Royal Magician on Tour in Wrocław

We met Phil Jay in Rodeo Drive restaurant situated in Wrocław's town square, not exactly by accident. In between drinking coffee and having a delicious meal, Phil performed his magic. Sylwia, one of the waitresses, proved to be an excellent assistant.

The trick, recorded and presented below, circles around Sylwia signing one of the cards and Phil playing with viewer's imagination, by pulling the signed card out of nowhere or finding it in the strangest places like his shoe, wallet or stuck to his forehead.

After this brief but briliant performance we had a chance to talk to Phil about his craft.

Łukasz Błaszczyk: Has anyone ever taught you magic?

Phil Jay: No, it's all self-taught even though every now and then I teach magicians in Hollywood for example. But I never give away any of my secrets to the audiance.

ŁB: What does it take to be a magician? Intelligence, agility?

PJ: It's a combination of different skills but most of all it takes a great deal of excersise and an insight to human's psyche, for instance how the viewer reacts to what I do. And obviously the mechanics of the trick are very important.

ŁB: When did you decide to become a magician?

PJ: Magic's always been my hobby, ever since I was a kid but I stopped doing it when I turned 15, because I thought that it's really childish. After a couple of years I started practising again untill I started working full-time. But still I watched every magic show I could trying to recreate them. Then I had a serious accident at work and I was confined to bed for a year and a half. So finally I had time to practice and when I recovered I started to work in restaurants performing magic. After a while I turned proffesional and started working at private parties.

ŁB: Whose private parties were they?

PJ: I worked for Paul McCartney, Elton John, Robbie Williams. I also worked for the Royal Family, five times, and the Queen, twice. The last time I performed for the Queen was at her birthday last year. I also perform commercialy for different companies and sometimes do the Health & Safety courses. Once I performed during the World AIDS Week at the Swansea University. The funny thing was I used condoms during my performance because the University officials wanted me to turn people's attention towards contraception.

ŁB: Is it still fun to be a magician if it becomes your full-time day job?

PJ: Yes, of course, being a magician is the best job in the world.

Well, there's nothing more to add. To finish it off with the style we recommend viewing the video below, which presents a few more tricks by Phil. This time the tools include money. And last but not least, you can find additional pictures of Phil performing here.

Realizacja materiału: Łukasz Błaszczyk, Alan R. Townend