November 25, 2011 7.30 am This story is over 147 months old

Local magician can teach you a trick (or two)

Tantalising tricks: A local magician chats to The Lincolnite about his magical career.

A local magician has turned a knack for sleight of hand and cardistry into a new magic business.

Twenty-four year-old Scott Perry, originally from Sleaford, has been practicing magic for thirteen years and has now launched his own business, SPMagic.

Perry is a fast-rising name in magic in the East Midlands and Lincolnshire, but he has also performed in California, USA and St. Anton, Austria, as well as at events around the UK.

Sleight-of-hand

Perry learnt his first magic trick in 1998, and has been captivated ever since.

“When I was in year eight in school, one of my friends showed me a really simple coin trick. You held a coin in one hand, took it with the other and it disappeared. I bugged him for about two weeks to tell me how to do it, and once he did, that was it – I never stopped,” said Perry.

“I studied with a renowned magician called Colin Rose for about six months. There was a while before I got into magic professionally when I was doing stage magic, all to music and all rehearsed. He was one of my tutors at the time, and he helped me to construct tricks, learn how to deconstruct them and to make them work better.

“Everything else is pretty much self-taught.”

He intended to take magic full-time when he left school at sixteen, although it didn’t quite work out.

“I think I was just too young for it. I didn’t really know how to say no at that point, I wasn’t mature enough for that, and I burnt out.

“I took a break and did regular jobs. I worked in a factory and in an office, and after a while of that I realised it wasn’t for me.”

Ace up his sleeve

Perry has a number of events and appearances lined up in Lincoln soon, although is keeping them mostly under-wraps.

He will be appearing as a surprise guest at the Bentley hotel in December, although could not disclose any specific details about the event.

He has also been in conversation with event organisers H.A.S.H. Lincoln about a presence at their night events, and has been approached about performing at the Taste of Lincolnshire awards:

“They got in touch recently and said that they’d like me to be at the awards performing, so you might see me there.”

Perry has also been working on a top secret project:

“I was asked in Nottingham yesterday, “Can you teach me something? Anything, real quick.” It’s hard, because I don’t think about the basics anymore. I’ve got all of that back knowledge, and the muscle memory just kicks in.

“It’s tough for me to teach people things that don’t give away too many secrets. The secret project I’m working on is for those people who ask me “Can you teach me a trick?””

His latest video, Changing Faces, can be seen exclusively on The Lincolnite below.

Perry is available for bookings for events nationwide.