The South Tyneside Magic Convention takes place Friday 12th March, Saturday 13th March, Sunday 14th March 2010 at the Customs House, South Shields, this is always a great event, and the line up for this year is growing, already joining Lennart Green and Tim Sonefelt will be Joshua Quinn, Brad Manuel, Wayne Dobson, Richard McDougall and Simon Drake

Simon Drake’s TV series – The Secret Cabaret - broke new ground because it was the first to present dark entertainment, a forerunner to the offbeat TV magic of Criss Angel and David Blaine. It has earned him an international cult following and was praised by TV critics and nominated for a Royal Television Society award, unusual for a magic production.

The shows proved to be way ahead of their time and many prominent magicians including the vastly knowledgeable Patrick Page cite it as the best TV magic ever made. The 12 half-hour programs consisted of a mix of the bizarre and surreal along with traditional magic illusions, often performed with gruesome twists. Originally conceived by Simon Drake, this unique TV series featured some of the most visually stunning and shocking illusions ever to be seen in the history of television.

Simon has never performed at a magic convention and never will – he has even turned down FISM! Want to know why? Why did he stop after 2 series? Simon has agreed to a first; a live video interview in which he will not only talk about the TV series that launched his career but also what he is doing now and take questions from the audience.

You will know Joshua Quinn from his marketed effects – Conjunction, Paralies and Ascension. Attendees will see his lecture before he takes it on the road in the US this spring. Rather than being simply a series of disjointed effects and explanations, it provides an overview of his unusual approach to performing and creating mentalism. Of course there are effects taught as part of that, including items from his book ParaLies in their most current form; additional work on his “chunneling” technique; his character reading and zodiac sign revelation effect, “Ascension”; and some new, currently unpublished material.

Brad Manuel has been a full-time professional magician & comedian since 1993. He has worked just about every type of function and venue you can think of across 15 countries and has done shows ranging from Comedy Club Shows, Corporate Stand Up Shows, Roving Close Up to Kids & Family shows,. He recently was booked at The Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas to perform his Funny Tricks Comedy Show where in an encore he was challenged to perform in his underwear (who hasn’t done that in Vegas) live onstage – Of course he accepted the challenge AND GOT PAID FOR IT!! He is internationally renowned as being the original creator & inventor of best selling effects such as: BUCKETHEAD, BOWLING BALL BLITZ, CREDIT CARD FRAUD, THE HEAT IS ON, SCHNAPPS SHOT and more, not to mention his record breaking dice stacking. Brad brings his unique “Aussie” humour to everything he does and always has a great time doing it!

Wayne Dobson is an icon in magic. Michael J Fitch will present an Audience with Wayne Dobson. This will include a lot of footage of Wayne throughout the years, most of which has never been seen. At the age of 16 Dobson started to pick up work on a semi-professional basis at local clubs. In 1977 he won joint first prize in the close-up competition at the International Brotherhood of Magicians British Ring Convention. This led to his television debut on the BBC show Blue Peter. Encouraged by this success Dobson decided at the age of 21 to become a full-time professional magician.

Wayne had developed a style of magic based around fast-talking patter and one-liner humour. It won him work as an opening act on tours with top UK performers such as Freddie Starr, Shirley Bassey and the Shadows. He also began getting guest slots on television shows. In 1988 he was hired as a support act for Engelbert Humperdinck on a tour of America, where he won positive attention and got experience of major entertainment centres such as Las Vegas. Back in the UK he was asked to perform in the 1989 Royal Variety Show at the London Palladium, where he scored a great success with an act in which he was assisted by boxer Frank Bruno and sports commentator Harry Carpenter. Later that year he made regular guest appearances on the Joe Longthorne television show. This led to him being offered his own TV series. Wayne Dobson - A Kind of Magic was aired nationally on Saturday nights on the ITV network and at its high point had audiences of 11 million. In total, three series were commissioned.

Richard McDougall will give the lecture he gave at Magic Live called What Is Magic? There are no tricks in it, and in places it is fairly hard hitting on the general state of magic at present, and the key elements that he feels are missing. He shows an eclectic range of clips in it, from athletics to Buster Keaton, to show how effective they are because these elements are present.

As well as our own news and reporting on the run up, full details on the entire festival can be found on the official site here You can also check out our Guide and Room Booking section, and if you want to see what you missed last year check our live coverage from the 2009 convention