Andi Gladwin - Close-Up Magician

Back from a tour!

Andi Gladwin — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 17:18:34 +0000

I’ve spent the past few weeks on the road. I’ve traveled throughout the north of the UK, including Hull, Newcastle, Leeds, Blackpool and more to give a show/lecture for magic clubs around the country. My lecture is my way of sharing my magic with other magicians. First I perform a few of the tricks that I’ve created and then teach them. While it’s a “lecture” I try to treat the whole event as a show and make it fun and entertaining.

Immediately after the tour, I traveled to Denmark to lecture and perform at a magic conference in Copenhagen. I performed in the stage show (for about 200 people) and then the next day gave my full lecture to the magicians in attendance.

I’m now back home, ready to perform magic for non-magicians … I just hope I don’t accidentally start explaining the tricks, since I’ve got used to it over the past few weeks!

Apparently I’m an Old Dog

Andi Gladwin — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 11:20:35 +0000

This Tuesday (3rd April), I’m performing at a relatively new magic show in London called Old Dogs, New Tricks. The show features Alan Hudson, Noel Qualter, Chris Cox and Piff the Magic Dragon performing new material. The tickets are incredibly inexpensive to reflect the fact that the intention of the show is to give magicians the opportunity to try out new material.

For more info about the show, visit the Old Dogs, New Tricks page at the Canal Cafe Theatre website.

Great Feedback

Andi Gladwin — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 10:51:07 +0000

If you’re hiring a magician, it’s always nice to know that they are performing frequently (especially if they’re a professional close-up magician) and that they consistently receive rave reviews.

Every now and again I post comments that I receive from customers. I try not to flood the blog with them in place of telling you about the interesting things that I’m up to, however you can check out the most recent comments that I post as they are all filed under the positive comments section.

There are also lots of quotes scattered around the site such as on my wedding magician and close-up magician pages.

From now on, I’ll do my best to update the comments posts more often to help keep them as timely as possible!

Have Card Tricks, Will Travel

Andi Gladwin — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 10:00:48 +0000

If there’s a good benefit of being a professional magician, it’s that I get to travel a lot. Here are just a few of the places that I’ve performed at in the last couple of months (admittedly these places are not as exotic as when I performed in Portugal, Cyprus, Las Vegas and so on, but they’re still all nice places!):

Manchester
Newcastle
Gloucester
Cheltenham
Surrey
Hereford
Berkshire
London
Loughborough
Milton Keynes
Blackpool
Southport
Bristol
Brighton
Reading
And many more…

If you’ve been looking at my website and think that I might be too far away to perform at your event, think again! I travel across the UK so feel free to get in touch!

Gloucester Magician … Close-Up

Andi Gladwin — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 09:40:00 +0000

In the world of the internet, it’s easy to use careful wording to help sell yourself. This is shown particularly well if you search for “Gloucester Magician” or similar, where you’ll see lots of magicians suggesting that they are professional magicians from Gloucester when often they’re neither from Gloucester … or a professional magician!

With that in mind, here are three questions to ask when looking for magicians specifically in Gloucester:

1. Are you really from Gloucester?
Lots of magicians have several websites, with each website pretending that they’re from a different area. This attempt to get more shows, to me, is a little unethical so I am completely honest when people ask. In fact, my address is on the bottom of every page of my website: I live just outside of Gloucester and am one of the very few close-up magicians in Gloucester.

2. Are you really a professional magician?
Several of the websites that show up when searching for “Gloucester magician” are from amateurs posing to be professionals (some, in particular even have quite a lot of hyperbole around that fact too). That isn’t to suggest that they don’t offer professional quality magic, but if you’re representing a company or hiring a magician for your wedding, it’s important to know exactly who and what you’re hiring. I’m a full-time professional magician; it’s what I do for a living and magic is my soul source of income.

3. Are you insured?
Most venues require that any external entertainment or service provider have public liability insurance. It’s a great question to ask a magician up front as it’ll save a lot of hassle later down the line if you find out that they don’t.

I really don’t intend for this to sound like a negative blog post. As a professional close-up magician, I’m passionate about what I do and like to offer the best service possible! Therefore I’m honest and up front about what I do. The trouble with the internet though, is that not every service provider is the same!

Cheltenham Magic Show Photos

Andi Gladwin — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 09:54:03 +0000

I enjoy performing in small stage shows because it gives me the opportunity to perform a different style of magic to the close-up magic that I perform most often. My stage show includes tricks with Rubik’s Cubes, audience members and even a six foot balloon!

Here are a few photos from my act, where I performed at An Evening of Deception at Cheltenham’s Everyman Theatre.

Filming Magic in Bristol

Andi Gladwin — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 00:39:16 +0000

Today I’ve been filming magic for an upcoming DVD project in Bristol. The footage, which features me performing my signature piece, will be part of a new DVD box set that will include two (or possibly three) DVDs and a book describing my thoughts, ideas and techniques on a specific trick. It’s a DVD set specifically designed to teach other professional close-up magicians around the world how I perform the trick.

If you see me perform at an event where I perform at banquet tables, you’ll almost certainly see me perform this trick. It’s the trick that I close my show with and involves having everyone at the table select a card each. The cards are then shuffled into the deck and then I proceed to find each card in increasingly more difficult, fun and impressive ways.

We filmed a few performances in Bristol at a party for a hotel chain. We still have plenty more filming to go, but I’m excited to see the result of what has now been an eight month project for me (not including the years it took to work on the routine!).

Help, My Supply Teacher is Magic!

Andi Gladwin — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 14:21:36 +0000

If you’re like me and watch a lot of children’s television, you may have seen the new CBBC hit, “Help, My Supply Teacher is Magic!” It’s a great new, thirteen part series where four magicians pose as supply teachers to amaze school children around the country.

That show is one of the reasons why I haven’t been blogging much. Not because I’ve been too busy watching it, but because I’ve been busy working on it!

Over the past year, I’ve been working with Objective Productions (the same team that make The Real Hustle, Derren Brown’s shows and The Cube) to design the magic for this great kids TV show. My behind the scenes work included coming up with several hundred ideas for tricks, then creating and building them, as well as working with the magicians to ensure that the magic looked great on camera.

It’s hopefully the first show of many that I’ll be working on as magic consultant. A few other similar projects are already underway, but as the TV world is so secretive, I can’t say any more until they air!

The shows air every Tuesday afternoon on the CBBC channel for the next ten weeks.

Tour Schedule

Andi Gladwin — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 20:07:19 +0000

Since lots of magicians seem to read this blog, I thought I’d post my lecture schedule here. These are magicians only events, so I’ll just post the name of the town. You can contact me if you need further info:

February 2012
8th February – Wolverhampton (with Joshua Jay)
9th February – Edinburgh (with Joshua Jay)
10th February – Forth Valley Magic Circle (with Joshua Jay)
11th February – Aberdeen (with Joshua Jay)
12th February – Glasgow (with Joshua Jay)
17th – 20th February – Blackpool convention (dealer stand)
22nd – 25th February – Evening of Deception, Cheltenham show
29th February – Devon Magic Circle, Torbay lecture

March 2012
15th – Reading Magic Circle lecture

April 2012
5th April – Hull
6th April – Newcastle
10th April – Leeds
11th April – Blackpool
14 – 16th – Magic convention, Denmark lecture

May 2012
3rd May – Essex
22nd May – Birmingham (British Magic Society)

There are a few more lectures planned during this period, but I am not able to announce them just yet.

Why Hire a Wedding Magician?

Andi Gladwin — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 12:45:15 +0000

If you’ve got more than four or five tables for your wedding breakfast, a wedding magician is always a great way to entertain your guests. Here’s why:

Wedding magicians always break the ice at a table, which is especially useful if you have people on the table who don’t know each other.
Talking about the amazing wedding magician always makes for a great conversation at the table during the meal.
Most people have never seen a close-up magician perform before, so it’s a great opportunity for them to experience magic from just a few feet away.
It’s something the whole family can join in with and enjoy. Everyone from young children to grandad and grandma love magic!
It creates a great buzz and a fun atmosphere. Laughter and applause is contagious, so it’s the perfect way to ensure that everyone enjoys the atmosphere.

Your wedding day is the most amazing day of your life, so make it even more special by hiring an amazing wedding magician!