10 January 2025

Oliver Tabor on heroes, the golden age of magic & secrets from the inner circle

Oliver stars in London’s longest running theatre magic show and tours the UK each year. But how did such a show come about? We catch up with Oliver to hear about West End Magic’s roots – and try to get him to spill the beans about life in the Inner circle.

 

How did West End Magic come about?

The show was originally inspired by the idea of bringing back a regular magic show to the West End of London, harking back to the ‘Golden age’ of magic in the early 1900s. Between the late 1800s and 1930s, nearly every theatre in the West End featured a magic show or magician on its stage. Much like with the popularity of musicals today, magic flourished and had permanence in London with the big name conjurors such as Chung Ling Soo, the first president of the Magic Circle David Devant, and sensational escapologist Houdini.

 

How do you keep the show fresh year on year? 

2025 is our show’s twelfth year of residence at the Leicester Square Theatre. Spreading our wings to perform at theatres around the country has sparked us to try different illusions and routines. The show has taken on a life of its own, it’s continuously evolving and improving.

 

Who inspires you? 

When I was learning magic, I found inspiration from magicians who combined different styles and art forms into their performance. Jeff McBride was one such example; well known for mixing magic, mime, martial arts and dance. Lance Burton is another magician I looked up to: he headlined his own magic show in Las Vegas for over 10 years and was the archetypal magician sporting a tail coat, top hat and producing a seemingly endless amount of live doves.

 

You perform at a huge variety of venues, is that a help or hindrance to the show? 

I find the venues we perform at hugely inspiring. Each show helps us discover new theatres, audiences and experiences: we are very lucky to be able to perform our show in a range of beautiful theatres, corn exchanges and art centres – the Theatre Royal in Winchester and the Palace Theatre at Paignton are stunning examples. We’re excited to revisit theatres during this year’s tour, plus there’s so many more we’ve yet to discover!

Every audience really is different and it’s a wonderful and sometimes apprehensive feeling not knowing how each will react: you never know who will volunteer to come up on stage to help and assist, however these brave people can become the stars of the show! There is one particular routine I perform in the show, which is my favourite part. I dress up a young audience member as a magician, who then inherits my magic skills… I love witnessing the joy in their face when they make the magic happen by themselves!

 

Pretty please can you share any secrets from the Inner Circle?!  

There is a secret room at the Magic Circle headquarters that I can now gain access to: I’ve been part of the Inner Circle for less than 6 months, so haven’t had the opportunity to explore this secret room yet however I’m really looking forward to witnessing the hidden mysteries the room has to offer on my next visit!

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