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Paul Daniels Performs as Malini
the Magician
Jermyn Street Theatre, London
March 2004
Reviewed by Ian Keable
It
is easy sometimes to forget the sheer impact of simple tricks on a lay audience;
and this was certainly brought home in force by Paul Daniels with his tribute to
Max Malini. Whatever the minimalist production values of this show, it was more
than made up for in the sheer volume of tricks on display. All the classic
Malini repertoire were there, including an excellent Card Stab, Egg Bag, Bill in
Lemon, Glass through Table, Matrix with sugar lumps and the impossible
production under the Hat that was said to have caught Dai Vernon so badly; and
probably a dozen more tricks besides. In between Daniels told us something about
Malini’s career, demonstrated that he had clearly done quite a bit of new
research, related a few of the well known anecdotes – and, yes, the one about
‘tell them that Malini did it’ was in there – and even impersonated his accent.
At the end of the day, though, this show is essentially a vehicle for Paul
Daniels’ charismatic personality. And what came over was Daniels’ completely
relaxed and confident approach, his eminent enjoyment of performing essentially
close-up magic and the familiar repartee that we have come to expect from his
many years of performing on stage and television. This was particularly so in
his Malini tribute to the Bunco Booth where he conned several of the audience
out of £1 coins in rapid succession – great entertainment.
The show, including a 15 minute interval, runs around two hours; and is an
expanded version of the one he performed at the Edinburgh Festival last year.
The lay audience were clearly delighted by the experience, with gasps and
spontaneous applause punctuating the evening. The night I was in the audience
members included David Mellor and the DJ Kid Jensen. So a bout of celebrity
spotting may take your mind off the rather high ticket price.
Jermyn Street Theatre,
16b Jermyn Street,
London SW1Y 6ST
Box Office: 020 7287 2875
All tickets £57 each. MagicWeek readers can obtain 2 tickets for the price of 1
by phoning the box office on 020 7287 2875 and quoting the "Paul Daniels 2 for 1
Internet Offer" The show is on Thursday, Friday and Saturday night and runs
through to March 20th.
© Ian Keable, March 2004