Magician Jamie Raven comes to Lancaster Grand Theatre

Jamie Raven Making Magic tourThe Grand Theatre, LancasterSeptember 24 at 7.30pm
Jamie Raven brings his magic tour to the Grand Theatre in Lancaster in September. Picture: Becky Moyce.Jamie Raven brings his magic tour to the Grand Theatre in Lancaster in September. Picture: Becky Moyce.
Jamie Raven brings his magic tour to the Grand Theatre in Lancaster in September. Picture: Becky Moyce.

Britain’s Got Talent finalist magician Jamie Raven is bringing his brand new show Making Magic to Lancaster and reporter Michelle Blade spoke to Jamie ahead of his tour coming to the city.

Having seen Jamie Raven do his magic up close, I still can’t work out how he could rip a newspaper into shreds and put it back together in front of my eyes.

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But Jamie thrives on performing magic live and is one of only a handful of magicians who tour performing magic.

Jamie’s interest in magic was first piqued on a holiday to India when he saw the infamous magic rope trick being demonstrated.

He said: “I learned three tricks and I was hooked. I used to get the train to London and go to two magic shops there. It was like a portal to never-never land! It was secret and dark and dingy but it was brilliant. The shop manager demonstrated the tricks you could buy. It was so exciting.” When Jamie turned 18 he went to the University of Bath to do a three year economics degree. But he said: “I had no real interest in economics. I decided to do magic at parties and after six months I moved to London.

“Since I was 20 I started with close-up magic at weddings or parties. I was asked if I could do something on stage and I winged it. Another guy said he had never seen magic like that before and I’d made it up in five minutes. “That was when the balance shifted.” In 2015 Jamie had been perfecting his profession for 11 years and then he applied for Britain’s Got Talent.

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He said: “BGT try to encourage acts that are not singing and dancing on the show. I was looking for a change so I went for it. In my act I have people coming up on stage and helping me, so i thought why not get the judges to help me? I got the camera on it and the back wall was turned into a screen. I wanted to do something that had never been seen before so I used an animation of a stick man in a book where you flick through the pages quickly. I asked the judges for a colour, suit and value and Simon picked seven of hearts. “The little flick man, as you flick the pages he takes off his hat and reveals the seven of hearts. Simon Cowell said after this ‘some people believe in ghosts, I now believe in magic.’”

Unfortunately Jamie came second to a dog that won BGT, as he said. In November and December 2015, Jamie headlined The Illusionists at The Shaftesbury Theatre, which went on to break the box office record and in doing so became the most successful magic show ever in London’s West End’s history.

In 2016 and 2017, he took his own one man show on a tour across five countries, playing 120 shows across 105 different venues. He is looking forward to doing it

all over again with Making Magic. Jamie said: “Not many magicians tour and there are not that many people doing it. There is no substitute for doing magic live. “There is pressure, magic is the same as anything. Everything that can go wrong will go wrong so you have to be prepared. “Doing the shows is the fun part. “This show was 14 months in the making and I’m performing in 30 venues in 30 days. I hope people watch and go ‘that is amazing.’I’m an entertainer and magic is the vehicle we use to pass on that feeling of amazement.

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“I’m 34 now and the reception I’ve had has been brilliant. In the show I talk about magic and how you go about creating it. One of the kids in the audience finishes the show. I will bring the house down. I want to show what I love.”

For tickets to Jamie Raven call the box office on 01524 64695 or visit www.lancastergrand.co.uk.

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