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Stephen Long Inner circle 1481 Posts |
I was fortunate enough to see Luke perform at the Broadway Theatre (in Catford - S.E. London) recently, and would like to take this opportunity to offer some thoughts for any who would care to read them.
All I had seen of Luke's performances prior to this show was his DVD, "Skullduggery", which (despite the fascinating material contained thereon) didn't really impress me. What a pleasant surprise it turned out to be to see him perform live. He performed in a small studio theatre in front of an audience of about thirty people. The intimacy of the venue coupled with the relatively small audience made for a very interesting and engaging evening. Luke himself came across as both down-to-earth and amiable, yet also a little enigmatic, and the audience clearly warmed to him almost instantly. He injected the show with some humour too, which is something I had not expected, but Luke pulled it off well. He treated his participants very graciously and with respect on stage, which pleased me greatly having seen Marc Salem condescend and patronise his participants just a month or so earlier. Both the material and the presentations were fresh and had an intriguing sense of "nowness" to them that seems to be missing from a lot of other mentalism performances I've seen. I'm not going to give you a moment-to-moment breakdown of the entire show, but will say that much of Luke's material had me stumped. I've not got a clue how he got his peeks during the show and found myself wondering at one point if he were genuinely muscle reading (in hindsight, I think he sucked me in). The first half of Luke's show was slick and well polished. The second half is apparently all new material for Luke and, as such, is understandably still a little rough around the edges in terms of pacing and scripting. However, the selection of material throughout the show is superb - it's clear that Luke has a solid grasp of the type of things that an audience will find amazing and captivating and (perhaps more importantly) a good understanding of theatre (those who have seen the show and saw his invisible deck routine will know what I mean). Luke seems to be edging away a little from routines that rely entirely on suggestion. Indeed, the only one of his "old school" routines that found its way into the show was his trademark pulse stopping effect (which was beautiful by the way - utterly absorbing). Barring one or two personal reservations about the structuring of some of the material, and barring Luke's cheeky attempt to steal five pounds from me on stage, I had an excellent evening and can't wait to see what Luke comes up with next. If I were wearing a hat, I would surely take it off to him. Warmth, Stephen D. Long P.S. I recently realised he has a brand spanking new website. Check it out: http://www.lukejermay.com
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T-RAY Inner circle 1539 Posts |
Cool site....would you say that a normal sized crowd in England? Did Marc Salem pull a larger crowd? He's gotten more mainstream coverage over here.
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Stephen Long Inner circle 1481 Posts |
I'd say it's a normal sized crowd given the size of the venue. Marc Salem was in a larger theatre and had a larger crowd. Generally speaking, the size of the audience is directly proportional to the size of the venue. Salem's probably received more mainstream coverage over here too.
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salsa_dancer Inner circle 1935 Posts |
I saw Luke too, oddly enough on the same night. I seem to remember sitting next to someone that looked familiar, I thought he was a layman!
I have seen Luke perform twice now and both times have been a real pleasure, he has the ability to captivate and draw in the audience, even those that are aware of what is 'apparently' going on. A thoroughly enjoyable experience all around, including the madcap movie-style dash to the theatre after trying to navigate through London rush hour traffic, with the worst navigator in the world. Go and see Luke Jermay live, he puts on a superb show. |
Stephen Long Inner circle 1481 Posts |
Agreed. If I didn't make it clear in my review: Go and see him!
(If you get the chance.) It's a superb show.
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Magical Lady Loyal user 275 Posts |
Sad to say I missed the show! VERY sad to say in fact! I wanted to go so much too!
Maybe if I ask nicely, someone out there will say I can hook up with them next time Im visiting and go see all the latest magic shows that are on in the big city! Best ML x |
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