Paul Dabek's Night of Magic

Venue: The Forum Studio Theatre

Tip Top's very own Magician returns from tours of New Zealand, Singapore and India for two nights of magical entertainment in his all new show.
Paul will bring a new spellbinding show to The Forum Studio with some close up magic alongside some of his other super routines.

For those who saw last years excellent show in Wrexham, expect to see some new aspects to Paul's show and be equally bewildered.
www.pauldabek.com

Reviews

Paul Dabek's 'Night of Magic' - The Forum Studio Theatre, Chester

Friday 15th & Saturday 16th February 2008

This was a simply terrific show, and, if you are tempted to think that is merely the opinion of this reviewer, the rest of the sell-out audience's reaction was the same as mine: this was a simply terrific show from a very talented young performer. Here we have a 21 year old presenting a two hour stand up show of magical comedy. Who else was on the show? No one. This was Paul and Paul alone, and I venture to say that there are not many magicians capable of holding an audience spellbound for two hours, let alone magicians in their early twenties.

To give you a bit of background: in 2003, Paul won the Magic Circle's Young Magician of the Year title. In 2006, he won the prestigious British Shield at the International Brotherhood of Magicians' Convention. So this is not your average youngster. What's he been doing since? He's been performing on cruise ships, usually with the Holland America Line, touring the world and learning his craft - and it shows, for here is someone who has learned pace, timing and stage presence. It's been said before that you can turn an actor into a magician, but it's a lot harder to turn a magician into an actor. You either have that presence or you don't. And Paul Dabek has.

If you'd been in the audience, you'd have seen a huge variety of magical moments, held together by someone with an impish sense of mischief and a very engaging personality. A newspaper was torn up and then completely restored; a live goldfish was caught in mid air and placed in a large wineglass held by a startled spectator; a can of drink was poured out and drunk, only for the can to be full again and - get this - sealed! In the middle of these wonders was a beautiful Shadow Act, presenting the Circle of Life from The Lion King which brought prolonged applause.

The second half opened with a huge musical box slowly winding down. Out stepped a Chaplin-esque figure who clowned and played with the audience's emotions before finally - in a very literal way - the smile is wiped off his face. Clowns tread a fine line between slapstick and pathos and this was caught perfectly in this sequence. Straight into a mind reading trick (how many gasps of surprise are you allowed in one show?), followed by a scary cameo where a broken bottle is hidden under one of four identical paper bags and the magician is directed by a volunteer which bags to flatten. Those who weren't on the edge of their seats were hiding their faces.

Just a collection of tricks? No. Ask the audience who were there and they'll tell you that live magical entertainment is hard to beat. They gasped and laughed and applauded and were entertained. For two hours. You might think the stage would have appeared empty with only one person on it. It didn't: it was filled with personality.

I'll finish with a couple of questions. Is Paul Dabek good? Did the audience think he was good? Go back and read the first paragraph.

Jeremy Le Poidevin

Paul Dabek is available for corporate, private and public events.
For more information go to www.pauldabek.com or contact info@pauldabek.com