The Illusionists world tour started in January 2012 and comes to Sheffield City Hall on Sunday 6 October, 2013.
To quote the promotional blurb: “Showcasing jaw dropping acts of grand illusion, levitation, mind-reading, disappearance and for the first time ever in history, a full view water torture escape, The Illusionists: Witness The Impossible is a magic show like none other ever seen before.
“The group of world-class performers draw influences from the showmanship of the great illusionists of the past such as Harry Houdini, and pair with it a new and updated contemporary aesthetic, whose set and costume design lend the genre a theatricality and artistry that has rarely been seen before.”
The performers are: Dan Sperry ‘The Anti Conjurer’, Jinger Leigh ‘The Enchantress’, Andrew Basso ‘The Escapologist’, Mark Kalin ‘The Gentlemen’, Kevin James ‘The Inventor’, Jeff Hobson ‘The Trickster’ and Philip Escoffey ‘The Mentalist’. (Some of you will remember we filmed a great interview with Kevin James for the special Crazy Horse edition of PrestiDigital.)
I’m pleased to say that our readers can obtain a 35% discount off any ticket price for this show by using the promo code magic35 when booking online, over the phone or in person. Click here for further information and booking details.
A full house for a packed lecture from Diamond Jim Tyler here at the Lounge on Wednesday. Diamond Jim is clearly a professional performer who actually uses the material he demonstrated and explained… lots of practical stuff here for the worker.
Difficult to pick out the plums; they’d be different for everyone, but I noticed lots of interest from our performing members in Sweet! (initialled coin or borrowed ring to sweetener packet; great for restaurants), DiaMonte (a straightforward three-card routine which packs a punch and finishes clean) and his ring and cord routine.
If you missed the lecture you can still pick up some of the items from here. We have limited supplies of DiaMonte (£20), Sweet! (£20 with bonus Birthday Card signed card to sealed envelope) and Mirrors (£24 for six routines with mirror cards). All these come with gimmicks.
We’ve also got a few copies of his best-selling Pockets Full of Miracles DVD at £25. This features 23 mind-blowing effects including The FBI Trick (comedy thumbcuff escape routine with surprise vanish of the cuffs), Animated Cardbox, Trapdoor Coins, Ring & String (a great five-phase routine with a borrowed ring), and much more.
Ali has arranged with Civic to offer a concessionary ticket price to group bookings of 10 or more who quote “Magic Circle” when booking.
From the show blurb: Star of Penn & Teller: Fool Us (ITV1), Dirty Tricks (Channel 4), Monkey Magic (Five), Psychic Secrets Revealed with Derren Brown (Five) and the darkly twisted Jerry@Trick sketch show with Jerry Sadowitz (Five), Ali Cook returns with his own brand of awe-inspiring magic and breath-taking illusion. Expect to be genuinely amazed.
There are lots of great press quotes on his site http://alicook.com/, but this is my favorite, from The Herald Scotland:
Like a bonsai David Blaine, but not so smug and irritating, Cook does big things in small places.
If you can’t make Barnsley on Friday, here are a few more dates for the rest of the 2013 run:
20 September: Selby Town Hall.
21 September: The Ark Theatre, Borehamwood.
26 September: Brighton Komedia.
28 September: Ironworks, Inverness.
29 September: The Lemon Tree, Aberdeen.
4 October: E M Forster Theatre, Tonbridge.
07 October: The Harrogate Theatre.
09 October: The Met, Bury.
11 October: The Hat Factory, Luton.
14 December: West End Centre, Aldershot.
More information on what I feel we can say was a pretty good first Sheffield Street Magic Festival will follow when I’ve had a few days to recover and gather my thoughts. In the meantime, if you enjoyed the event and would like to see it happen again next year, and maybe in years to come, please fill in the Sheffield Council Survey.
This month sees another great presentation of practical commercial magic at the Magick Lounge. Author of Pockets Full of Miracles and the Bamboozler series, Diamond Jim Tyler is based in Dallas, Texas, but will be at the Lounge on Wednesday 11 September. Doors open at 7.02 pm and the lecture starts at 7.30. Admissions is free to SCM members and £10 to visiting magicians.
Diamond Jim has toured and lectured all over the world. His book, Pockets Full of Miracles has been picked up by Dover and should be available in general book shops under the title Close-Up Magic.
This will be so much more than just a lecture on cards or close-up magic. He will discuss and perform tricks with bottles, cans, mirrors, fire, coins, etc. You can expect to learn some close-up, ‘parlour’ tricks, bar bets, mentalism and more!
Click here to listen to an interview with Diamond Jim.
Please note that there is no Circle meeting this Thursday at the Lounge. The date has been changed to Wednesday 11 September to fit in with Diamond Jim’s busy schedule.
Magick Words 