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70 Years of Pure Magic
Nottingham Guild of Magicians
Reviewed by D. May
Last weekend the Nottingham Guild of Magicians excelled themselves with
their ’70 Years of Pure Magic’ show held this time at the Arts Theatre in the
Lace Market area of Nottingham. To help celebrate the Guild’s 70th year, they
incorporated manipulation, comedy, mentalism and illusions into a show
extravaganza. You were met and greeted at the door by two gorgeous girls in
fabulous costumes before being entertained in the theatre and bar by close-up
magicians. The intervals saw the reappearance of close-up magic to keep the
bubbly atmosphere going through-out the evening.
To open the show, were the dancers from the Lorna Leighton School of Dance with
‘It’s a kind of magic’ by Queen. Dressed in their white tailcoats, top hats and
canes, they certainly got the show of to an entertaining start.
The compère for the evening, Graham Harper, was fantastic through-out the night
and from someone that has seen him perform in this role before, his performance
was by far his best yet. His most memorable gag of the evening had to be his
creative twist on a group audience photo with his traffic camera and the helpful
movements of an audience member.
The first magic act of the evening was the manipulation styling of Stuart Brown.
Dressed in traditional magician’s attire complete with top hat, Stuart wowed the
audience with colour changing canes and silks, before treating everyone to his
signature act of dancing hankies.
John Dornan then took to the stage. After winning the Nottingham Guild of
Magician’s Stage Magic Competition earlier this year, expectations from this
up-and-coming magician were high and John Dornan delivered. Using conventional
magic and combining it with wit and humour provided an unforgettable act,
especially for the lucky lady who aided him with his rope trick!
Laughter continued through-out the next act with the satirical humour of Graham
P. Jolley, as he blew your mind with his marvellous acts of mentalism. The
audience were astounded by his rapid ability to read people’s minds and the
comical way in which he treated the members of the audience invited to help him
with his feats of magic.
After a short intermission, a delightful young lady from Glasgow; Mandy
Fletcher, spell-bound the audience with her dancing cane and intriguing glass
magic. Set to a Scottish theme, her act was bright and colourful and
demonstrated an ability rarely seen in someone so young. This magician is one to
watch out for in the future!
Billy Pearce then graced the stage for a short while, to prepare the audience
for his full act later in the show. He left everyone rocking in their seats with
laughter before the phenomenal illusions presented by Andrew Green, took them on
a tour of awe and wonder.
Andrew Green and his lovely assistant performed three illusions during their act
including an exceptional levitation and ultra fast sub-trunk switch. Atmospheric
music and sparkly costumes mixed with stage magic, provided the audience with an
all-round entertaining act.
To finish the evening, Billy Pearce returned to the stage for a further forty
minutes of comedy and laughter. His audience representative, a fortunate (or
unfortunate) female member of the audience, provided a focus for his comic song
and gyrating dance movements. His act was fast paced, dynamic and completely
hilarious!
Overall the show was truly remarkable with so many entertaining features
bursting from the stage. The mix of magic and comedy kept everyone on the edge
of their seats. It is inconceivable as to how the Nottingham Guild of Magicians
can improve on this for future performances. It is left only to say a huge thank
you to all the hard-working members of the Nottingham Guild of Magicians for
organising and show-casing such a wonderful event; especially the show director,
Andrew Morrison and stage hands Roy Bond and Graham Colvan, who made all this
possible!
© D. May, September 2009