Southport Magician wins Originality Award

Last month I worked as a Southport magician. I took part in the International Brotherhood of Magicians Stage Competition, which took place at the Southport Conference Centre, Lancashire. 8 to 10 acts perform and are judged on different criteria. In fact it’s rather like the google algorithms, no one is quite sure what they are and how it works. It is always an entertaining evening and I really enjoyed taking part.

The IBM holds the convention annually. Bringing magicians from all over the world to the town centre.

There is a close up magicians competition, which I have won in the past, as well as the stage magicians. The competition day is one of the most popular of the five-day convention.

I was lucky enough to win the originality award for stage magic. I regularly perform this trick as part of my cabaret magic show.

It combined a trick known as “any drink called for” with Shakespeare’s soliloquy which starts. “All the worlds a stage…” from As You Like It. This speech goes through the seven ages of man. Indeed, it starts with a baby, “Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms”, right through to an old man. As each stage was described a relevant drink was produced, for example, milk for the baby.

Although not the most commercial of magic tricks, I was very proud of it and believed it was truly original.

The organisers presented me with a bust of Houdini. Most notably because it was probably the same weight and size as one of the twins my wife is expecting.

I did not win the competition itself. In fact, Portugal’s Ta Na Manga won the first prize, with their quite extraordinary piece. Here is a link to their trailer

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Originally written in 2011. I transferred this article from my blog.