Who doesn’t love magic? What does the word conjure for you? Harry Potter and wizards? Memories of childhood parties — white rabbits and top hats? Mind-boggling street entertainers of today performing the seemingly impossible? 

Theatrical magic — illusions created for entertainment — gained popularity in the Victorian era. Mechanical development, and a fascination with all things strange and unworldly, led to the creation of acts such as The Handcuff King, The Electrical Wizard, and Pepper’s Ghost.

The Handcuff King was, of course, American Harry Houdini, who rose to fame in 1900 with his European tour. The Electrical Wizard — Walford Bodie, a Scotsman. Bodie staged mock electrocution on stage. He claimed he discovered Bodic Force — the use of electricity to heal. 

Pepper’s Ghost is my favourite Victorian illusion. It is based on the Magic Lantern technique. Professor Pepper created the illusion of a ‘ghost’ by reflecting a person’s image with a pane of glass. You can watch a modern-day recreation of this technique here.

Pepper’s Ghost was first performed on Xmas eve 1862 in a performance of Charles Dickens’s Haunted Man and Ghost’s Bargain. It was a sensation. Unlike other performers of the time, Professor Pepper showed the audience how he created the illusion. Disney uses a similar technique today in their Haunted Mansion, Disneyland. 

I had great fun researching magic tricks for The Last Act. You might say I went down a research rabbit hole with days spent poring over books in The British Library. 

The Golden Globe Theatre in London’s Strand is the setting for The Last Act. This is a fictitious magic theatre. I imagined it as a tiny Victorian theatre with old-fashioned mechanisms above and below stage. Although John Henry Anderson, another Scottish Magician, opened a magic theatre in London in the 1840s, theatres dedicated to magic did not exist in 1980. It was John Henry who originally performed the Catching a Bullet in the Mouth trick that I used in The Last Act.

The history of theatrical magic is fascinating. It is changing all the time as new technologies become available. In 1980, my magician, The Incredible Nico, is criticised as being too traditional. It is the start of a new decade and entertainment is transforming with the times: Monty Python’s Flying Circus and Punk Rock. The world of magic is ready for a new-wave act. 

Through research and thanks to Penn and Teller, I discovered a few secrets, demystifying some popular tricks. I also had the fortune to meet a magician — a young man in his thirties, who told me about the tricks he and his magician friends used to impress women. 

The trick performed as the last act was entirely my imagination. If you want to know more, download the book! Available as e-book and paperback from 1^st August.

https://books2read.com/The-Last-Act