I took Levinia and two friends to Eastbourne to the see the International Brotherhood of Magicians put on their annual gala show yesterday evening, and it was fantastic!
Jeff Hobson compared the show, and did a brilliant job of introducing each act, as well as presenting some excellent magic such as the egg bag and card in mouth as only Jeff can.
In my opinion the first act, which was Paolo Giua, was the weakest in the show in my opinion. I cant quite put my finger on why – it could be that it was because we were seated at an angle and saw many of the steals.
The second act was excellent. Soul Mystique from Australia had a very polished quick change act which incorporated many different styles of dancing. The costume changes defied belief!
Next up was Paul Zerdin, who was the only performer from the UK. His act, although containing no magic, was very entertaining. The dummy singing at the end was very surprising and clever.
The last act of the first half was James Dimmare. This act was pure class, even though the doves were not behaving themselves (stage fright gets to all performers sometimes!). There were some very magical moments in this act.
The second half started off with a very funny act courtesy of Mikael Szanyiel.
The next act was this years FISM winner – Pilou. This was an excellent act that contained juggling, card manipulation, appearing apples and more.
More juggling followed from Wally Eastwood. His juggling was the fastest I have ever seen!! Using clubs, hats and ping pong balls, and ending up juggling the balls on to a giant keyboard playing along to a backing track!!
Lastly, another magician from Las Vegas – Mac King. This was probably my favourite act of the evening. Tears of laughter ran down my face as he burnt money from a member of the audience, pretended to eat a worm and put on his cape of invisibility, amongst other stupid stuff.
All in all, a fantastic way to spend fifteen quid.
