The theme of the evening was “Colour Changes and Classics”, and David Whitson (our host for the night) performed Pavel’s colour changing records, in which small vinyl records change colour to match the colour of the silk that has been threaded through the central hole of each record. Then he did a Duane Laflan effect in which a large black and white silk with a sad drawing of a clown changes into a fully coloured silk face of a laughing clown. Great fun !
John Ferguson performed a couple of items from his Chemistry Magic show – the explosion of lycopodium flame using a lighter, and “red water to silk” – a red solution is poured into a glass, which is then turned upside down and instead of the water falling out, a (dry !) red silk floats down instead. He did a card item in which a thin wire is heated and it forms the initial letters of the chosen card. He next showed us a comic item - Karrell Fox’s magic glasses – a chosen card cannot be found by the magician, who then puts on his magic glasses, which happen to have the chosen card pasted on their lenses.
A square of paper was displayed by Steve Irwin. It had a small hole in it. The hole was obviously far too small to allow a playing card to go through, until Steve cast a spell on it – then the card went through with ease !
Noel Clair did colour changes with his usual flair. Holding a yellow silk, he made a red centre appear in his hand, like a hibiscus flower. Then the colour of the “flower” changed to blue !
The well-known card item “Card Warp” was nicely performed by Jeff Clarke. A card folded inside another card appears to turn inside out just by itself every time it is pulled through the outer card, and this left us thinking “this can’t be happening”.
This great night of magic was wrapped up by Joel Howlett. Showing us a blank deck – cards with both sides plain white – he magically printed the faces and backs. The great “Ambitious Card” routine was extended by Joel to feature a card with the spectator’s signature. He then launched into the “Cups and Balls” using a routine devised by Jim McKeague. It was a romantic story that made the cups and balls item really come alive, and was a fitting tribute to Jim McKeague.
