15 January 2025

The secret to keeping magic show dazzling

Astonishing audiences across the country, multi-award-winning member of the Magic Circle Oliver Tabor has been performing West End Magic since 2013.  We caught up with Oliver to discover his secret to keeping West End Magic spectacular and fresh for so long.

Oliver explains:

Over 10 years ago I set my dreams on establishing a regular magic show in the West End. I didn’t know exactly where it would lead, but it was something that I was extremely passionate about, particularly given London’s rich history with the performing arts. In March 2013 West End Magic had its first show, offering some of the top magic and variety acts of the day at the Leicester Square Theatre. Now over 10 years later, it has now become London’s longest running theatre magic show and in 2023 headed out of our residency to tour the country.

The initial feeling of taking the show on the road was that of pure excitement. We knew that each theatre would allow the opportunity to try different illusions and routines, thereby giving us the freedom to continuously build and improve the show. We always want to put on the biggest and best show possible. However there were plenty of bumps in the road!

The first challenge we faced was the logistics. We had to find a way to down-size the show as some of the props were so large they required a 7 ton lorry to transport them between venues. The costs to hire a lorry, pay for the fuel and transport the team was not cost effective.  Plus in time we realised that each theatre was very different in size backstage, meaning the show had to be redesigned to not only be easily loaded into a range of different venues, but also transported in one vehicle with all the team.

With challenges, come solutions and lessons in adaptation to produce creative alternatives. What we learnt from the first set of tour dates has helped us to evolve and create a new and bigger finale that generates more of an immersive experience for the audience.

We carry a lot of the original show from the years spent at the Leicester Square Theatre but we also love featuring guest acts on the show – I’m sure that’s what’s kept things fresh all these years. Carefully selected from diverse disciplines of the performing arts, we invite speciality acts such as jugglers, ventriloquists or magicians with distinctly different performing styles compared to the show’s core cast.

An advantage of visiting a range of different towns and cities is that we get to invite an act who is local to the theatre or area. Firstly it means the distance in travel for the guest act is minimal, it supports local artists plus keeps it fresh and exciting for us, thereby making three doves vanish with one magic wand!

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