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Oliver Tabor Lecture: 'Openers and Closers'
The Surrey Society of Magicians
8th May 2025
Reviewed by Chris Wardle
Oliver
Tabor is a Past President of The British Ring of the IBM, a highly accomplished
stage performer and lecturer and his long-running 'West End Magic' shows have
been a hit for over a decade at venues across the UK.
Oliver's lecture was full of practical, finely honed magic and pearls of wisdom,
with everything expertly performed and clearly explained. It really is a treat
to watch Oliver in action.
Across the two hours, we witnessed elegant bottle and glass productions, blown
bubbles becoming solid, a torn and restored paper which became a snowstorm
effect and several other visual miracles. There were even some very strong card
routines, which had been tailored to work just as effectively in a parlour or
stage setting as they would in close-up. (Oliver's use of a parlour sized deck
enabled everything to be clearly visible.)
There were too many highlights to list, but I must just mention a devastating
mentalism routine which just got more impossible as it went along, so that in
its final phase of three, a spectator read another spectator's mind having
chosen a card from a deck which was only in the spectator's imagination!
Brilliant thinking and routining made this an absolutely stand-out sequence.
The lecture, based on effects for opening and closing a routine was much more
than that and really did have something for everyone - as was evident at the
sales table afterwards where lecture notes were speedily purchased!
Book this lecture now, it really is full of gems!
© Chris Wardle, May 2025