Saw
Barry & Stuart: Show and Tell last night.
For those who don't know, Barry & Stuart are a magician duo who most probably saw when they were on 'The Magicians' on the BBC. The show is split into two halves. First is 'The Show' where they do their usual show. Then after the interval you're given the choice if you want to come back to see 'The Tell', where they go into the details about how each trick was achieved and how it works.
Anyway I wanted to see them earlier but they weren't performing anywhere near us. Anyway I happened to search ebay and found someone selling their tickets because they couldn't go anymore. Managed to nab 2 tickets for 99p and they were good seats as well as we were in Row D of the stalls right in the middle.
Only downside was the tickets were for Tunbridge Wells which is about 2 hour drive away. We didn't mind too much as the tickets were so cheap and me and my brother could split the cost of petrol.
The theatre was pretty strange. It's an old converted church. I wonder what the religious people would say about a magic show (promoting the dark arts according to them) being done in a house of God?
We got there early so sat in the bar and had a drink. And the stewards were coming around handing out the rose tinted glasses for the show (more on them in a little bit).
While we were waiting to go in another woman and her daughter sat next to us and were telling us about when they last saw them at Thorpe Park when they were there for Fright Nights.
We then moved into the theatre and took our seats. On the screen it said Please DON'T put your glasses on. Which is what you usually get in places with 3D glasses etc.
Although being a rebel I put mine on and because the word DON'T was in red the glasses made the word vanish changing the instructions to "Please put your glasses on". When the show started they pointed out that those who worked that out were the ones who thought most like magicians in trying to see things from a different perspective.
The show begun with them telling us to put the glasses on and Barry making Stuart appear inside an empty box. They then used this to explain what the glasses were for. They told us they were going to repeat the trick and those who wanted to find out how it was done to watch the trick without the glasses but for those wishing for it to remain a secret to keep them on and watch it through the rose tinted glasses.
This worked as while the trick was being performed the screen behind them showed how it worked and how Stuart ended up inside the box. The outline of his body was in red so people with the glasses wouldn't be able to see him on the screen. Pretty clever and cool idea.
Anyway the rest of the show involved some escapology, an amazing memory feat, a game of Russian Roulette with a goldfish and some acid, a suicide shop, turning water into wine, tricks using Twitter and Facebook and a magic trick where they both performed it completely naked.
It was a great show and really enjoyable. They used a lot of humour but also weren't afraid to scare the audience and make them jump.
After the interval. Most people decided to come back in. Here they explained the reasons for revealing the tricks as like they said. Sometimes the workings behind the tricks are much more impressive than the trick itself. It was interesting to watch and they went into loads of detail giving away all the workings. The show then ended with them inviting the audience to try and capture some ghost ESP. They played a video and we were told to watch to see that nothing was unusual about it. They then played it again and told everyone to take a picture of the static on their mobile phone cameras. When people did this they could see a face in the static which their cameras picked up but you couldn't see it with the naked eye.
There's a clip of this being performed if you're interested by Brian Brushwood in this video here. Skip to 6:55 to get to that part though.
http://revision3.com/scamschool/newyorkcity2
Overall it was a great show and worth going to see. Especially if you're the type of person who usually gets annoyed at magic shows and you'd rather just know how it's done. Only negative points I can think of is that not EVERY trick is explained. Although these were only a couple of minor ones they did in between their main tricks but one of them I really wanted to know as a couple of weeks earlier I was tempted to buy it.
After the show they thanked everyone for being a fantastic audience and said that they'd be out in the foyer if anyone wanted stuff signed and wanted a picture.
I hung back a bit so got to speak to them a bit longer and I told them that I wanted to know how one of tricks they didn't explain was done. Although they couldn't explain it as like films and movies etc if they don't own the trick they can't reveal it if they don't own the rights to do so. Especially if they're getting money for it. But the hints they gave me was enough for me to confirm how it was done and they recommended that I purchase the version that I was going to originally as they said it's much better than theirs as they kept it simple. Anyway after that I got my stuff signed had a photo taken and shook their hands and said thank you.
