As I was working on the evening in question I only caught the first half of the show but did see Matthew’s presentation which was magical, fun and entertaining and did lift him above in my view of the other entrants. Many magicians did good magic, performed well but many were demonstrators of magic tricks. Matthew added real personality and engaged well with his audience and when you look at his background you can understand why.

After a series of creative jobs – photographer, art gallery owner etc he turned professional six years ago, sold his car and lived for a few months in Chicago and took lessons from Eugene Burger and also had contact with Jeff McBride. He’s gone to university to study special effects and puppetry at the Central School of Speech and Drama. He’s also worked in the hardest of performing theatres – busking in the streets.He deserves to make a break through having given total commitment to his pursuit of perfection and entertainment. How many of us really go for it?

It’s no coincidence that Romany also went to the U.S. to study performance with Jeff McBride and returned to the UK where she won the Magic Circle Stage Magician of The Year. This has led to a big boost in her career with a full engagement book at some of the best venues.

My very best wishes and good luck to Matthew for  his future career.

I recently enthused on this aspect about Geoffrey Durham’s new book – “Professional Secrets – A Life in Magic” which offers invaluable information about stagecraft. But at Blackpool I picked up another excellent booklet on presenting yourself called “Get Your Act Together” by Joanie Spina. Joanie Spina is a professional dancer and choreographer who has been the guiding talent behind many top professional magic performers including David Copperfield. To get some idea of the sheer artistry and theatre of her work check out her web site www.spinacreativeservices.com and see some video clips of magicians for whom she has worked.

 But the book that I picked up is packed with information you can’t buy in a magic shop – strengths, talent, staging an illusion, focus, choreography, dialogue, movement, music, vision and scores of other subjects on stagecraft that can be a real asset to the working magician wishing to give a professional performance.

I believe that Joanie Spina is associated with Jeff McBride and his unique school for magicians who has already shown excellent results for magicians attending. Lady magician Romany travelled to the USA to participate, changed some of her act as suggested by McBride, came back to Britain and won The Magic Circle Stage Magician of the Year Competition and has worked consistently since.

I just happened to find a single copy of this book lying on Bob Swadling’s stand but if your serious about improving your act you could check out Joanie Spina’s web site.