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The British Magical Society Annual Dinner and Cabaret
Saturday March 22nd
Reported by John Ward
Whilst attendance was not as high as in previous years, the same high standards
were maintained at this year’s Annual Dinner and Cabaret of the British Magical
Society held on 22 March at the Ramada Hotel in Sutton Coldfield. The theme this
year was rabbits, and looking at Members, Guests and Friends all bedecked in
their finery I can definitely say there was not a hare out of place. Anyway
instead of rabbiting on let us return to the business of the evening. As usual
with this sort of occasion there were the obligatory speeches, the feature one
delivered by the outgoing President John H. Price. Awards were presented by
Secretary Paul Cadley, the Society Jewel to Nathan Croft, the Ray Bradbury
Close-Up Trophy to Nathan Croft, the Roy Eddington Trophy for Pocket Trophy to
Chris Jonah and the F. E. Walker Trophy to Mike Gancia. The main award of the
evening was the presentation of the David Berglas Award to Terry Herbert for
“Services to Magic”, although unfortunately David was unable this year to
present the trophy. Previous esteemed recipients of this honour include John
Fisher, Alex Elmsley, Paul Kiev and Marc Raffles. Terry – winner of the Circle’s
Carlton Award and widely respected performer of children’s and comedy magic –
name therefore is now to be added to this illustrious list of British magicians.
Following the filling meal of soup, chicken and cheesecake the highlight of the
evening was upon us. The Cabaret is always something special, a chance for many
people to see live magic, in particular novelty and illusion acts, which is
unfortunately all too rare in this age of solitary electronic entertainment.
This year the show was compered by Ken Dodd Award winner and BMS Member Alec
Powell, who also had the opening slot to the show. This act was entertaining
with sight-gags for laypeople and spoofs for the fraternity. Alec performed his
madcap versions of levitation, ‘Any Card thought of’, sword swallowing, sawing
in half and of course his signature routine: the speed camera. In what Alec
self-styled “a show that is rapidly becoming a Billy McComb Tribute Act” Alec
gradually won over the audience who were quite unreceptive at the start. By the
close the audience were laughing and really getting into the madcap magic of
Alec Powell.
Every Dinner has to have an illusion act, this Dinner that was filled by British
Ring Theo Speaker Cup winners Jason Steele and Joanne. On first sight I thought
that this ‘traditional’ illusion act whilst being competent would be ‘OK’ but
nothing more. Indeed at times their presentation of some effects was laboured,
for instance the ‘Substitution Trunk’ transposition came in at a sluggish 2.7
seconds, yet overall they had an exhilarating performance style and some
extremely well devised routining.
With impeccable timing to music and a myriad of costume changes for Joanne, they
performed (not presented as with many illusionists) many of the now standard
illusions along with smaller items such as a silk vanish, the Chinese Rings and
the Wrist Chopper. In particular I personally found their cardboard cartoon
routine stunning, and from the reaction of the audience I know they did too. As
Jason stabbed the wooden stakes into the box with force, members of the hotel
staff collected to watch instead of working (I have found over the years this is
the sign of a good magician and their reaction of stunned applause really sums
up how brilliant this was) what could be used as an example of the perfect
presentation of an illusion that baffled and entertained. Joanne’s costume
change went unnoticed by many, but for the more observant this was an excellent
touch that tied the whole routine together.
The other type of act that most shows have is the ‘Novelty Act’; however this
act is usually used as a diversion between two magic acts rather than as the
closing act. Yet Graham Lee – current European Balloon Entertainer of the Year
and Alistair Winner – had an act that can only be summed up as novel and
show-stopping (not two things said about many novelty acts). In his ‘World of
Laytex’ Graham did his versions of the classics of magic. Effects represented
were ‘Vanishing Candle’, ‘Linking Rings’, ‘Cut and Restored’, ‘Professor’s
Nightmare’ and ‘Snowstorm in China’. This was the first time I had seen Graham
perform this widely acclaimed routine and I did fear before hand that some of
the positive comments may have been hot air, but after seeing this spectacular
act I can say none of the praise was inflated.
As The Louise Mayer Duo tried with limited success to get people to dance people
were excitedly talking about the cabaret. Whilst each person I talked to had a
favourite act what they all agreed upon was the amount of variety in the show
and the overall high standard. Yet I would have expected nothing less from the
team behind the Annual Dinner as once again they organised a smooth running
evening of enjoyment and entertainment, no mean feat. So keep 28 March 2009 free
for next year’s dinner!
© John Ward, April 2008