There are lots of things happening: pirates attacking the quay, a slave auction, birds of prey, best dressed pirate competition, walking the plank and much, much more!

Visit the Conwy Pirate Weekend website www.conwypirates.co.uk for more information, or take a look at their Facebook page.

Back for its 7th year, the show keeps the spirit of the 1940′s alive with the music and memories that kept Britain strong through its darkest days. Featuring a great cast of dedicated performers.

Every Thursday from the 10th of May to the 4th of October at Llandudno town hall. Doors open at 7.15pm and the show starts at 8pm. Tickets are on sale at the town hall from Monday to Thursday, and are priced at £6 each, with all proceeds going to Happy Faces Children’s Charity.

Enquiries & Information: 07968 957177
Website: www.happyfacescharity.co.uk

Starring Powerplay, Elemental, Mel Blake, Rachel Silva and Adam Black.

Every Wednesday from the 2nd of May to the 3rd of October at Llandudno town hall. Doors open at 7.15pm and the show starts at 8pm. Tickets are on sale at the town hall from Monday to Thursday, and are priced at £6 each, with all proceeds going to Happy Faces Children’s Charity.

Information Hotline: 07968 957177
Website: www.happyfacescharity.co.uk

Every venue is different and the Tynedale has a couple of unique features which we’ve had to take into consideration. The room is “L” shaped, which means there are two separate audiences to perform to – we have to be careful to make sure both sides can see what we’re doing and that they are both included in everything, rather than focusing on one side of the room.

The second is a particular challenge for magicians, as you can see from this picture. People quite often say that magicians do everything with mirrors, but having the walls behind you covered with mirrors certainly makes things interesting!

We’re back again on Saturday for our final show of this run, and then we’ll be getting ready for the Victorian Extravaganza and the shows at the town hall in Llandudno.

www.tynedalehotel.co.uk

For those of you that don’t know, every year since 1986, Llandudno has held a three day festival of Victorian delights. Held in the centre of Llandudno, the streets are taken over by entertainers, stalls, rides and costumed characters. Victorian ladies and gentlemen promenade along the seafront; clowns, living statues and jugglers entertain crowds in the streets. And there’s even the occasional Dalek or Stormtrooper to be seen!

Despite living in North Wales all my life, and having a liking for history, 2007 was the first time that I had ever been to the Extravaganza. Jay and I went along, and had a great time, and at some point in the day the conversation turned to “wouldn’t it be great if we could perform here one day”.

Little did we think that the very next year, that was exactly what we would be doing! We had two tables, and a spot on Mostyn Street, and spent three days doing close up magic. It was great fun, but exhausting. We learned the hard way that even though the wind is freezing, you can still get sunburned!

In 2009 we were back with close up magic again, this time on the junction with Lloyd Street. We were right next to the parade route, which meant that we had a great view of all the performers, as well as the vintage cars and steam engines as they went past.

2010 saw us doing our first stage shows at the Extravaganza, at the Fountains Stage. The weather made things a little bit more complicated than we had anticipated, as the wind kept blowing away our props! We adapted and altered routines as we went along. We’re both huge geeks, and couldn’t resist the chance to have our photos taken outside the TARDIS. And yes, we did bring our own sonic screwdriver along especially for the photos. It was rather an interesting three days, as I had just had my appendix out, and I wasn’t feeling very well – which is why I look so pale!

We were back again in 2011, this time on the SeaView Stage on the Promenade. We were fully prepared with windproof tricks, which worked far better than the previous year. No photos though, as we were far too busy to take any!

This year we are returning to performing on the streets. Although the stage shows are fun, with an event like the Victorian Extravaganza it’s all about the hundreds of people on the streets, and interacting with them personally. A lot of people have never seen a magician live, let alone one performing right in front of their eyes, and it’s great to be able to give someone that moment of wonder.

We’re really looking forward to this year’s event and hope to see you there.

www.victorian-extravaganza.co.uk
www.facebook.com/victorian.extravaganza

No  wartime show would be complete without the Forces Sweethearts.

The boys working on a brand new routine.

The whole cast learning some new choreography.

And finally, I’ve been making some interesting props. Can you guess what this is going to be?

The shows take place in Llandudno town hall over the summer, and all proceeds go to Happy Faces Children’s Charity. The provisional date for the first show is the 10th of May, and it will run every Thursday until the beginning of October.

One of the other magicians filmed part of Jay’s performance and put it online, so we thought we’d share it with you all.

 

    

All the  performers were did really well, and winner of the competition will be announced at the NWMC’s annual dinner later in the year.

Hi Jay, Amelia and Kevin,

Thank you very much for the great entertainment you provided for my son’s Birthday party in the Town Hall in Llanfairfechan on the 12th of Feb. The children all loved it. Nathan was chuffed to bits. All the best for the future.

Thanks again,

Tony and Elana W-

It’s always nice to hear from people who we’ve done shows for, it’s good to know that we helped to make their event that little bit more magical.

Kevin thinks that the camera tastes nice!

We’re very pleased to be able to tell you that we’ll be taking part in Happy Faces’ summer season in Llandudno town hall again this year. This will be our fourth year as part of the shows, and we’re really looking forward to them.

Happy Faces do a lot of work for disabled and disadvantaged children across North Wales, and we’re always glad to be able to help them.

In 2010 we took part in both of their summer shows: the Seaside Special variety show, and for the first time we were in their 1940s/nostalgia show, Happy Days Are Here Again.

Happy Faces asked us back in 2011, and we took part in Seaside Special once more, and their new 1940s show, Remember the Times.

Over the last few weeks the cast and the producers have been meeting to decide what is happening in this year’s Thursday show. As always, it will be a 1940s/nostalgia show. We are planning a selection of new songs and sketches, but we’ll still be keeping in some of the old favourites from previous years.

There are a few cast changes this year, with one new member, and two old members rejoining us.  Rehearsals started last week, and it’s so nice to be working with everyone again. It’s always strange when the season finishes and we don’t see all our friends every week, so it’s great to be back with them all.

The provisional dates for this year’s shows are every Wednesday from the 2nd of May to the 3rd of October for the variety show, and every Thursday from the 3rd of May to the 4th of October for the 1940s show.

Tickets are not yet on sale, but we’ll be sure to tell you as soon as they are available.

May was when things really started to get busy. We performed at the Llandudno Victorian Extravaganza for the fourth consecutive year, and the summer season at Llandudno Town Hall started. On the 18th of June, we performed our 100th stage show. We also launched this blog.

In June we took part in a show at Venue Cymru, as well as the ongoing summer shows. July saw our first medieval street performances in Rhos on Sea, and the continuation of the summer season. In August we did several days of medieval street magic in Conwy, and our new website went online.

September saw the end of the summer season, and our trip to the the International Brotherhood of Magicians convention in Southport. It was the highlight of our year, taking part in the British Ring Shield competition, and being awarded both the Dittia Shield and the Theo Speaker Cup.

We got our first look at the refurbished Theatr Colwyn in October when we took part in the Summer Spectacular show. We also visited London, to take part in J-Day and perform at the world famous Magic Circle.

November saw us performing medieval magic at the Wales Rally in Conwy, as well as enjoying the North Wales Magic Circle annual dinner. We also put our new video online.

And finally, December. We did some Harry Potter themed magic in Asda, and were back there again soon afterwards doing Christmas magic for the Llandudno Lions. We finished up the year with two wonderful weddings, for some lovely people.