This was one of the shows I was most excited about seeing for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I LOVE magic, especially sleight of hand. Secondly, I love men in frock coats and waistcoats. This show was to give me both!
Now I may get this review out of order on the tricks front, my excitement really made writing my notes afterwards very difficult.
Photo from www.morganandwest.co.uk
Morgan & West, two rather spiffingly dressed chaps looking very handsome in their finery, completely held my attention for the time they were on stage…and I certainly wasn’t alone in that. They had very good comic timing and banter – obviously a good rapport between them.
Their magic was traditional, often with their own spin on it.
The “all seeing eye in the hand” trick was very Derren Brown (a compliment) and executed well. They also performed towards the end another DBesq trick relating to Harry Potter (but I forgive them for that) involving predicting which book, page and word would be chosen by a willing member of the audience.
West performed a spellbinding back and forth coin trick, which I’ve discovered is very hard to convey to others quite how it looked and how remarkable it was. I shall try again now, but please forgive me if it doesn’t quite sound as impressive as it should! Take the traditional appearing/disappearing coin trick…now let’s see the trick progress and then reverse…then progress more…and then reverse…and progress more etc until he performs the whole trick forwards and then backwards. I think I sat open mouthed throughout this whole trick. One question I meant to ask the gents was whether the red/blue light signifying travelling forwards or backwards was an intentional match to the time vortex colours when Doctor Who is travelling forwards or backwards in the T.A.R.D.I.S. – or am I just being a little too geeky and it’s pure coincidence?
Now my favourite trick is bound to be the one where I got to go on stage with West, whilst Morgan chose another woman. She had a green backed deck of cards, whereas mine was purple. We both chose and signed cards, before having them change into another card mere inches away from us (cue my impression of a guppie). It was then revealed that our cards were no longer in our packs but had made it over the other side of the stage and were in each other’s packs (cue bigger impression of a guppie). The cards were then brought back and were handed to us – I’m now keeping mine proudly in my purse.
Me and my West card
They ended the show with cup/ball tricks in the form of an old fashioned instructional film which was both striking and witty.
So what is my opinion of them? LOVE THEM!!! Part of me wishes I’d gone to see them earlier in the week so I could’ve justified seeing them again. I have, however decided that I want to be rich enough to have them as my own personal magicians…unless they ever need a “glamorous assistant” as I can pull off a corset quite nicely.
If you get the chance, either see them in Edinburgh, hire them for an event, or if they are performing anywhere else, buy that ticket! These gents WILL be well known before long!
http://www.morganandwest.co.uk/
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