| This was the 45th time that the Annual Hickson
Stage Magic Competition has taken place. It was
first run in 1966 and has only not taken place
twice. In 1985 an 1986. The late (and sorely missed) Lenny Blease has won it most often. Eight times in all, with 5 consecutive wins between 1979 to 1982. There were three prizes awarded, The Hickson Cup itself for first prize, the Vera Smith Cup for runner up and the Paul Duncaine Cup for the performer with the best manipulative skills. Personally I think there should also have been a 4th award, The "Aardvark" award for the best spectator of the evening. I have absolutely no doubts at all that this award would have been awarded to young Holly, who must have been called up as a helper for just about every act of the night, not to mention several times by the illustrious host, Ted Lumby. Please click on the thumb nails below to view the larger image. |
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| The standard has always been high, and this year
was no exception with all 9 performers (and the host
for the evening, our Chairman Ted Lumby), providing
us all with an evening to remember for a very long
time. It is not surprising that the Ipswich Magical
Society is one of the most respected in the country. |
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| Barry James kicked off procedings in his
"Magic Disco" style. He was both fun and
entertaining, whilst still being very magical. His
act consisted of naming a spectators thought of card
(the name was "Phil" in case you were wondering),
Making a card disappear and impossibly reappear in a
previously examined bottle, Making a 10ft pole
magically appear out of a hat, making his beautiful
assistant Holly lighter than air itself, and finally
performing a particularly messy routine with snow
that ended up with "real" snow! Well done Barry. A
great performance. |
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| Mark Procyshyn was next up, and he
provided a slightly more serious act (all though
none the less entertaining) with a slight slant
towards mentalism. He began with an amazing coins
across routine where 3 coins were invisibly
travelling from one hand to the other in what can
only be described as being in a most magical
fashion. He then performed a very amusing gambling
routine, assisted by Matt Edwards. All I can say
about this is that Matt made a series of choices
that inevitably proved Marks prediction to be
correct, and hence Matt missed out on winning the
offered £20 note. Mark's final effect was a very
novel mathematical prediction performed with
numerous credit cards. All in all a very
entertaining act. |
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| Martin Reeve was next. He always gave a
very slick and very polished performance. Personally
I love Martin's work, if nothing else for the
extremely corny jokes that he makes, which I have to
admit I always write down so I can use them in my
own performances (So if you don't like them, they
are all Martin's idea!!!). Four spectators missed
out on the chance of winning a brand new £50 note,
in a very clever card dealing routine, and then each
of the spectator's then picked a random card from a
deck only to find that they all appeared, one by one
in a previously shown to be empty wooden box. I will
also add that the cards seemed to rise up from the
box in a most magical way, although Martin swears
blind that he was helped by his invisible mouse
assistant!
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| Ken Brown What can I say about Ken Brown
apart for WOW! He started off with what I can only
describe as the best Professor's Nightmare routine I
have ever seen, in fact so much so that I may
reintroduce as part of my (admittedly small)
repetoire. He followed with a "date/card"
prediction, but the highlight of his act was an
extremely nice, not to mention well executed routine
whereby he takes a spectator's £5 note and
accidentally burns it. His face at this point was a
picture (not to mention the face of Sue, who lent
him the note in the first place!). Fear not though, the routine didn't end there. At one point it looked like the note had magically appeared inside a length of rope, but no, that would have been too easy, that was merely a £20 note. No, the final resting place of the fiver was in fact inside a banana. Well done Ken for a refreshingly novel routine. |
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| Peter Holloway was next up. I had never
seen Peter perform before so his act was a real
treat for me, as indeed it was for all watching. He
started off by warming everyone up, by getting us to
magically wave our hands in the air and then produce
a silk from our closed fists. Well, he produced a
silk from his fist anyway - everyone else failed
miserably. He followed that with a torn and restored
rope routine, and then a remarkable book test
routine with a dictionary. His final effect was the
classic "sucker" card pips routine that he performed
to perfection. In all Peter Holloway proved that he
is a seasoned entertainer with an abundance of
charisma.
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| Keith 'Nutty; Norman was the first act of
the second half, and he proved why he is a top class
children's performer. He was assisted for the most
part by the beautiful and enchanting Holly, and
although he was very funny he never once made Holly
feel ill at ease. He did a great egg bag routine, very reminiscent of Tommy Cooper, followed by some balloon magic and then an extremely funny Torn and Restored rope routine utilising several pairs of unworkable scissors. Keith has only recently rejoined the Ipswich Magical Society, and after watching his performance on Monday night, I would say he has a great deal to offer the club. Well done Keith. |
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| Ray Crosbie. Ray is in my mind one of the
funniest performers of magic I have ever seen. I am
never 100% convinced that he is always meant to be
playing it for laughs, such is his natural affinity
for comedy but never the less he always has me in
stitches. I had seen much of Ray's current act
before, and yet still I found it very entertaining.
This I think speaks volumes about the performer. Apart from anything else Ray was rattling off effects at a great rate of knots. He began by joining three lengths of rope together, followed by repeatedly making three selected cards (and one blank one - very funny) appear in a glass tumbler. He then did a hilarious comic Torn and Restored Newspaper routine, as only Ray Crosbie could, followed by several of his trademark tricks. Namely his Chinese Sticks, Colour changing disks, the infamous Ray Crosbie "Acme Folding Bandana" routine, followed of course by the floating glass of champagne. All Classic Ray Crosbie. |
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| Matt Edwards. Matt, with his infamous
cheeky grin, started off by performing a series of
close up card magic effects that just go to prove he
is one of the best cardicians in the club. The four
aces where magically produced from a previously
shuffled deck, and then made to disappear one by
one, in such a slow and open manner that it could
only be described as pure magic. No sooner had they
disappeared, when they had reappeared again on the
table where they had been on show all the time. Now
that's magic! This was followed by an extremely funny balloon swallowing routine that proved Matt has a real gift for comedy as well as for magic. Matt's final effect was a silent and eerily beautiful redition of the classic "snow storm" routine that was so wonderfully choreographed it made the whole audience gasp in delight. |
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| Richard Whymark. I was unfortunate enough
to miss Richard's interview at the Society the
previous week. By all accounts it was a real scream,
and now having seen Richard's act for the first time
I can see why he is such a popular performer. The
Society is really priviledged to have him host the
Society Convention at the end of the year. His act was so funny, that I forgot to make a note of the magic he did, apart from his last routine, that frankly had tears running down my eyes. I had always until now associated the "Acme Folding Bandana" routine with Ray Crosbie. I think that Richard Whymark is the only performer that could have pulled off doing a routine that someone else had already done very well on the same night, but he did. Richard had absolutely everyone creased up with laughter. The night couldn't have been ended on a better note. |
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Reviewed by Simon Shaw
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