April 2003 - A Magical Evening

Billed as ‘an evening of magic & mystery’, the April meeting of Andover Women in Business fulfilled everyone’s expectations. And, of course, it was April Fool’s Day, so we were all expecting something a little out of the ordinary.

The Guillotine!

Indeed, there was nothing disappointing in Michael King’s magical entertainment. By pure serendipity, the short (and, for the Red Lion, unusual) delays we experienced in waiting to join the buffet queues and for the last parts of the meal to arrive allowed him to provide each table with exactly the right sort of undivided attention he uses so well for his close-up magic.

Michael, a local magician of high repute, moved from table to table, igniting everyone’s interest and involving diners in amazing sleight of hand. Card tricks, disappearing dice, the ‘spirit hankie’ and Larraine’s magic cigarette smoke all made an appearance in Michael’s pleasing show. ‘Abracadabra’ really did make things disappear – and reappear in the most unlikely places.

Mandy and Louise spent a worrying few minutes wondering what had happened to their initialled £10 note that, to all intents and purposes, had gone up in flames; only to surface right at the end of the show, when a pristine bag of crisps was taken from the windowsill and opened. We all knew somehow it had to reappear, but the how and the where could not be detected even by the most eagle-eyed.

Michael also shared the method of some rudimentary card tricks, making it all seem so simple to do in the best magical tradition. A natural showman, Michael built on atmosphere and the finale of his programme involved a lethal portable ‘guillotine’, Pauline - a brave volunteer - and two press-ganged carrots. First the guillotine blade was inspected and used to slice the vegetables – swiftly and cleanly; Pauline then placed her head on the block (some of the audience start to look away). Two carrots were placed either side of Pauline’s head and the countdown began. Pauline’s head didn’t roll, but it was certainly curtains for the carrots!

A magical AWIBC evening indeed … even ‘fantastic’ - as Jeremy Paxman was heard to say, when he and his family enjoyed a similar entertaining performance.