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Ipswich Magical Society Convention
Sunday 25th October 2009
Reported by Chris North
It was a sunny and warm day as a number of
conventioneers made their way to the seaside town of Felixstowe and a brand new
venue for this convention, The Spa Pavilion Theatre and what a great venue it
was, with a superb theatre to house the lectures and evening show with the rest
of the complex being perfectly adequate to house the dealers. Bar facilities and
catering were excellent (you should of seen the size of the portions of fish and
chips! and at a very reasonable price).
The day opened with the official opening followed by the absolutely superb
close-up act of Marc Oberon. After a short break came the John Archer lecture
with demonstrations and explanations of some of the material from his best
selling DVD. Next came the Dan Garrett Lecture which I unfortunately missed but
from the comments heard afterwards was entertaining and informative.
The afternoon session got off to a brilliant start with An Audience with Wayne
Dobson which was presented by Michael J Fitch and featured many old TV clips of
Wayne in action and some classic comedy moments with comments from Wayne along
the way - this was an excellent presentation and praise must go to Michael for
compiling all the TV clips into a very entertaining format. The afternoon
session finished with Marc Oberon’s lecture which the many who have seen it will
agree, is a masterclass in the style and technique of classic magic.
In between lectures there was plenty of time to catch up with friends and visit
the dealers who included Barries Magic, Magic TAO, Magic Books by Post, Magic
Attic, Albion Magic and DTRIK Magic.
The evening show commenced at 7.30pm and was open to the general public and from
where I was sitting it looked like a really good house. This is a superb theatre
from an audience point of view and from a performers (I had the pleasure of
working it with the late Bob Monkhouse). The show opened in traditional style
with the Suzy Lowe Dancers followed closely by John Archer who compered the show
in his own inimitable style often having the audience helpless with laughter
with his own particular brand of comedy. The first half included Marc Oberon’s
superb cabaret act plus the zany humour and madcap magic of Alec Powell. The
second half opened with the dancers followed by the mind reading and razor sharp
wit of Graham P. Jolley. Michael J. Fitch shone with a delightful piece of
audience participation and finished with an illusion featuring his delightful
wife, Helen. John Archer performed his blindfold routine with all the ‘bits of
business’ that are pure John Archer.
The show closed in fine style with Marc Oberon’s sensational UV act which has to
be seen to be believed.
All in all, an excellent convention and I feel sure everybody went home feeling
that they had a really great day, so congratulations to Simon Shaw and his team
on a job well done.
© Chris North, November 2009