Naquada

Each year Feed The Children run a variety show in Wokingham at the Bearwood College Theatre. To be honest I’ve always seen it advertised but never actually managed to go, which is a bit pathetic really given the line up each year is particularly excellent. So we managed on Saturday to just get back in time for the show..

This years show was hosted by Ali Bongo, and as he said;

It’s not often you can see this amount of talent in one room - and Feed The Children’s Variety Show has brought some of my most talented friend and colleagues together. I’m delighted to be introducing such a wonderful range of traditional and new feats of magic and illusion, on stage and close-up in the intermission, you’ll be entertained and amazed. Best of all, the price of your ticket is putting food onto hungry children’s plates.

He was certainly right, as the evening started off with David Ball, Michael Carr and Rob Page doing close-up in the foyer before the show. The show started with the Performers Dance Company, a troupe of dance students from the Performers College, which has had many West End names pass through it’s doors, before the evenings host, Ali Bongo took to the stage.

First up was a traditional stage and dove act, Brian Miller and Audrey, their act was a good start to the evening, having performed at the London Palladium and Caesar’s Place in Las Vegas, it was a great mix of magic and dove work, cleanly executed and a good traditional class act.

Next was a bit of a surprise, lan Rowland (the real Ian Rowland and not the guy that looks like him!) took to the stage to present his magic and illusions of the mind. I’ve never seen Ian perform, and he did some wonderful effects around spoon bending, a card in impossible location and finished with a nail in the nose effect, with a lighter funnier side to it than others.

The magic took a break with the next act, Nicola Bentley, a very talented singer, at only 20 she held the stage well, and had a powerful voice. She did a number of songs assisted by the Performers Dance Company .

Jonathan Shotton brought the magic back, assisted by Kayleigh Buckland. Jonathan is only 19 and has just left the Magic Circles Young Magicians club to join the full ranks of the Magic Circle. Jonathan did a great set, ‘Lost in the Snow’ took us through appearing and repeating roses, colour changing roses, linking rings, and Snow Storm in China, again wonderfully presented, ending with the traditional snow filling the theatre.

The second half saw Ali Bongo having a set of his own, unfortunately not doing his ‘The Shriek of Araby’ act, which I miss seeing, before he introduced what turned out to be the funniest parts of the show. Mark Shortland, British magical comedy champion really brought the house down with laughter. He did a great set with two children from the audience, a bill to apple, scissors through jacket and had us all in tears of laughter.

Hans Davis, who I think I saw at FISM, did his shadowgraphy act, a simple but wonderful act, where he used purely his hands to cast shadows on a large screen, human faces, birds, animals, fish, even the devil popped up, and it was hard to imagine he was just using his hands to cast the shadows.

Duncan Trillo closed the show with his expert card manipulations, and his dancing hank. Again like every performer during the evening, providing an excellent and polished performance.

The evening was a fantastic event, and it was definitely worth the very low ticket price, and considering that all the money helps feed, cloth and shelter homeless and abandoned children, it’s nice to have a great evening out, and help a worthwhile charity.

The event was run by Feed The Children, and you can obtain more information about the event, and plans for the future shows directly from them at: info@feedthechildren.org.uk or telephone 0118 932 0095.

I’ll post details on next years show as soon as I get details.

We always go to the Big Big Comedy Bash, an event that it seems most people don’t know about. Held annually in Reading at the Hexagon, it pulls in a sell out crowd every year, which is no surprise given the star studded range of talent that attends.

The charity event at the Hexagon has seen many top name entertainers such as Jo Brand, John Hegley, Paul Zerdin, Eddie Izzard and even prog king Rick Wakeman inspire belly-aching laughter year after year.

However the main difference with this event is that all the top names appear on the same night. Meaning you’re in for a good night of comedy regardless.

Comedian and cabaret juggler of all manner of stupid things, Steve Rawlings organises this event each year for charity, and surpassed himself this year by managing to pull together a line up that was both diverse in the nature of its talents and consistent in its quality, basically good big names that can make you laugh out loud, and cry.

Once we’d managed to get to our seat through the full and packed foyer (the show was completely sold out), we settled in for a good evening. The compare for the night was Jeff Stevenson and introduced the nights acts, featuring the talent of Jo Brand, Ed Byrne, Sean Lock, Steve Rawlings, Earl Okin, Jethro, and Phil Walker. Every single act was superb and on form.

Ed Byrne was his wonderful irish sharp witted self, Sean Lock delivered a great set of surreal imagery and observations mainly around whales and stress. Steve Rawlings, as always delivered his polished, sharp and outright crazy juggling and comedy, including a balancing section involving four gold clubs, Earlin Okin delivered his international sex appeal and musical genius to the crowd, and Jethro, well, talked about ‘fannies‘ a lot, which still made us laugh, in not just for shock value..

It was a wonderful evening, as it always is, and we laughed so hard at almost every act that it was soon all over.

Next years tickets will go on sale.. sometime before the event..