June 28, 2010
I was really looking forward to Peter’s Friends, my first live encounter with the contemporary magic scene. It sounded promising, consisting of two members of the conjuring elite; Peter Clifford, who has performed worldwide and was one of Derren Browns’s original TV creative team, and Peter Wardell, winner of the Magic Circle Close Up Magician of the year 2009, who also was the opening act of the society’s 100th birthday celebrations.
Clifford performed the first half of the show, creating a mysterious, dark humoured atmosphere which matched the magical theme. His tricks were good, however only one was truly outstanding: at various points through the act, random members of the audience were asked to pick at random one of 5 gift boxes labelled 1-5 from the stage – they would pick a box and open their gift. These ‘gifts’ ranged from books to playing cards. At the end of the act they were asked to look under their seats and handwritten notes of predictions of their gifts were found underneath. I still cannot figure out how that was done – there was no way someone could have put the notes there without them realising. It was mind-boggling and I can only assume Clifford used subtle methods of suggestion to ensure they picked the right boxes.
The show changed tone in the second half, picking up pace for a more comedic touch with the witty Pater Wardell. Once again, tricks were good, but only a couple were exceptional, such as the Houdini-esque untying of his tightly rope-bound hands in a tiny bag, managing to pour himself a glass of juice from within the bag (where was the space for this in that bag?!) at the same time.
The contrast between the two worked – Clifford did the ‘mind’ tricks; guessing images and words from peoples heads, whilst Wardell was more of a traditional ‘physical ‘ magician; pulling objects from hats and making things disappear. There was a huge amount of audience participation and this interactivity was quite fun.
There were quite a few children at the show, which surprised me, because I thought it would be aimed more to adults. However on reflection, the tricks perhaps had the wow-factor from a child’s point of view but not necessarily for adults. Some of them were drawn out for quite a while and perhaps it would have been more effective to have more tricks, albeit shorter. The comedic touch, whilst in keeping with the relaxed atmosphere of the evening, could have been toned down - whilst magic and comedy do mix, the focus should have been the magic, and at times it felt like I was at a comedy show instead.
There is no doubt that Clifford and Wardell are excellent magicians, but the actual tricks could have been more jaw-dropping, and, from their vast experience, I am sure they have these well within their repertoire. Perhaps I expected too much but I wanted to be astonished, and rather, I was just amused. All in all, Peter's Friends whilst enjoyable and interesting, failed to provide enough to keep me spellbound.
Clifford performed the first half of the show, creating a mysterious, dark humoured atmosphere which matched the magical theme. His tricks were good, however only one was truly outstanding: at various points through the act, random members of the audience were asked to pick at random one of 5 gift boxes labelled 1-5 from the stage – they would pick a box and open their gift. These ‘gifts’ ranged from books to playing cards. At the end of the act they were asked to look under their seats and handwritten notes of predictions of their gifts were found underneath. I still cannot figure out how that was done – there was no way someone could have put the notes there without them realising. It was mind-boggling and I can only assume Clifford used subtle methods of suggestion to ensure they picked the right boxes.
The show changed tone in the second half, picking up pace for a more comedic touch with the witty Pater Wardell. Once again, tricks were good, but only a couple were exceptional, such as the Houdini-esque untying of his tightly rope-bound hands in a tiny bag, managing to pour himself a glass of juice from within the bag (where was the space for this in that bag?!) at the same time.
The contrast between the two worked – Clifford did the ‘mind’ tricks; guessing images and words from peoples heads, whilst Wardell was more of a traditional ‘physical ‘ magician; pulling objects from hats and making things disappear. There was a huge amount of audience participation and this interactivity was quite fun.
There were quite a few children at the show, which surprised me, because I thought it would be aimed more to adults. However on reflection, the tricks perhaps had the wow-factor from a child’s point of view but not necessarily for adults. Some of them were drawn out for quite a while and perhaps it would have been more effective to have more tricks, albeit shorter. The comedic touch, whilst in keeping with the relaxed atmosphere of the evening, could have been toned down - whilst magic and comedy do mix, the focus should have been the magic, and at times it felt like I was at a comedy show instead.
There is no doubt that Clifford and Wardell are excellent magicians, but the actual tricks could have been more jaw-dropping, and, from their vast experience, I am sure they have these well within their repertoire. Perhaps I expected too much but I wanted to be astonished, and rather, I was just amused. All in all, Peter's Friends whilst enjoyable and interesting, failed to provide enough to keep me spellbound.