Brewsterware

I’ve just discovered that The Secret Cabaret featuring Simon Drake is available on DVD. This is really cool news for many magicians who have been asking for this and patiently waiting for many years.

For those of you that have never heard of The Secret Cabaret or Simon Drake, this is a Channel 4 magic show which featured dark magic and allied arts, and aired twelve episodes in all around 1990 late at night. In each of the half hour shows, viewers would be subjected to Simon Drake impaling himself with knives, swords, hatpins, burning his assistants until only the bones remained as well as other deliciously macabre things. All of these were shot before a live audience in an equally dark theatre.

Here are some clips:

Unfortunately the DVD does not contain any of the interviews and acts containing the allied arts.

One of the acts that was on one of the episodes was a guy called Stevie Starr who was billed as “The Regurgitator” appeared at the student union bar when I was at university in Chelmsford. A few years ago I heard that he had died when he failed to bring back a billiard ball, but apparently he is alive and well (and regurgitating). Here are a few videos of him doing his stuff:

Great stuff I’ll be putting this on my Christmas list even though I have most of the episodes on VHS. More videos and the shop for buying the DVD can be found here

EDIT: Why wont the image show up in the top left