Gasps of amazement and lots of laughter were in evidence at the magic show staged at the Centenary Centre in Peel by the Young Magicians of Mann.
ABRAcadabra opened with an amazing illusion performed by Harry Roe from Douglas, in which an audience member inexplicably managed to pull Max Workman through a tiny hole in the front of a solid, examined, wooden crate, and into the box.
Giles Beaumont from Foxdale had an hilarious act in which he tried to follow instructions downloaded from an alleged ‘Trick of the Month Club’.
The trick used a bandana, but Giles performed it with a banana!
Peel’s own Jack MacLean did some magical colour printing before introducing a descendant of Gef, the talking mongoose from Dalby.
It soon became clear the the newly discovered ‘animal’ had a mind of its own, as it chose coloured balls, shuffled playing cards and discovered a card freely chosen by a spectator.
Ffynlo Parnell had lots of fun persuading Daisy, the pantomime cow belonging to the magic club, to produce real milk. She magically succeeded in the task! Max Workman returned, with a performing rubber chicken (you had to be there!)
Seventeen-year-old Juan Moore from Castletown was next on stage, and thoroughly entertained with an act that included teaching the audience how to change a hanky into an alleged egg.
A spectator came on stage to try it out, and was even more amazed than the audience when she discovered that it was actually a real egg, which she broke into a glass. The first half was brought to a close by Juan Corrin, a member of the Magicians of Mann. A length of rope was cut and restored several times, a chosen card was found by stabbing a knife through a paper bag, and wine bottles appeared in rapid succession from two empty tubes.
The second half was opened by a member of The Magic Circle, Lexi Watterson, with a very entertaining act based on a story about her ‘wizard’ uncle. More magic followed, with Harry Roe telling a very entertaining tale about basketball players, using ropes as a visual aid.
Children in the audience really enjoyed watching the antics of ‘Scruffy’, the puppet dog trained by 17-year-old King William’s College student Andrew Martin.
On a more serious note, Nathan Hill from Ballasalla performed a really clever act in which he predicted a card selected at random by the audience, and three named items were found written on a note placed into a blown-up balloon prior to the show.
The final individual act was by Paul Martin, another member of The Magic Circle.
Audience jaws were wide open when coins vanished and appeared visibly from nowhere, dropping into a shot glass covered by a large glass.
Closing the show were the Young Magicians of Mann, in a finale consisting of four wonderful illusions.
Ffynlo Parnell rose high in the air while standing in a cardboard box, Nathan Hill suspended Max Workman in the air, and Juan Moore staged a wonderful illusion as he pushed a solid sheet through Max Workman in a box, before pushing two metal tubes through the box and pushed half of the box to one side.
No possible space was left for Max, but despite his ordeal he emerged unharmed from the illusion.
To end the show, Juan Corrin performed a stunning illusion which really did cause the whole audience to gasp, as he pushed a sword through Lexi Watterson’s head before sliding it away from her body.
The performers fully deserved the ovation given at the conclusion of a wonderful evening of magic.
Mike Clague
Young Musicians of Mann