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Magician vs Medium
Dragon Hall, Covent Garden, London
25th April 2009
Reviewed by Merlin Dunlop
Here is the entry on MagicWeek for this event:
Magician vs Medium - London. The Magician vs Medium event on Saturday 25th
April has changed location, and will now be staged at the excellent Dragon Hall,
Covent Garden, in the heart of London, close to both Covent Garden and Holborn
tube stations. On the afternoon of Saturday 25th April the Dragon Hall will
witness an unprecedented competition as mentalist Pete Campbell-Wells MMC takes
on spiritualist medium Donna Stewart to prove once and for all who's power is
the greatest! Before an audience of magicians, mentalists, psychics, skeptics,
believers and the just plain curious, the mentalist will demonstrate how the
unscrupulous performer can gain information about an individual without
possessing an ounce of psychic ability, while the medium will be attempting to
convince the audience that her gift is real and far more powerful than the
mentalist's "parlour tricks". The event will be hosted by parapsychologist Dr.
Ciaran O'Keefe and promises to be a most entertaining, interesting and
informative occasion. Saturday 25th April 4pm - 7pm at the Dragon Hall, Covent
Garden. Tickets are priced at just £25. Please note that tickets are not
available direct from the Dragon Hall but should be purchased by visiting
www.frightnights.co.uk or by telephoning 0114 2764644.
The afternoon kicked off very slightly late at about 4.15pm. We were welcomed
into the Dragon Hall by a chap called Paul from frightnights.co.uk, the
organizing company for the event. The venue was a smallish hall, I think a
community centre of some sort, but light and airy and quite suitable for the
afternoon's activities.
An audience of 100 or so (I estimate) arrived and after a brief introduction
from Paul, the MC for the afternoon, Dr. Ciaran O'Keefe, was introduced. He told
us a little about his background and what to expect from the show. He came
across as a sensible and friendly chap, with a healthy skepticism about
paranormal activity, but nonetheless an open mind. He made the point that the
billed title of the show was misleading in that we were not to witness a
contest, but just two demonstrations of contrasting skills.
Dr. O'Keefe in turn introduced the first 'demonstration' of the afternoon, Pete
Campbell-Wells. Pete is a member of The Magic Circle and gave an hour or so's
entertainment in the form of mentalism, which was prefaced by the statement to
the effect that no paranormal ability was involved.
He stuck to fairly mainstream and light-hearted routines, including some cold
reading, a Q and A style routine (although with facts, not questions per se),
and an ESP matching effect, among others. He was lively, entertaining and
appeared friendly, engaging with the audience well. The effects were executed
smoothly, and the audience seemed impressed. My only real criticism was that
during the time when the audience was writing the 'facts' for the main
mindreading routine, he attempted to avoid dead time by performing other
effects. Whilst a good idea in one way, it made for two problems. Firstly, it
was difficult to concentrate on the effects and participate in then at the same
time as trying to think of embarrassing facts to write about yourself. Secondly,
many of the audience seemed to take this time as a cue to talk amongst
themselves, so the 'focus' of the show seemed a little lost for a few minutes.
Overall however, I felt he gave an excellent show, and my criticisms are minor
in the circumstances.
There was then an interval of 15 minutes followed by the psychic medium's
demonstration. Donna Stewart, who told us she started off working as a baker
before becoming a full-time medium, stepped up to the mark. She started off by
explaining the differences in what she did from what Pete had demonstrated. She
then proceeded to try and 'connect' with some spirits of departed friends and
relatives of those in the audience. She spent a long time trying to get her
first 'yes' from the audience and when it did come it was not really a good fit
for most of the information she had provided. She did not claim this as a hit
and said that it needed to be more specific, so she'd try again. This was
repeated several times, before a final conversation that yielded a few more hits
but of a distinctly non-sensational nature (e.g. a plumbing problem in the
spectator's bathroom).
Donna repeatedly stated that usually she had more hits and that she was
struggling to link spirit to spectator. On more than one occasion she also said
she'd leave the information with the person she felt it was meant for and that
they could see if it made sense later, when they got home. This was reasonable
in the circumstances but made for a rather unconvincing demonstration overall.
Donna came across as very sincere and whilst I do not feel I witnessed psychic
communication with the dead, neither do I think she is a charlatan and
deliberately trying to mislead her audience with tricks. She seems to really
believe in what she does. I also have to applaud her for being brave enough to
appear before an audience who could potentially have been fairly hostile.
After the two demonstrations, Dr. O'Keefe held a question and answer session
with the two performers and the discussions covered ground familiar to people
interested in these fields, namely the reality of the paranormal, ethics of
performing such material and of offering advice or readings. Dr. O'Keefe told a
few anecdotes about his experience of studying psychics in the lab.
The whole event was very well-run and the interaction and discussion good
natured and informative.
I decided to attend this event relatively late, but I was very glad I took the
plunge in the end. What transpired was entertaining and thought-provoking in
many ways. I would be keen to attend similar events in the future.
© Merlin Dunlop, May 2009.