Magic: Showman

Tonight, back - at last - with TAC for more magic! This one was James Phelan: Showman, playing at Underbelly Boulevard. Yes, the same guy that headlined last Thursday's show. Somehow, I'd forgotten to check where to eat - well, I booked for Saffron Soho - happily, nice and close to the office, where I was today.

Nice to have a reason to leave early, I was so sick of poring over different versions of the same documents, every spare minute today. I walked to the restaurant - unfortunately, for much of the way, facing into the blazing sun; it'd been cloudy when I set out, and I hadn't brought my sunglasses. Ah, I did love walking through Soho though.. I made it a little early, and was given a table by the window:

I'd been advised to book, it being a small space - so when a group of four Indian-looking lads, maybe in their early twenties, were turned away, I thought nothing of it, although the guy at the table beside me tutted at the racism of it. Mind you, when a group of three caucasians showed up later, they opened up the room at the back specially.. might have been ageism, of course..

I had my usual: meat samosas, followed by butter chicken and peshwari naan - I don't have rice as a rule, it fills me up too much. Can't really say much for the samosas, which were a bit greasy, although much improved by dipping them in the sweet sauce provided - and honestly, the naan wasn't up to much. But oh wow, I've never had better butter chicken! Of course, as usual, it was mostly sauce - which I didn't fancy soaking up with the naan - and when the server, seeing I'd finished the naan, and with all the leftover sauce, asked whether I'd like more naan, as I explained to her, it was something of a tragedy to leave that sauce, but I knew I'd be too full if I ordered rice! They also had sauvignon blanc, which I asked for a second glass of. And when I'd finished that, service having been so quick, it was half an hour till showtime, and I decided I could leave - seating was unreserved.

Ah yes, seating.. usually, I'd have to pick up my ticket at the box office, but today it was emailed to me by the official vendors, Tickettailor. And wow, did I get a surprise.. for a £5 outlay on my part.. I'd got a £67 VIP ticket! Well wow.. I checked, and the cheapest tickets in the venue are £24, which would still have been a great bargain. But £67..! That, in my experience, is a record for a reseller's ticket..

So I was shown straight in, past the box office. The ground floor is just box office, the first floor a bar - the Stalls are on the second floor, which is where I figured the VIP section would be. (There is a lift, BTW.) Happily, there's a bar there too, where they only had one type of white wine, but he let me try it first, and it was decent. I asked, and was told that the VIP section comprised the front four rows. Well and good.. I decided to sit at the end, where I'd have less trouble with my rucksack from work - they have no cloakroom.

The Rat Pack play on screen before the show, muted - a selection of music of that period plays alongside, but not exactly what they are singing on screen. And I don't know whether you can see in the photo, but a couple of butterflies are also projected on screen - in this shot, you can see one on Sammy Davis Jr.'s arm. They pop up as a theme later in the show.

Close to showtime, the stage fills with atmospheric smoke:

You can tell from the presence of two chairs that there's audience participation - rather a lot. One of the first things he asked was who'd seen him perform before - my hand went up, and lo, I was the one he decided to ask when. When I told him it was exactly a week ago, he immediately retorted with "Now, that is a cry for help!". He had trouble remembering where he'd been playing, and when I told him, after a pause, he remembered, and explained to the audience that it's a mixed bill of performers, he was asked to headline for eight minutes, and next he knew he'd been on for 24..

All of this was an intro to him explaining that what I'd seen there would only comprise the very first bit of tonight's show. So, he had three people pick a playing card from a pack - and, while telling them how he was doing it, correctly guessed each of the cards. Now, of course the trick to this lies in carefully watching their facial expressions as he speaks to each individually, looking for cues.. he did say he'd been brought up playing poker. Jeez, I'd be so easy to read, I always find it hard to keep a straight face.. but even if that's as much magic as is involved in this - wow, he's quick. Seconds, as he focuses first on the suit, then on the value..

Then he had us all close our eyes and do - what I would call a kind of test of susceptibility to hypnotism. It's really effective, mind - hold both arms in front of you, and whichever hand you favour, have that hand facing down, the other facing palm up. Then imagine that the upward-facing hand is holding a book that's getting ever heavier, and the downward-facing one is being lifted upwards by a balloon tied to the wrist.. try that for a few seconds and see where your arms get to!

Well now, I was never susceptible - others have tried and failed to get me to react. Indeed, he remarked that I'd have to work on my imaginative skills! He picked two who'd had the strongest reaction, then whittled it down to one of them with a stronger test - the guy picked turned out to be sat right in front of me, and was Irish, as it happens. But while he still had them both on stage, he performed the most incredible.. trick? Feat? Not sure what to call it when you pick people from the audience and get them to read the minds of other audience members.. and they did it several times. I'm not sure what I was watching - but if they were all acting (including the people whose minds they were reading), they were damn good actors..

The Irish guy was on stage a lot.. he had this card trick done to him too..

To finish, he performed two of the same tricks he did on Britain's Got Talent.. I knew the trick where the ring ends up on the stem of a wine glass was coming, I was as close as I was ever going to be to it.. and I still can't really figure it out. As to the one where he got the Irish guy to choose a number and a colour, and we had got numbered envelopes with glowsticks inside.. and yes, the one with that number also had that colour glowstick, and was the only one.. not only that, but he also got the guy to choose the person.. and funnily enough, he nearly changed his mind about the number and chose 36, but wasn't let. Which was actually my number - and I was sitting behind him. Hey, maybe thought transference..?

Gotta be magic. See for yourself - he's there until the 28th, then heading to Edinburgh from the 8th to the 29th of August. Truly amazing.. and a helluva showman to boot.

Next was supposed to be three more days of Meetup - tomorrow, I booked with The Hideout for Disclosure Day, in which Emily Blunt plays a TV weather forecaster who suddenly finds herself communicating in a strange, clicking language, which only Josh O' Connor finds he can understand. Colin Firth seems to play a bad guy, as per the trailer. Directed by Spielberg again.. Now, when details were finally announced, it was in the Odeon Leicester Square, fair enough - but at 3.45pm?!! Talk about not catering to people with office jobs! So, four of us cancelled our attendance on foot of that - and are now headed, together, to the much more sensible 7.30pm showing in the same cinema! And for anyone that wants to join me, as I said, I've booked for Bella Italia beforehand.

The weekend is London Museums A-Z (LoMAZ) again - on Saturday, we have a day in Hever Castle! We're to arrive at St. Peter's Church in time for a guided tour thereof by our accomplished organiser, then spend the afternoon exploring the castle, and its Capturing a Queen exhibition, focusing on what Anne Boleyn, whose childhood home this was, actually looked like. The castle is also hosting a Home Front 1940s exhibition - no thanks, don't think I'll take their invitation to dress up accordingly. Optional drinks afterwards, of course - and travel is convenient for me, with direct trains from London Bridge taking under an hour. Already booked my ticket with Uber, with which I had so much credit, it was nearly free..

And on Sunday - I was thinking of heading to see West End Live, the free performance snippets of West End shows, performed in Trafalgar Square.. always a good one! But recently, on what was a very busy day for Meetup organisers, LoMAZ organised a guided walk! And as it's around my area, I could hardly resist - we're meeting in Starbucks before heading off on a Southwark Hysteries Solstice Special walk, as presented by Herstorical Tours, in the person of someone who glories in the name of Lydia Chlamydia, and is a whore of Ancient Rome.. the Solstice Special includes other actors popping out along the way, and it apparently includes the option of a post-walk drink in a historic pub. I have my suspicions where that might be.. and the person who advertised it to LoMAZ did such a good job of selling it on Sunday that she got a good few more takers.

On Monday, I'm back with TAC for a play called Reel Life in the Etcetera Theatre - my sometime companion is coming too.

Tuesday is our work summer party, in The Rotunda again, which proved so popular last year.

The next two days are with Up in the Cheap Seats - on Wednesday, we're at Under the Shadow, a horror play, based on the film, about a mother and daughter, trying to survive in a Tehran that is being bombed, who find themselves being haunted, on top of it all. Showing in the Almeida.

And next Thursday, we're at The Chocolate Soldier, an operetta based on Arms and the Man, by George Bernard Shaw. Playing at Wilton's, and I've booked Cote St. Katharine Docks beforehand.

On the 26th, I'm with CT for Monarchs Anonymous, a farce that places a number of historical figures - with large egos - together for therapy. Showing at The Other Palace, and I've booked to eat in the Bag o' Nails beforehand.

Finally, two more Meetup days - maybe. On the 27th, I'm back with The London Sci-Fi / Fantasy Meetup Group for another social - in the Mad Hatter again!

And on the 28th, LoMAZ is supposed to be doing a tour of Brompton Cemetery - possibly including the crypt - as part of the series of Dracula events we're doing for the year. Mind you, it's slightly up in the air.. watch this space. If we do still go, that'll have been every weekend this month with LoMAZ..