The Ferrybridge Day of Magic – 5th July 2009
Reviewed by Richard Morrell

The Ferrybridge Day of Magic organised by the Travis Perkins Assembly took place on 5th July 2009 at the Ferrybridge Community Centre. As always it was a very relaxed, informal and extremely enjoyable day. Several dealers were out in force, including regulars like Merlins, Al Smith, and Danny Hunt, who also took on some of the organisation this year.

There is always plenty of time to catch up with people you may not have seen, since the last time you saw them, and along with the bacon sandwiches and good company you always get a fantastic line-up of talent. This year was no exception and because of the dreaded “credit-crunch” Travis had sub-titled the day a Cavalcade of Comedy Capers. The three headline acts set to deliver this cavalcade were Andrew Green, Tony Stevens and John Archer.

Lecturette – Behind the Red Curtain – with Andrew Green

The day started with a lecturette (a 45-minute shortened version of a normal 2-hour lecture) by Andrew Green. Andrew showed us some of his regular act and then took us behind the Red Curtain to show us his thinking and philosophy behind his magic. A very chilled-out and relaxed sequenceincorporated a very magical, slow, torn and restored newspaper. This was combined with a silk and candle production, and a silk to rose. Andrew then showed us theconstruction of the props required.

Moving onto close-up Andrew showed us his version of a Jay Sankey opener, combining Daryl’s hot-shot cut with the change of a card. Andrew talked about using this in walk-around and how he used it to get the whole group involved. The lecture finished with some very funny stories of Andrew’s time on the road as a travelling illusionist.

A Cavalcade of Comedy Capers Q&A session with Tony Stevens & John Archer

Mike Shepherd was in the chair for this new addition to the day. When you get Tony Stevens and John Archer together you know there is going to be laughs and a lot of gentle ribbing and messing around, but also underneath all that there was some good solid advice dispatched by these two hard working pro’s . Questions had been written and submitted by the attendees which Mike read out, and then the floor was opened to get questions from the audience. This was a brilliant spot that worked well, and will hopefully return next year.

Lecturette – The Nike Lecture ‘Just Do It’ – with John Archer

When you see John lecture I think what you get is more of a show with a little bit of an explanation, and this works fantastically well. It allows you to see how the material plays in John’s hands, not that you could hope to emulate it, however it does lift the whole lecture to something special. The explanations that follow are detailed, showing that these are not just pipe-dreams but actual workers that John uses as part of his repertoire.

John started off with his no-book book test, or Psychic Spelling, where a freely chosen word ends up being predicted. Next he showed his routine for the Magic Square, and finally he finished with his version of Kenton Kneppers Kollosal Killer. John had mentioned in the Q&A that he prefers story magic, and often the lead up to the trick is the bit he enjoys most, and this certainly shows with some verycleverly crafted presentations and scripts that really sell the moment of magic.

Showette – featuring Tony Stevens, Andrew Green and John Archer

To round off the day was the Showette (a mini gala). Tony Stevens compered, and was the first act, with a non-stop stream of gags and jokes, and his excellent rendition of Frank Sinatra’s Come Fly With Me. Tony then introduced Andrew Green, who showed us some of his smaller manipulation magic, including work with candles and fire, a nice blendo routine, and his Torn and Restored Newspaper that he had shown in the lecture. A change of pace allowed him to perform Martin Lewis’s Cardiographic with Jack Gleadow assisting. Andrew finished with a repeat balls from mouth and a D’lite routine. To round off the Showette Tony introduced John Archer who played his Ukulele complete with silly songs, and showed us his Nana’s Box, where members of the audiences secretly select items and John can tell them what they have taken.

A great end to another brilliant Ferrybridge Day of Magic, next year’s is in the calendar for July 4th 2010.

Richard Morrell is one of our Live Writers – www.magician.org.ukRichard has been a keen amateur magician for over twenty years, starting as a Humberside Young Magician, he now runs the workshop, teaching 10-16 year olds, as well as being an active member of Hull Magicians’ Circle. Specialising in card magic, but he likes to watch any form of the art, and will have a go at performing most things.

Richard has written for The Oracle as well as Abracadabra and Genii magazine. He is most at home combining his love of the Internet with his love of Magic, over eight years ago he started what may have been the world’s first Magic themed blog. Now among the new crop of magic blogs, The Magician is still going strong, and recently it gained a sister-blog Watching Magic. Richard can be found at most of the major conventions either hunched over a pack of cards, or a laptop!