Worlds within words

One of the best performances I have seen this year, was by a magician affectionately known as ‘the warpsmith’. Tom Stone showed class and charisma when his routine didn’t go as planned. A glass accidentally shattered on stage, and Tom was fun while filling time. He chattered along aimlessly, cleaning glass from his performing surface, as casually as you or I might offer our lovers a cup of tea. Then he began performing again.

I was left wondering what I might have missed.

He was kind and knowledege-able in person too. Offstage, down-to-earth, back-room. He shared a few secrets and explained to me the pantheon of Swedish magicians. I expressed my love for Roy Walton’s material, and he being a ‘showman of merit’, didn’t buy any mealy mouthed bullshit. He wanted to see an effect performed. I realised nothing of Roy’s is in my active repertoire, something I have rectified now. Fear not, I dug something out of memory, and performed it for Tom the next day.

I had the pleasure of fooling Tom (Tom-foolery being my strong point), which he gleefully admitted. I offered to share the method, and had the pleasure of having him turn me down gracefully, a sign of a magician with deep self-knowledge.

The highlight of all the highlife that night was being entertained by him.