5 April 2019 11:29 AM
Three years ago, upon hearing the news that his uncle Paul Daniels was unwell, James Phelan took the decision to hand in his notice from his full-time marketing job. Sadly 10 days later Paul died of the brain tumour which had only recently been diagnosed. On the eve of winding up his Trickster tour at the Capitol Horsham, we caught up with him to talk about his relationship with his uncle and Debbie McGee, his burgeoning show biz career and his brand of magic.....
Q - What made you decide to become a magician?
A - It’s all I’ve ever done. It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do. I had been working in marketing for two to three years and, when my uncle became ill, I sent an email to my work saying I need some time off because Paul’s ill and they said no. At the same time I got picked up by Britain’s Got Talent.
I then just decided to write my resignation and went in the next day and handed it in and I’ve never really looked back. I’m glad I did as it was a week or 10 days later, he passed away, so it meant I could be around him. That was three years ago. But prior to that, it’s all I’ve ever really wanted to do.
Q - Was your uncle well enough to know you had handed in your notice?
A - I don’t know to be honest, I spoke with him about the Britain’s Got Talent audition and he didn’t really understand what I was talking about, it wasn’t really computing. He was giving me ideas and that didn’t really fit with what I was talking about. I would ask him a question, he would answer with a different question. But he was poorly.
When I was in the hospital with him and he showed me a trick, I’ve probably never really told anyone this, but it was probably the last trick he ever did which is nice, but I don’t know really is the short answer, probably not.
Q - What was your first ever show like?
A - Nerve wracking, but it was not a huge difference..... there’s a radio show I do for Radio Berkshire, I also did a radio show at university. So it wasn’t a giant step up, it was a gradual slope.
I’d been doing magic shows all my life, the only difference was on the way to my first show I realised there were all these people who’ve come to see me, paid to see a show, paid for baby sitters, so it better be good! That’s where the pressure comes from, but the more you do it the easier it is and the more you enjoy it.
So the first show was nerve wracking, but the hard part is standing at the side of the stage and you can hear the audience but you can’t do anything about it. But as soon as your on stage you’re in control of everything and you can relax.
I met someone yesterday who came to the second show and loved it and was saying how much they enjoyed it, and that was really nice it meant I was on the right path.
Q - We listened to one of your Berkshire Radio interviews where you hypnotise one of your guests. Is that something we can expect to see in your live show?
Radio magic is a relatively undone thing, it’s a new thing, people are used to seeing magic on the telly, so they`re used to suspending their disbelief, so on the radio you have to give people the tools to buy in. The other thing, I have to be careful with the editorial guidelines; you’re not allowed to do hypnosis stuff on the radio in the way that people driving in their car can be hypnotised. You say “sleep” and they sleep! You get someone overly suggestible in their car who might fall asleep, so it’s written in a way that it can’t suck you in. Someone at home listening is not going to go under. It’s a bit of a minefield but it’s all part of the fun.
I did a show in Deal in Kent and I had probably 10 or 11 people on the stage and as soon as I said sleep, I heard this thud and this guy at the back had fallen asleep.
I once had my uncle (not on the Daniels side) clucking like a chicken, and pole dancing. It was hilarious!
Q - We watched your You tube clip with the mobile phone being dropped into the Thames.
A - Laughs …. it came from my Britain’s Got talent show audition, it was Amanda Holden’s phone and when you rang it, it rung from the back of the theatre and so someone came down to the front with a bag of sweets and in the bag of sweets was Amada’s phone and so it came from that. I do something similar to that in the stage show.
Q - What makes you happy about what you do?
A - I like the attention obviously, but there’s something to be said for stageism, of two hours locked in a room when your own job is to make people laugh and entertain and forgetting about the rest of the world around you. I`ve always been bitten by the bug and swept up in the magic of theatre.
Q - What can we expect at the Horsham Capitol from you.
The best way to describe it? It`s going to be the final blow show for the tour; so I’m throwing everything at it.
Expect lots of laugher really and just enjoy yourself. It’s a couple of hours of not knowing how anything is done. The amazement is great but just the escapism more than anything else.
Whether it’s making people forget their girlfriends name or making them believe they accidently destroyed their I phones, I have hilarious stories from every show. I love doing stuff with the audience – I read minds of members of the audience and get confessions, I get some amazing ones e.g I had someone who stuffed the Christmas turkey with dog food and fed it to their kids.
What’s the best way to describe it; two hours of laugher and forget the rest of the world and have a show which is magical.
[James Phelan: Trickster at the Capitol Horsham on Tuesday the 23rd of April. Click here for details]
Tags: magic, comedy, James Phelan, Horsham Capitol
