Desert Island Tricks
Each week we invite one of the biggest guests in the world of magic to maroon themselves on a desert island. They are allowed to take with them 8 tricks, 1 book, 1 banishment and 1 non magic item that they use for magic! We discuss their 'can't live without' lists and why those items were chosen.
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To find out more about the team behind Desert Island Tricks, please visit: www.alakazam.co.uk
Desert Island Tricks
Nikola Arkane
In this week’s episode, Nikola Arkane reveals the theatrical foundations that elevate her performances from mere tricks to captivating experiences. With a background in drama from Queen's University, Nikola brings a unique perspective to magical performance that transforms standard effects into memorable moments of wonder.
At the heart of Nikola's magical journey is FizzWizzPop, her beloved children's character who discovers and solves magical problems alongside young audiences. "She was my first love in magic," Nikola explains, describing how this character became an "existential being" developed through her theatrical training. Through this creation, Nikola demonstrates how character development and storytelling create deeper connections with audiences, particularly children who relate to an adult experiencing the same challenges they face.
The conversation explores Nikola's remarkable career trajectory, from winning the International Brotherhood of Magicians British Ring Close-Up Competition to appearing at the Magic Castle and competing on Penn & Teller: Fool Us. Throughout these achievements, Nikola maintains that theatrical thinking gives her performances dimension and emotional resonance. Whether transforming a 2D appearing cane effect into a spinning 3D spectacle or incorporating music as a universal language, her approach consistently elevates magical techniques through theatrical presentation.
What truly distinguishes Nikola's philosophy is her profound respect for audience intelligence. "I don't just pick random stuff for kids," she explains. "I make sure it's really good, really good magic, because I want to respect my audience." This commitment to thoughtful, well-constructed magic applies equally to her adult performances, where she creates experiences that engage spectators both intellectually and emotionally.
Discover how Nikola's theatrical lens has shaped her desert island magic selection, from classic effects like the cups and balls to innovative routines that transform traditional tricks through theatrical storytelling. Her insights offer valuable lessons for performers of all kinds about the power of character, problem-solving narratives, and intelligent presentation in creating truly magical moments.
Nikola’s Desert Island Tricks:
- Cups and Balls
- Silver Scepter
- Pointer
- Appearing Cane
- One More by Topaz
- The Matrix Force
- The Magic Button
- Sponge Balls / The Whole Thing / Position Six by Mystique
Banishment. Poorly Taught Card Magic Instructions
Book. Parlour Tricks
Item. Tom Stone
Find out more about the creators of this Podcast at www.alakazam.co.uk
She was my first kind of like, my first love in magic, if you like, because obviously I had to decide when I finished my degree what to do with my talents and I decided to create a kid's character.
Speaker 1:So I invented this character for kids that could bring magic to them and actually show them what real magic is. Again, using my drama and theater skills, she kind of became an existential being or a kind of development of myself. I think a lot of the tricks that I kind of find for her they have to be kind of problem solving, because she's discovering the problem. At the same time the kids are discovering the problem and then they kind of fix it together. There's like this natural kind of there's a problem, let's solve it, let's fix it. Yay, the world is happy again. And that's kind of the structure that FizzWizPop takes. I think it's kind of innocent but also really sweet as well, and it helps me to build a relationship with the children, because they're discovering the world and they're discovering all these problems. So it's nice for them to know that an adult has these problems too.
Speaker 2:Hello and welcome to another episode of Desert Island Tricks. Now listen to this as an introduction. I have not had to hype this up at all. This is exactly verbatim what this person's career has been like. So they studied drama at Queen's University and discovered magic working with Gahoots and Eyes Children's Theatre. She then joined the Ulster Society of Magicians, winning stage competition in 2006 and later serving as the club's first female chair. From 2016 to 18, she toured the US with Danny Carmo's Mathemagical Mysteries the US with Danny Carmo's Mathemagical Mysteries and in 2018, shifted focus to professional close-up magic after attending Tom Stone's Magic University in Sweden In 2019, she won the International Brotherhood of Magicians British Ring Close-Up Competition and the Ali Bongo Micro Marathon.
Speaker 2:Shortly after, she then appeared at the Magic Castle's close-up gallery, which I bet was incredible. She's also an alan slate international rising star, sweden's grand prix stage magic champion and semi-finalist on sweden's got talent. She featured on season 10 of pen and teller. Fall us as well. Oh my goodness, what a career. She's an active magic blogger and author with titles like Becoming Fizz, whiz, pop, the Chaos Within and In Plain Sight. Now, if that isn't an incredible bio, who knows what is? I think this is going to be a really interesting eclectic mix. So today's guest, of course, is the wonderful Nicola Arcane. Hello Nicola, hello Jimmy, very excited to have you on and to see what your list is like Now, all of those competitions that you've entered over the years. How do you find it now? Do you get nervous still with competitions?
Speaker 1:Always, I mean. I think nerves are a good thing. They kind of prepare you for the competition, you know. But, and nothing kind of prepares you for it, you just have to throw yourself in head first and hope for the best yeah, I can imagine.
Speaker 2:And what about pen? And tell a fool us, how did you decide which routine or which trick you were going to do on that show?
Speaker 1:well, I'd submitted for many years, um, but this particular routine, when I came up with it, I was like I think this is the one that has the potential, uh, to be not only good on for television but also it could potentially fill them. Um, but uh, but yeah it. I just really loved the routine and I just hope that the producers did too, and they did, and they, yeah, I got to perform in front of two of my heroes, which was awesome yeah, that's incredible, and right at the very beginning we mentioned that your background and your sort of education is in theatre.
Speaker 1:So have you found the theatre element is something that you've just always carried through your magic and it's something that is just intrinsic to the way you perform 100, I think I I don't think I intentionally at the beginning wanted to actively include, uh, theater in magic as such, but, um, it's kind of hard when it's part of what you know inside here, inside your head, and it's what you do. So, yeah, everything just kind of naturally becomes theatrical. Whenever I look at a magic trick, I think, oh, how can I make that more, bigger than what it is?
Speaker 2:So, yeah, and we mentioned as well. There was a name that I mentioned, which is Fizz Whiz Pop. Now, this is one of your. Is it like a character? Can we say it's a character?
Speaker 1:Yeah, she is 100 percent a character. Can we say it's a character? Yeah, she is 100% a character.
Speaker 2:And how did you develop that character?
Speaker 1:Well, she was my first kind of like, my first love in magic, if you like, because obviously I had to decide when I finished my degree what to do with my talents and I decided to create a kid's character because obviously with cahoots, the majority of the work they do is with children. So I thought, well, it's going to be easy to slip into that. So I invented this character for kids that could bring magic to them and actually show them what real magic is. And, again, using my drama and theatre skills, she kind of became an existential being or a kind of development of myself.
Speaker 2:so do you decide the tricks that she can do based on her character? Is there like a set of rules that you've set her as a character that allow you to perform certain tricks and not others?
Speaker 1:um, well, yes, actually, because I don't. I don't do card tricks like I. I don't get me wrong. I have tried them, but it just doesn't work with her character. I think a lot of the tricks that I kind of find for her they have to be kind of problem solving, because she's discovering the problem. At the same time the kids are discovering the problem and then they kind of fix it together. There's like this there's this natural kind of like that's there's a problem, let's solve it, let's fix it together. There's like this there's this natural kind of like that's there's a problem, let's solve it, let's fix it. Yay, the world is happy again. And that's kind of the structure that Fizzbiz Pop takes, which is, I think it's kind of innocent but also really sweet as well. And it helps me to build a relationship with the children, because they're discovering the world and they're discovering all these problems. So it's nice for them to know that someone who's an adult has these problems too.
Speaker 2:Amazing, so let's get onto your list. So we're talking here at the moment about FizzWizPop. Has there been sort of a mix of children's tricks stage tricks close up has it been quite a broad range of things? Tricks stage tricks close up has it been quite a broad range of things?
Speaker 1:It's very eclectic. That's all I'm going to say. It was so difficult for me to decide because I have a close up kit, I have a stage magic kit and obviously I have like three magic shows as Fizz, whiz, pop. So I really had to like I actually just sat with the tricks in front of me and I was like what could I not live without?
Speaker 2:So tricks in front of me and I was like what could I not live without? So you're gonna get a wide range of absolutely everything. That's what we like to hear. That means it's going to be a particularly interesting uh list. I think so, if this is your first time joining us. The idea is we're about to maroon nicola on her very own magical island. When she's there, she's allowed to take eight tricks. Banish one item, take one book and one non-magic item that she uses for magic particulars like who's there? All of the animals that are there? Are there huts and all that good stuff? We do not mind. It's in nicola's own imagination. So, with that being said, nicola, what did you put in your first position?
Speaker 1:well, actually this uh trick is probably a lot of magicians favorites, but for me it had to be the cups and balls. For me. I was gifted a set of artistic cups and balls by TCC. They're called ACAB. They're pretty expensive. They're pretty kind of robust and refined and very heavy cups and balls and I was told when I was gifted these that every good magician, if they perform this well, they will make a name for themselves.
Speaker 1:And I was just kind of given that with the gift of these cups and balls, and at the start I didn't really know what to do with them, but I played about with them. I got them just before the pandemic hit. So I literally played about with them the entire pandemic and I studied magicians like Michael Amar Aldo Colombini, which I became obsessed with with his cups and balls, and really what I did was I explored many, many, many different versions of using balls producing. I actually got a friend to vacuum form the cups for me so that I could produce a glass out of the cups. I played around with so many different versions of cups and balls and for me I honestly couldn't go to a desert island without these in my life.
Speaker 2:Now, is this something that you do as fizz, whiz, pop? Is this like a close-up? Is this a stage? Is this a nicola trick? And if not, then have you ever thought about trying to use your character as a way to develop a new version of cups and balls?
Speaker 1:yeah, well, um, for me the cups and balls, um is nicola arc. I actually developed well, as I say, I developed it across the pandemic, but also I got the opportunity to perform, as you mentioned, in Sweden's Got Talent and that was during the pandemic as well. So I actually got this routine together for that and it was really difficult because they only wanted three minutes and I had created over the course of three years, a whole kind of orchestral composed piece that was like eight minutes long, of cups and balls flying and big balls being produced and little balls being produced. And then I realized, oh right, okay, they only want three minutes of this, so I had to really strip it back and talk about killing your darlings. I was so sad about all the little things that I lost. But actually the cups and balls routine became something that was really concise and really beautiful and I find some really beautiful music and I'll talk about music throughout this, this interview, because music is part of me being theatrical and magic and that's how I use. That was Nicola Arcane, but but yeah, the cups and balls became a real concise piece and it's a three minute piece. It's a beautiful piece of magic and I perform that in my parlor shows and my stage shows I performed it in gala shows is like a one off performance, so I performed it for small audiences, big audiences, yeah, so it is definitely a Nicola Arkean piece. Whether I want to perform it as fizz-wizz pop, that's still to be seen. I mean, I never rule anything out, but if I was to perform it for Nicola Arkean it would have to have some sort of fun element. It wouldn't be balls probably, it would be something else, maybe spiders, I don't know. But yeah, it would have to be something completely different and characterful, amazing. Well, that's a great opening gambit and leads us very nicely into number two.
Speaker 1:So what was in your second position? The silver scepter. And again, this is talking about the eclectic, you know, going from cups and balls, like a standard kind of kind of parlor piece for magician, right into silver scepter, which is generally used for kids magic. The silver scepter I'm not too sure who invented it. I tried to kind of research but I couldn't find it. Maybe Jamie can help me with this, but it's.
Speaker 1:The silver scepter is essentially it's a magic wand that you show to children and it comes in a little beautiful bag and when you take it out of the bag, you tell the kids that the magic wand doesn't work. And then you get a handkerchief and you put some magic hanky over the wand. And then you put some magic hanky over the wand and then the wand suddenly in your hand starts gliding up when you're not well, I do it when I'm not looking at it, so the kids kind of notice it before I do, if that makes sense. So every time that you kind of polish the magic wand and you put it in your hand and you look away, the wand keeps gliding up. And also, what's amazing about it is, by its design you can actually put it back in the bag and then in the bag it starts gliding up too.
Speaker 1:So you can have a lot of fun performing this for children because you can have the look no, look, they see, you don't see kind of moments, and I personally really like it because, well, I enjoy the engineering of it. I think it's very well designed, but also it's just a very fun trick to perform. I perform it for kids, I even perform it for adults, who sometimes I would bring it along in my close-up kit, because sometimes you go along to weddings and there's kids and there's adults there, so I always bring it along with me and even adults are fascinated by it. It's great, but it's a way to get people kind of. If you have kids that are very quiet and they're afraid of shouting out, you can bet your bottom dollar that if you do that three times, the kids are like it's moving. We can't help themselves and I just love that. I love magic like that. Magic that just happens.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that's a really interesting one. Now, when you mentioned that you've done it for adults as well, this sort of routine, do you adapt it specifically for adults, or would you keep it pretty much the same?
Speaker 1:I would keep it pretty much the same. Obviously, any tricks that I do and I'm not too sure, probably most people wouldn't agree with me, but because I also perform for both children and adults, I just adapt how I speak to people, like a lot of it is just. You know, obviously I'm not going to go, you know, talk slowly and repeat it over and over again like I would do for very young children. I kind of respect who I'm performing for, so I just change how I talk about it, you know, and adults aren't obviously going to, you know. Well, maybe Americans, because Americans react very much like yeah, but but you know, general adults, you know they're just going to notice that there's something happening, but you can't help. I mean, when the bag flies in the air, of course they're going to react. They're just going to react a wee bit differently, you know. So just change how you talk to them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's like a peripheral trick, isn't it? You get a lot of those in children's magic where you're looking one way and something magical is happening that everyone else is noticing, and then when you look back you're quite often like what are you all going on about?
Speaker 1:It seems to be a really fun thing for kids' performances 100%, and I think actually there's not enough of it in adult magic too. You know, maybe that's something that I should incorporate into my adult magic when things like that happen, because, yeah, it's a real great way to encourage people to react, because, if you think about it, magic is like a visual art form for the most part. So we want to encourage our audiences to react, we want them to laugh, we want them to engage. So tricks like that, that move that we don't see and they see that encourages them to get involved. So, yeah, it's definitely it had to be in my top 10.
Speaker 2:Great Well, that's an excellent second entry and leads us into number three. So what's in your third spot?
Speaker 1:So number three, again completely different. So it is a Max Niven packet trick. Now I don't know if a lot of your viewers know this, but Max had an absolute love of packet tricks. He wrote an entire book about it. It's called Focus. I'm so delighted I literally in the last month just managed I have Max's collection on my shelf here behind me. But Focus was a book that kind of like I couldn't get a hold of for ages and then suddenly I finally got it and I'm delighted. So, yes, so Max loved Pack of Tricks and I'm very lucky that my partner in magic and also my boyfriend Tom Stone, swedish magician in magic, and also my boyfriend Tom Stone, swedish magician he's actually doing a project at the minute where he's putting together a load of Max Maven's packet tricks that have been published in magazines, that have kind of been lost all over the world and he's kind of bringing them together. So he's been introducing me to a load of classical old Max Maven's packet tricks.
Speaker 1:And one of the packet tricks that I have taken a real liking to and I perform it now in every close-up gig that I have is called Pointer, and Pointer is it's a little packet trick where you have arrows and it's all about directions. So you have four arrows. They point toward, they all point towards the person and then they suddenly change direction. They all point towards you and then after that what happens is you. You change the question. You ask them how many hours do you have? They say four, but then you actually end up having eight and then at the end you have a final prediction which I'll not reveal.
Speaker 1:But it's really really fast, it's really beautiful and I don't know if a lot of your viewers know, but I used to be really afraid of close-up magic gigs because I got into magic through doing kids magic. So I was afraid of close-up until Tom introduced these Max Maven packet tricks to me and what's really great about them? They're not just very magical, they're also visual puns, so it kind of disarms the audience A lot of the time. When we do close up for people they're kind of like, you know, with their arms folded, you know they're on the offensive, but when they see tricks like the Max Maven packet tricks they kind of start laughing and it kind of relaxes them a wee bit. So basically he packs a lot of punch into his packet tricks and in the end there's a real release and I've really enjoyed performing them, especially Pointer, because it's a great opener for my close up and it kind of lets the audience know that you know I'm not going to fight them, that this is meant to be enjoyable and we're meant to enjoy this together.
Speaker 2:So yeah, that's great. Well, this isn't one that I've come across, but it sounds very much like uh, almost like a three card monty routine where it forces the well not forces's probably not the right word but it encourages the audience to partake in what you're doing, and this sounds like it really entices them to want to play along 100% and you can almost see the corners of their mouths.
Speaker 1:Like you know, they're ready for smiling and there'll be another trick later on that I talk about. But I really enjoy visual puns and magic. In fact I'm a real, I'm a real pun gal. All my friends like, send me like memes with puns and stuff like that and they think I'm not going to laugh. But I laugh at the most silliest of jokes. So the fact that Max loves puns too and he gets them into these wee tight packet magic tricks, it's just fabulous, fabulous. So I mean, obviously this trick pointer will be published whenever Tom publishes, whatever he's going to do. But if anybody wants to check out the Max Maven packet tricks, you should definitely try and find Focus, because there's a lot of them in there.
Speaker 2:Well, thankfully this goes out in about four or five weeks time, so that gives me all the time in the world to get onto eBay and find that purely just for the puns. I feel like reading a magic book where there are puns all the way through. It'll be really enjoyable.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think I don't know about other people, but I love reading Max Max. The way he writes is just so funny. He is the only author that you're kind of sitting reading magic and you actually physically laugh out loud because of what he says, you know. So, yeah, definitely, if you haven't been introduced to Max Maven, you should definitely get some of his material in his books.
Speaker 2:Amazing. Well, that leads us very nicely into number four. So what's in your fourth spot?
Speaker 1:Number four is the appearing cane, and the reason why I put it here is because not only is it both a weapon, but it can be used to amuse people.
Speaker 1:So, yes, the appearing cane kind of came to me when I first started performing magic for children and I think, um, what's great about the appearing cane is it's instantaneous, it's fast and it's magical.
Speaker 1:And particularly when you're performing for children, I think, when you're performing for anybody, you want to get to the point right away. You want them to know that you're a magician, so you have to physically show them what magic is. And when performing for children, too, you want to encourage them to come on the stage with you. So the best way, I think, or I find, to get kids to come up and want to help you is to show them a really impressive magic trick and to tell you the the truth, there is really no more impressive magic trick than an appearing key and it just goes wham and it's there. Um, but as I said, I did mention they are also a weapon. So obviously I'm going to a desert island. So if there's any kind of like uh, tribes or anybody that tries to, you know, lock me up or take me as a sacrifice, I can use the appearing cane to kind of whip them into shape.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a great one. Now, the version of appearing cane that you use do you use the traditional sort of black cane with white tips, or is yours sparkly?
Speaker 1:So mine is the candy cane. It's a red and white one. So originally when I got this, when the appearing cane came into my life, I watched a magician called Dwayne Laughlin, an American magician, and he performed a version of this. It was for Christmas, so it was kind of like making a candy cane appear and I think for kids anyway, whatever costume, so whatever color you're wearing, you should definitely get a cane that isn't the same color as your costume so that it really stands out or it stands out from your background. So I picked the, I kept the red and white, but also I don't make it appear like normal people make it appear. So if anybody has seen me lecture, or or also it's actually on my penguin magic lecture, I teach it.
Speaker 1:So Dwayne Laughlin made it appear so that not like a 2D effect, kind of like straight up and down. He makes it appear by spinning it around and it actually fills the room. Now, he didn't teach how to do it, so I had to teach myself how to do it. And basically what happens is when you do your magic word and it appears, you start spinning and spinning, and spinning and spinning and what happens is the kids actually see the silk growing and growing and growing and growing. But then when you stop and you hold the cane, they can see. Actually it's transformed into a completely different object and I just think it's so magical. And I talk a lot about that in my lecture about how we should take tricks that are 2D, like straight up and down, and turn them into 3D and fill the entire space, and this trick is just perfect for that.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and I think you sort of answered my next question, which was do you make it appear from a silk or is it just an instant appearance?
Speaker 1:Yes, I make it appear from a silk, and I should say when I first started I was really nervous I think we all are when we're hiding something in our hands or anything like the TT, as you say, or when we hide anything in our hands, we're always afraid when we begin because we're just not used to having it there. But I've discovered over the years. So I started off with like kind of like an 18 inch silk and if you imagine how big an 18 inch silk is because I thought I needed that to hide the cane but now I actually use a 12 inch silk. It's tiny, and I use a lot of emotion when I'm doing my magic, so like I put my hands on my hips and things like that. So I'm very relaxed with it, because, at the end of the day, the audience don't know that you have something in your hand. All they see is the silk, you know. So I think it just takes a wee while to get used to it, but you can use the tiniest of silks.
Speaker 1:Over the years, though, I've also discovered loads of different ways to make the cane appear. So I make it appear quite slowly in a circle. I've seen people actually make it expand from their hands really slowly and you kind of forget. It's beautiful. It's a very versatile prop. You can make it appear fast, you can make it appear slow, you can make many appear. Um, yeah, I, I just, I love the appearing key and it's it's. It's a trick that has remained in my repertoire from the start and it will probably be there until I die.
Speaker 2:So, yes, well, that's a great choice and leads us into number five. So what's in your fifth spot?
Speaker 1:okay, yes. So my fifth spot. It's a wee bit cheek, but you have to be cheeky when you're going to a desert island. So this one is a routine, and this is a routine by none other than Topaz the magician, and it's his routine, called One More, and I don't know if your audience know this, but Topaz. This was one of the very first magic tricks I kind of seen when I first got into magic.
Speaker 1:So what happens is Topaz he is like an all rounder. He does close up, he does stage, he does absolutely everything. He's amazing. But one of the things he does is he integrates music into his magic, and this is something I absolutely love, like, again, the theatrics, everything. So he, of course I was going to fall in love with Topaz, like it's just inevitable, but yeah, so back to the trick.
Speaker 1:So what he does is he introduces a box that's sitting on, kind of like a trolley that has been wheeled on the stage, and the box is shown empty and he talks a little bit about his love of music and then he pulls out from the empty box a tiny speaker and then he attaches a cable to the speaker and what happens is a bass line starts coming in. So dum, dum, dum, dum dum. Okay, so the bass is in, and then he shows the box empty and then another speaker comes out, and then I think it's like maracas or something like that. So basically what happens is it builds and builds and builds. The stage gets filled with speakers huge ones, small ones, all different size ones, all different colored ones and the music builds all the different parts guitar, drums, bass, all the different parts of the music builds and builds and builds, and then at the very end, the box gets thrown away. He has a curtain and he covers up the trolley as a huge speaker appears and then, of course, a lady appears at the end.
Speaker 1:And for me, this, this, this just blew my mind when I first saw it and actually just before this interview today I watched it again and from the very, very start I'm just smiling. It's just, it's just glorious and it's it's so perfect, it's so perfectly designed because as an audience member, it kind of completes itself. You know, it starts from the beginning with a small speaker, ends with a huge speaker and then a lovely lady appears and it's just gorgeous and I cannot go to a desert island and never see that again. So that has to be on my top 10, even though it's a wee bit of a cheat, it's a full routine. Whatever, I don't care, I have to go to my desert island with one more.
Speaker 2:You are a louder routine, we'll give you the routine. I also like the idea that your island's going to be pretty much a party island at this point. You've just got loads of speakers and you're going to be having a good old time, I should think, with your appearing cane and your speakers. Yeah, that's going to be great. Yeah, I love that. I have not seen that routine. I will seek it out after this podcast, but I really like the idea that the narrative is created without saying a word. The story is being built through the actions of what's happening on stage.
Speaker 1:He doesn't need to say anything to say anything Exactly, and that's interesting. So there's many different versions. If you just Google one more by Topaz, you'll find many different versions, and the version I watched just before here he was actually performing in French, so it just goes. It doesn't like, it doesn't even matter. It doesn't matter that he's performing in a different language because you get it, you get the ideas, you see the visuals of the speakers appearing, you hear the music. Music is a universal language and I think that's why I enjoy incorporating music into my magic so much, because, like, for example, if you use a song that people know they already have a connection to it without you even saying a thing. So yeah, topaz is a really interesting magician and no wonder I fell in love with that and it had to come to the desert island with me hey guys, harry here from alakazam magic.
Speaker 3:I hope you're enjoying the podcast. I'm just here to interrupt and tell you a little bit about the alakazam magic convention. It has taken us 35 years to get to this date. However, may the 9th 2026 will be the very first alakazam magic convention. Now I know you guys are super excited, maybe just as excited as we are. First of all, the venue is a 37 minute direct train from central london. The venue is then literally a 10 minute walk from the train station. There's hotels within a stone's throw, there's restaurants nearby and there's incredible food and drink on site. That's all without even getting into the magic side of things. We are going to have four incredible lecturers performing throughout the day, including one person who's going to be flying over to the very first UK lecture. We are buzzing to announce who those four are. Not only that, there'll be dealers on site and a place for you guys to jam and session and meet new friends. Where are the lectures going to be held? This is my personal favorite bit about the Alakazam convention.
Speaker 3:They're going to be happening in one of the cinema screens. That means fully tiered seating, comfy seats, a drink holder and there will be a close-up camera on the jumbo cinema screen that will be giving you close-ups of all the little nuances that you're going to need to see when the lecturers are performing. There will, of course, be a full gala show to end the evening off. You guys are not going to want to miss it. The great thing is as well. On the sunday, the day after, alakazam magic shop, which is a two minute drive, will be open. So if you're heading down to the convention, why not stay overnight and come and visit our magic shop? Remember May the 9th 2026. Tickets on sale now at alakazamcouk. See you guys soon.
Speaker 2:Well, I think we're all going to be there with you having a little party. I think it'll be a great time on your island. That leads us to number six. What was in your sixth spot?
Speaker 1:My next one is actually it's a strange one, it's called the Matrix Force. So it's not necessarily well, it does become a trick, but it's more of a principle. So when I toured with Danny Carmo's Mathematical Mysteries and Cahoots and I, I was not just a magician, I was also an illusionist. So I did. I was the girl in the box called the box jumper and I used to be put into a sword box and there was 16 kind of slots for the swords and we turned this trick into a matrix and use the matrix force to do a trick for the children, to teach them some mathematics. And I'll briefly explain what the matrix force is. And it's such an amazing thing. And the reason why I want to take this to a desert island is you don't need a sword box and 16 swords to do this. You just need 16 items really, and you can do this with anything and I think it's so versatile items really, and you can do this with anything and I think it's so versatile. So, basically, what you have, if you imagine, you have a grid one to 16, and you basically pick four numbers. Now, whatever number you pick, so let's say, you pick number five and you circle number five. What happens is, from that point, is you eliminate the numbers in the row which is across and the column OK, leaving you with number five.
Speaker 1:Now, obviously, your listeners will have to do this themselves and try this out, and if they want to actually get the precise, I've even written down, I did my homework so they can find this trick in Martin Gardner's Mathematics, magic and Mystery. It was published in 1956 and that's where we got it from and basically it'll take you through it. But once you pick four numbers and eliminate all the other numbers, those four numbers no matter which four you end up with, will always end up predicting the number 34. And, for example, this is how versatile it is. So you could just have 34 written in an envelope, which is awesome, like that's amazing to a spectator.
Speaker 1:You're able to get that from four random numbers. Or you could have a word written in the envelope where, basically, you go to the 34th page of a book and that's the word that matches the prediction in the envelope. It is so versatile and I think tricks like this are good for both kids and for adults, because you can use them in any circumstance at all. So, yeah, I have a lot of principles like this that I use, but this is one of my favourites. It's an absolute favourite, and I think it's so versatile that it has to come to the island, because even if there are natives on the island, I could teach them this little trick, and I think, as I love to impart magic to others too, I think this one has to come with me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a really great choice. It's a wonderful method and we've spoken again before on the podcast about having like a mental toolbox so you have your physical props and your physical routines and your physical tricks. But sometimes it's great just to have a knowledge of these methods that you can take with you. So, for example, from the top of my head, summing up by mark pa Paul is a great one. Quinta by Phil Smith is another great mathematical trick that you can just have in your head and at the right time you can go straight for it. So it's a great choice. Now my question is if you were to perform this I presume you do perform this and I'm guessing, in several versions that you've put together if you were to talk about your favourite way to perform it, what is your favourite?
Speaker 1:Well, I am a bit biased because I was put in a sword box and 16 swords were put inside me and do you know what? I will never forget performing that. So when I was in America I performed in front of like 3000 people in the audience, this sword box. And how we did it was I had a prediction in my hand, in an envelope, the whole time out of the sword box, and so the kids actually physically got to, you know, put the swords in, and they loved it and it was so funny. They used to shout out kill him, kill him.
Speaker 1:And I'm in the box going, really, but I can't tell you the joy. So when the prediction matched and then, oh, shall we take her out? And then they take me out and I'm produced, at the end I can't tell you the reaction that the kids had and I absolutely. I really enjoyed talking to the children after and then trying to guess where I went, how I did, what I did, and it was lovely. So for me I think and that is the ultimate way to perform that effect I will never get a better way of performing that again, but I am also glad that I will never enter a box again. But I have that as a memory.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's great. What an excellent choice. Now that leads us to the tail end of your eight, so we're on number seven. So what did you put in your seventh spot?
Speaker 1:So number seven is actually a very uh like, a latest uh kind of release, if you like, and I literally only put it into my uh close-up set and it is a trick by craig petty and it is called the magic button and I don't know if your fears know this, but I literally I mean, I love Craig. I think most of his material that he brings out I won't say all because, like some people may have a problem with that, but most of the material he brings out, I know that he genuinely tries it out for such a long time before he actually releases it to the community. So he knows the ins and outs of the trick, he knows if it's going to work or not and he helps people. He wants people to genuinely go out and do good magic. So he's not going to produce rubbish magic for the community. You know, he wants it to be genuinely good and I was performing a Criss Cross's magic weekender in April and I can highly recommend that convention to your viewers or your listeners because it is such an amazing magic convention. It's a very small convention but the acts that he gets are just fabulous and Craig lectured at the convention and he lectured his trick, the magic button and I, very immediately after he lectured, I went and got it from him because I just thought this is really really good.
Speaker 1:So your listeners are probably wondering what is the magic button? So the magic button is essentially how could I describe it? So, basically, you introduce the idea of the magic button, magicians use it to make their magic work. You get a card selected and essentially what happens is they press the magic button, the card doesn't appear where it's supposed to appear and then all of a sudden, you turn the magic button over and it is their signed card and it is. That's the simplest version of it.
Speaker 1:And he actually, in this production, has a whole like it's like four hours of material. I haven't even began to unpack it yet. But, as I say, I decided to introduce this to my close up just last weekend and I did it four times and, I kid you not, the audience just lost their minds. They absolutely lost their minds. And I did the simplest version, which is literally just sign a card it's oh, I don't know where it is Hit the button, hit it really hard, turn it over and it's their card and they just lost their minds. So if I'm doing the simplest version of that. I cannot wait to explore all of the principles that he has come up with with this magic button.
Speaker 2:Wow, that's one that I wasn't anticipating. That's quite a recent release to the magic community, so does it take a lot to get a trick into your set? What are the criteria for you adding a new routine in?
Speaker 1:That's a really good question For me. Obviously close up is very new for me and I suppose for me because I'm still very nervous when I perform close up. And I want to make close up fun because I've discovered that the more fun that I have I forget my nerves. So if I'm having fun doing a trick or a performance, then I know that I'm going to be in safe grounds, I'm going to be in safe hands.
Speaker 1:So actually what I did with the magic button as well when I was at the convention, I actually asked Craig would he sit down with me and actually take me through the routine? And I think that's something we're always afraid of. We're always afraid to go up and ask, like the creators of this, their material, oh can you help me with it? But I asked him just to sit down and teach me the basic principle of the routine. And he did that and I think going through it with him really helped me feel relaxed. And then obviously I had the material to go over when I came back home. But for me sometimes I have to just push material into my close up. So what I do to make myself feel comfortable is I'll do a trick that I feel comfortable with the trick I don't feel comfortable with and then another trick that I feel comfortable with, so I'll surround it by comfort and then I'll make myself feel uncomfortable a little bit in the middle and I think that kind of helps.
Speaker 1:I discovered that actually during lockdown, that if or not during lockdown, lockdown, sorry, you can edit that out. I discovered that during my kid shows trying to get three different versions of my show I wanted. I loved my first show so much that I didn't want to, you know, try out my new material. So I had to kind of edit it and put a random trick in between my first show so I could get new material. So that's a really good tip, like if you're really afraid of something, do something you're comfortable with. Terrified of comfortable with.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's one of those things as well. When you're a close-up performer, it's quite easy to find the opportunity to try new material, especially if you work in a restaurant or somewhere that where you're a regular performer. But it's really difficult to be a stage performer and try out new material. It feels like a completely different ball game. So if you needed to put a trick into your stage set, how do you go about doing that, especially if you have your favorite tricks?
Speaker 1:Competitions. I enter competitions and that sounds really it's so funny. That just naturally came into my brain, even though and I didn't want to say that, but it is, it's so true. So I had recently did a little competition. I was asked to take part in a competition in Sweden, of all places, so it's not even like my normal audience and I decided well, I have two new tricks I want to do. Ok, I'll stuff it, I'll just do whole new material and, like I didn't enter the competition to win I'm hardly going to win it with new material, but that is the best place to try out your new material for stage. Just do it in a competition, because it doesn't matter whether you win or lose. You're getting the opportunity to perform and you're performing in front of colleagues, and some people may have some things. They'll have nice and bad things to say. That's just magicians in general. But you know, you can take the good from the bad and kind of develop the routine from there.
Speaker 2:So yeah, competitions well, let's just look at your list before we get into your final choice. We've gone for classic tricks like cups and balls. We've gone for the sort of fun kids trick with the silver scepter. We've gone for a packet trick with pointer. We've gone sort of stage parlor with the appearing cane. We've gone for an entire routine with one more. We've got a sword basket with the matrix force and now we've gone for a close-up routine with the magic button. If anyone can guess where we're about to go of number eight, then you really are the best mentalist. Um, so let's find out. What did you put in your final spot?
Speaker 1:well, it's so funny because I actually thought it was a top 10. So I'm kind of now picking between three.
Speaker 2:Well, how about this then? How about you tell us about those three so that we don't miss out on it, but then you don't tell us which one you're going to pick, until the very end. So it's still a surprise.
Speaker 1:Very good. Oh, I love it, oh, yes, okay, so I'll explain this one first, because this one is kind of quick and probably a lot of viewers will understand this. So and this is a little, these are cheats. So I'm sorry, I just I'm a magician, I like to cheat. So an inexhaustible amount of sponge balls. Sponge balls are just amazing. They are amazing magic for children. They're amazing magic for adults. I love sponge balls magic for children. They're amazing magic for adults. I love Spongeballs.
Speaker 1:And again, when I was a crisscrosses magic weekender, I met a magician called Julio Marino from Spain and he showed us stuff with Spongeballs. That is like just could not believe what my eyes were seeing. There were color changes, there were disappearances, they were appearing everywhere. It was, it was mental. And then, and then to add, like pressure, I was performing my kids show and Spongeballs features in my kids show and it was so funny. After seeing his lecture I was like, oh my word, he has to see me doing my version of Spongeballs in my kids show. But he loved it, he loved it and he loved my kids show. But yeah, spongeballs Spongeballs has been in my kids show from the very, very beginning.
Speaker 1:I had an idea when I first started that I wanted to create a birthday trick because I knew when I was performing for children, birthdays will always be a thing that I'm performing for. You know, I'll obviously do schools and different shows, but I will always perform for birthdays. So I created this trick when I first started magic for kids, where it was like I was presenting a card and a present to the birthday child, because obviously at birthday parties all of the audience have brought presents to the kids. So it's relevant, it's something you know that I can relate to them, and I just had this idea of inside the box, rather than it being a treat or a sweet, it was a sponge ball. And then that was basically how I started my sponge ball routine, because it's such a weird thing and if you ask the audience, you know what is this, what's a ball? And you know and then you begin your routine. It's just, it's just. It starts small and then it ends up huge.
Speaker 1:So yeah, as I say, sponge balls has been a part of my routine for kids for a long, long time and also I think the reason why I had to include it was because this was the hardest routine that I had to do this was a routine, that it was the first kind of sleight of hand that I ever had to kind of do and learn myself, because no magician taught me how to do it. So I remember physically sitting in my car before each kid show and practicing the false transfer in my hand and I kid you like I was just so like it took me so long to get that. But now that I do it, without even thinking about it, it's just, it's just a beautiful thing. And Spongeballs have a really kind of close, they have a, they have a soft spot in my heart and I think again, after seeing other performers doing so much with them, I think they're fabulous.
Speaker 1:And even if your viewers were to look up Laurent Pierron, the world champion, who does the little act with the tiny paper, the paper ball that comes to life, he actually has another act that he does where he makes it rain sponge balls. It's all about just loads of sponge balls appearing. Also, uh, tom stone with his famous benson burner. Uh, it's just, it's just beautiful, it's. It's an inexhaustible kind of mirage of material.
Speaker 2:And, yes, sponge balls have to come to the island okay, so there are sponge balls there, but we don't know if you're going for sponge balls. Yet we don't know if you're going there, so let's find out.
Speaker 1:Your second potential, number eight okay, the second potential is the whole thing by daryl. And actually, if, if, I could bring daryl to the island, that would be amazing. But no, he's not the person I'm bringing for later anyway, but Daryl is an absolutely amazing. He was an absolute amazing inventor of magic. In fact, like I have written down here as well, oh, maybe his paddle routine, maybe his jumping knot routine, but again, for me the whole thing was the very first routine that I saw of Daryl and I fell in love with, and a lot of people I talked to who have come across the whole thing didn't really get it.
Speaker 1:But again, if we go back to the Max Maven, the pointer trick and what I talked about about visual puns, this is why I love these tricks it is a visual pun. So, basically, for your fears, the whole thing is it's larger cards, you have four of them and it's all about different kinds of holes. So you actually have a card with a hole in it. You have a card that is whole and strange things begin to happen, spots begin to appear, a hole in a hole, and then finally the ending of it is it says the word at the end of it and again, it's a visual pun. But again, if I could bring all of Daryl's tricks I would just like absorb them all. But I think ultimately the whole thing for me it is. It's just a wonderful piece and for me I performed that. That was my first kind of parlor trick that I performed, so I suppose in a way it introduced me to what parlor magic is, instead of doing kids' magic too.
Speaker 2:I think what I really like about Daryl's thinking as well certainly in the packet tricks that he's brought out is that he relies more on the cleverness of how things are displayed, and then he can absolutely wring that for all it's worth, and he gets so much out of so little. I think that's what's so clever about his routines.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, even if you look at his the sponge duck and the sponge rabbit, I mean I think that created a whole movement in bad shapes. You know, it's insane. And, as I say, recently I've been introduced to his little paddle routine with where they turn red and blue and it's incredible. They're just two tiny sticks but he does so much with them and it's so visual and so magical and, yeah, he gets a lot a a lot, a lot out of his routines. So, yeah, it has to come. It has to come.
Speaker 2:Oh, I don't know well, it might come. It might come because we still got number three of your potential number eight. So what did you put in your potential eight last spot?
Speaker 1:okay, so people will not know this. You might know this either so this is again another cheat. This is my final cheat, so this is actually it's kind of like the topaz one more, and this is called position six, and position six is a routine that was performed by mystique, and mystique are a group that work together in sweden. It is Tom Stone, leif Olberius, martin Hansen and John Henry Larson and the four of them created a group they're on a break at the moment, if you like, but they created a group where the idea was that they came together once a month and they created a brand new magic show All new effects, two hour show, and they did that for about four years, and this is one of the routines that they came up with. So they they would. They use these shows as a way to develop their own new material, but they develop material with each other too. So they took old concepts and like, for example, two of them would perform a trick, three of them would perform a trick, so it would be a whole show with different routines. And position six is my favorite because I actually, every time I see it, I fall. I actually fall off my seat laughing. It's just absolutely hilarious. So what is position six? Position six is a routine that they came up with. It's based on the six card repeat mystery by Tommy Tucker, but also they incorporated the idea of the three card Monty follow the ace. So two people perform it it's Tom Stone and Leif Alberius and what happens is Leif comes in or no, sorry, tom comes in and Leif's tidying up and I should say again, it's a theatrical, it's a whole drama, kind of like the one more. It's a whole drama that happens. So Tom comes in and asks Leif, do you know how to do the three card Monty? And Leif obviously says well, you're the Tom Stone. How on earth do you not know the three card Monty? Which is hilarious in itself.
Speaker 1:So it starts off by Leif explaining the three card Monty. So he has three cards, two of them are black, one of them is red ace and he says all you got to do is tell me which position the ace is in. So is it position one, two or three? What happens is Tom ends up saying position six and Leif is like OK, no, you don't understand this, it's one, two or three. But when he actually displays the three cards, he ends up with six. So he then has to get rid of three cards and then he starts again. He shows these three cards. He says where is it? Position one, two or three? Position six?
Speaker 1:And what happens is, every time Tom says position six, leif ends up with six cards, even though he's just displayed that he has three cards, which is hilarious. It's really good and what's really good? Again, it's a problem. It's a problem that the audience can understand and get behind. What's even funny is they twist it. So at one point Leif hands Tom the cards and says well, you do it then. And he says well, it's a position one, two or three. And Leif says six. And then Tom goes oh no, there's only three cards and he only shows three cards. So it's so funny because every time Leif does it he ends up with six. But the kicker is at the end is. So at the end Leif asks what position is it in?
Speaker 1:Tom says position six and Leif begins throwing the cards at him One, two, three, four, five, six and he ends up with seven. And he holds the card and he says seven and he's like he's just happy that it's not six. But what happens is Tom is saying the word six and pointing at the card and at the final point life turns around the card and it's a six. So the card is an actual six. So again, it's a routine that comes full circle.
Speaker 1:The audience can completely understand the problem and it's just. It's so. It's so intelligent and so funny and personally I love routines that make me laugh. Part of the reason why I got into performing for children was, you know, I just use the magic as a tool to make them laugh and have fun. I actually love performing for people and I start laughing. You know, it's about joy, it's about happiness, it's about connection and I really feel that position six. Again, it's like the one more I couldn't go to an island, I couldn't go to a desert island and never see that again. It's just beautiful, it's just really magical.
Speaker 2:It just goes to show as well that theatrical devices can really make something that I think magicians magicians generally have a opinion about six card repeat, because it's quite an illogical trick and it sort of reminds me of Morgan and West, who have a great version of the appearing bottle and they use a very clever theatrical device to give that meaning and in the same way it's a very intelligent approach to that routine. So it does go to show that your underlying theatrics and the way that you think must really influence the tricks that you're picking as well 100%.
Speaker 1:I think some people would probably say that the audience are dumb, but I don't like to think that. I like to kind of think that my audience are smart, sometimes smarter than me, so I want to give them intelligent magic. And it's the same with children. I don't just pick random stuff for kids. When I perform for kids, I make sure that it's really good, really good magic, because, yeah, I want to respect my audience and I think Morgan and West do that very well. They, they, they are so they were so good at what they did and what they produced, you know. So, yeah, I think intelligent magic is the way to go and I think that's very much intelligent theatrical. That's what I like to do.
Speaker 2:So, yes, Well, now it's the elephant in the room. It's the moment we have SpongeBob, the whole thing, and position six. Which one are you going to take with you to your island? I don't know.
Speaker 1:I kind of like, well, I kind of don't like that. I'm going to miss out on Spongeballs and the whole thing because I think I have to take position six. It's just so intelligent and so magical and, yeah, I don't think I could live without seeing that again.
Speaker 2:OK, there we go. It is position six going with you, and maybe, if someone's nice enough, they will fly over and drop some sponge balls and the whole thing onto your island with a little parachute. There you go. Now that takes us on to your final three things. So obviously we've given you eight technically ten, but eight things for your list Now we've only got one each. So what did you put in your banishment?
Speaker 1:did you put in your banishment, okay. So I mean, I really thought a long and a hard time about this, because they're like you know, of course there's things that annoy us, but there's one thing that annoys me a lot and it's card magic instructions that are done badly, like absolutely badly. Do you know? I don't mind other tricks there's. There's other tricks out badly. Do you know, I don't mind other tricks. There's other tricks out there where, like you know, the instructions are bad but you can still figure them out.
Speaker 1:See, if card magic is written badly, it's like it's like trying to interpret Swahili or I don't know. It's like it's absolutely impossible. And it's so frustrating for me because I'm obviously just getting into close-up performance and see if I can't understand a card trick. I almost give up the entire book. It's just, it's like there's there's. No, I feel bad for saying this, but there is an author, my Lewis Ganson. I shouldn't say this, but I cannot bear reading his. It's just terrible. I mean, I appreciate that he was the only person writing this stuff at the time and if we didn't have him writing this stuff, these tricks would not exist. But, my God, bad instructions, they have to go. They have to go.
Speaker 2:So what would we say? Bad instructions consist of. So if you were to quantify what that is, what would we say bad instructions consist of? So if you were to quantify what that is, what would you say?
Speaker 1:well for me. Well, I kind of I have to admit my own fault. You see, I I have a bad um, I'm not very good at understanding things like the top and the bottom of the deck. So I think we have to clarify we all have to clarify what something is, because people have different ways to describe something. So is it the top or the bottom, is it the face or the back, or is it? You know? So Stephen Minch actually has like a published a document for writers in magic, so that basically things like this can become universal.
Speaker 1:Because if you think about it, if you read in one trick and someone's saying to do it this way and then someone's saying to do it that way, it can become very confusing, particularly for someone who's just new into magic and what I don't like. I mean, I know obviously we want to make construct or instructions concise, but for example, um, uh, I was reading once and I'd never come up across this before neck tying cards, like that's just an example. I'd never come across that before. I had to go and ask Tom what that was because they didn't explain what it was.
Speaker 1:So sometimes when you're kind of writing tricks, you know you may assume that the whole magic community understands what you're saying, but some people don't, and also some people don't have the books to go and research what you're saying, what you're writing down. So yeah, be concise, if you know, if you're, if you're trying to explain something complicated. I kind of sometimes think magicians don't want you to learn their tricks because they're actually writing them down in a way that just makes absolute no sense. So this has to go. It has to change okay, there we go.
Speaker 2:I don't think that one's controversial at all. I think that is a fair point. So poorly taught card magic instructions are gone. We have got steven minch's uh list of instructions. We're going to give it to everyone and we're going to have a universal way of writing card magic tutorials from now on. A great choice. And you did sort of mention a book a second ago and learning from books. So what did you take in your book position?
Speaker 1:Well, it was so amazing that you mentioned the Restarting Bottle by Morgan and West, because Morgan and West Parlor Tricks is the book that I am bringing with me. I mean, I am a big bookie Before I got into bookie I've just invented a new term so I have always been into books. I read every single day. I love fantasy novels. I've actually started to get into comics, which is awesome. But yeah, magic books are like amazing and they're such a tool and it's so. It was so difficult to choose just one. But for me, this year actually, I read Morgan and West's Parlor Tricks and I kid you not, it's probably one of the best books I've ever read and in fact, it's one of the fastest books I've ever read. I did not put it down. I read it in two days. It was the. I can't believe it. I could not stop reading it. It was the easiest, most streamlined book to read. It was speaking of bad magic instructions. Their magic instructions are not only clear and concise, they have photographs the whole way through the book. They also have an instructional video where you can see their entire performance of the tricks. So you have that as a reference. It's just a beautiful, beautiful magic book and one of my favorite tricks is the restarting bottle. It's just amazing.
Speaker 1:I've never actually wanted to do the multiplying bottle routine. It doesn't really attract me, but for some reason that restarting bottle is just glorious and I think, again, it's the intelligence of the trick. And I think all their tricks are quite intelligent. They have a lovely trick I tried to remember the name of it for this but I couldn't. It's the one where they get a card selected and it goes into a bag and they have like a knitting needle and they thread it through the bag and then the bag is torn off and the card is actually on the ribbon and the needle and it's just a beautiful trick. I've never seen that trick done in that way before, but yeah, I think seen that trick done in that way before, um, but yeah, I think their um, their inventiveness of using two people to do routines. It's the same as the mystique as I talked about before with the position six. When you have a routine, uh, and you have to perform two people, you have more problems to solve, if you like.
Speaker 2:So more interesting things comes from the material yeah, and I really like how they used to. Unfortunately they're. They're not together. We all keep our fingers crossed in case one day they they decide to make a return.
Speaker 2:Um, but I always like when they spoke about the parameters of which they set their characters. So, for example, if one of them was taller, they would have to think, well, are they going to be overpowering? So do they need to be a softer personality, the other person sort of shorter, so one can tower over the other. All of those sort of parameters, I think, make a really interesting thing.
Speaker 2:When it comes to inventing magic tricks, and I think, even if you're not a character, I think we should all try to do that, because I reckon a lot of these magic tricks that I think, even if you're not a character, I think we should all try to do that, because I I reckon a lot of these magic tricks that we all do day in, day out and we're all performing it, I think we get some really interesting variants of them, more more than normal yeah, I think, um, obviously you mentioned that tom stone's conjuring courses and I I've learned a lot by going to them, and I think Morgan and West use a lot of these tricks not magic tricks in a sense, but the theatrical tricks to kind of create their characters in relation to the tricks that they're performing.
Speaker 1:And when you go to the conjuring courses you learn a lot of these theatrical tricks and one of them, for example, is so as you're performing the trick, you have a second storyline. So, for example, as I'm performing a card trick, I have music in my head. No one in the audience knows that you have music in your head, but I have music in my head. And it's really interesting when you just have this kind of secondary plot line going as well as the card trick. They don't know what's going on, but they know something's going on and I think it's better that the audience know that something is going on, and I think that's what Morgan and West do very, very well, like with the restarting bottle. They know that a trick's being performed, but they can see something is happening behind and it's so interesting you can't take your eyes off it. You know for even a second.
Speaker 2:Well, that's a great trick, a great book choice. Rather, I love Parlor Tricks just as much as you did. I think it's a great, great book and if anyone hasn't got it, please check it out. It's phenomenal. And it does lead us to your item. Now, you did sort of let something slip earlier because you said that's not the person I will take later is what you said. So I'm wondering if this is going to be a person in your item position.
Speaker 1:Well, we only have one thing left and it's the item correct. Yeah, so I think it has to be. So I know it's really cliche and he's going to hate me for bringing him, but it has to be Tom Stone. I am unbelievably lucky to have that man in my life, not only as a relationship, but let's just talk about having him as a magician. You know he hates being called a genius and a legend, but he really, really is. He is the first magician that I've met that I actually say. He's a real magician. He knows so much magic and again, I'm not just saying this because he's my boyfriend.
Speaker 1:Every time I go over to visit him I learn so much magic.
Speaker 1:Like the last time I was there, he was teaching me about the Boston and Okito boxes and I've started to kind of, because I always said, oh, I'm never going to be able to do coin magic and that's the thing I always say to myself I'm never going to be able to do this.
Speaker 1:And he's like, of course you are, of course you can do it. So he's always there to be positive and also like he's done all this before. So he's just, he's just helping me so much and helping me to discover this magic and helping me to realize that, yes, I can do this too, and I really couldn see a day on the island not having him, not being able to ask him oh, what is a necktie? What is this bad card instruction telling me to do? And you know him telling me to have a cup of tea when I'm having a mental breakdown trying to read these tricks? Yeah, it's, it's. I am such a lucky person, I'm such a lucky woman to have someone like that by my side and I really I know he's not really an item I really couldn't go to an island without him.
Speaker 2:Well, tom Stone is going to be there partying with you, with those speakers. So let's go back over your list. We started with Cups and cups and balls. Silver scepter, pointer uh, the appearing cane, one more, the matrix force, the magic button, sponge balls, the whole thing. But we're taking position six. Your banishment is poorly taught card magic instructions, your book is parlor tricks and your item slash, not item, is Tom Stone. What a great list.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah. No, I'm really glad. Do you know what? It's really good actually doing this? Because you kind of feel like, oh wow, if the world ends, that's what I need.
Speaker 2:Yeah, if there's that situation where you're in a burning building, let's hope it doesn't happen, but those are the things that you're going to go to. They're going to be the things that you grab with you, which feels like the more extreme negative conceit of this podcast, really isn't it? The burning building podcast, I think, is what we're going to go to.
Speaker 1:That's the next one. You like to bring three things, because that's all you can carry.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's all you can carry. Yeah, that's great. What a wonderful list of tricks. Now, if people want to find out more about you, nicola, where can they go to?
Speaker 1:um, well, basically you can go to my website, which is nicola arcanecom. I'm also heavily active on instagram, again at nicola arcane. I have I'm on I'm on youtube, which is youtube. At Nicola Arcane. I have I'm on I'm on YouTube, which is YouTube slash Nicola Arcane. I also recently released my Penguin lecture, which is the Fizz Whiz Pop lecture, and honestly, the guys did an amazing job and they called it Nicola Arcane Live, even though it's about Fizz Whiz Pop. But I think what they're doing is they're building up my brand for the future, because hopefully I will be back and I'll do a proper Nickel Arcane lecture with them too. So, yeah, I'm friendly, I'm here. I'm here to help people. I just want to make the magic community better, and magic is an art form and we should treat it as such, and I think the more we help this community, the more magic will grow and become really, really good.
Speaker 2:Absolutely so. Thank you one more time, Nicola. Thank you for giving us your time and putting your list together. It was definitely an eclectic mix. You're welcome and thank you all for listening. We're going to be back next week with another episode, but until then, have a great week.
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