Over the Easter weekend five of the world’s top illusionists will be heading to the Assembly Hall Theatre, Tunbridge Wells for a spectacular night of mystery that’ll keep you guessing for a long time to come. The cast includes international award winners, presenting classic conjouring, incredible mind reading, stunning close-up magic and daring large-scale illusions.
In what promises to be an incredible show, the audience will witness the impossible, including disappearances, teleportation and a heart stopping finale, all presented with lighting and pyrotechnics to rival the biggest arena productions.
After witnessing, first hand, the simply incredible mind reading talents of Alex McAleer (I really wish that I could read my son’s mind like he can!) I was able to ask him some questions about the show…
Can you describe the show that your taking on tour please?
It’s a very big show, there are some bits of close up magic and there are also some of the more grand illusions in the show as well. In the show we have Edward Hilsum and he’s our “classical” type magician. So, picture a guy in top hat and tails producing doves, that is the kind of magic that he does, but much more contemporary and very stylish.
Our “close-up” star is Fay Presto, who is, put quite simply, a legendary magician. When it comes to close-up magic she pretty much invented the genre. In the show she enlists the help of two people who sit at a table on stage and, by using a TV camera so everyone can she what’s happening, she stuns the whole audience with her magic and her incredible personality.
We have me, Alex McAleer, and I do the “mind reading”, the mentalism and our Grand Illusionists, who close the show, are Young and Strange (that’s their names!) and they bring the big boxes that do amazing things like vanishes, reappearances and their amazing final illusion when one of them walks through the spinning blades of a huge industrial fan – a trick that has not gone wrong… yet!
When we go to see magic, we know that it can’t be real, and yet it is “real”. How can that be?
Well, that’s the appealing part of magic. You know that what you’re seeing is not actually possible but, somehow, these people can make it seem possible. That’s part of the fun. That’s part of the game that, as the magician and as the audience, we play.
The “hand quicker than the eye” works for the others, but not when you are reading minds.
Very true. What I do is known as Mentalism and that’s just one branch of magic. Magic is the umbrella term and then metalism, hypnosis and manipulation are all parts of that and what I specialise in is the, sort of, psychological side. So, instead of using my fingers to work quicker than your eyes, the process is all internal. I think that’s why it is slightly more mysterious because you can’t see what might have happened there.
How long has magic been an “entertainment”?
Well, the history of magic goes right back to witchcraft. Someone wrote a book about 300 years ago and that exposed how “witches” and some fraudsters of the time were tricking people and it was those tricks that became the first ones that were openly used as entertainment for an audience.
What is the difference between someone who is creating an illusion and someone who is pretending to create an illusion?
Ooh, that’s a very good question. I think it’s the intention, it’s the reason behind the lie. There is a “lie” when you saw a woman in half because, quite obviously, after the illusion she is fine and no one goes away thinking that someone actually died, but with things like some “psychic mediums” who pretend to talk to the dead, well their lies are a bit more unsavoury because, if it’s not true, you could sully someone’s memory and it also calls into question the existence of “another realm” with all the implications there.
And it’s not good entertainment when you’re playing with people’s feelings.
Exactly, and that’s all it is because, in too many cases, the entertainment comes from someone crying about something terrible that happened to them, or to a loved one. I use a lot of the same techniques, but not in a fraudulent way, and the worst thing for me is when the so-called medium isn’t actually very good at using those techniques.
How long does it take to learn magic and then to become a “show magician”?
It’s difficult because the kind of person that magic attracts is not necessarily the sort of person who wants to get up there and perform, but those ones who do very well are actually natural performers before they are magicians. That’s what I am, the showmanship is my favourite part of what I do. Ten years ago my favourite bit was learning all about the mind and how things worked but, now that I have all that knowledge, it’s the showmanship that I really enjoy. So I’m not really sure how long it takes, because it’s constantly evolving.
What do you want most, laughter or gasps ?
I mainly want the laughter. I try and make sure that the audience are laughing and having fun because that’s a shared response. That’s very good for what I do because it means that everyone is on the same level and I can work from there. People are automatically going to be intrigued, because of what I can do, but it’s my job to make it entertaining as well.
Have you ever had a real “on stage disaster”?
Not with Champions of Magic, no, but there was one time and I think it was here in Tunbridge Wells. I was trying to get the name of the first person this lady had kissed. I was trying to get to that and I was just getting nothing, so I guessed. For some reason the name Brendan popped into my head and so I just picked that – a total guess. I asked her what the name was and she said Keith.
There was nothing I could do about it so I just had to reveal my answer and so I asked her if Brendan meant anything at all to her and she said “That’s my son, and he was the last person I kissed before I came here tonight”. I’m pretty sure that it was just a coincidence, and I wasn’t picking it up from her, but you never know.
Champions of Magic appears at the Assembly Hall Theatre, Tunbridge Wells on Saturday 26th March at 7.30pm with adult tickets priced at £21 and child tickets at £16.50. Although the seats are selling fast there are still some available online at www.assemblyhalltheatre.co.uk or through the box office on 01892 430613.