This was after all part of his show that he takes around the
country. His presentation however of everything he performed was very original
and just goes to show how import this part of an act is.
His finale of the first half was something that not many people ever get to see,
especially performed so theatrically. With the help of his lovely assistant,
Belinda, they performed their version of the Spirit Cabinet that dates back of
course to the Davenports back in the 1800’s. They were both dressed up in
Victorian costume which set the scene very well creating exactly the right
amount of atmosphere.
This is not a piece that many people could get away with, but Chris and Belinda
executed it perfectly. Not just with the necessary amount of sombreness but also
with a few well placed light hearted remarks that broke the tension.
The second half of the evening was as fascinating as the first half was
entertaining. Chris began by giving us a very brief history of his life in show
business, which started back in the 1970’s with his appearance on New Faces and
ended to current day where he is now concentrating solely on his mentalism act,
something that has been a passion of his since the very start of his career.
So to sum it all up, it was a very special evening and something a little
different to most club lectures.
www.ipswichmagicalsociety.co.uk
© Simon Shaw, May 2008