Time-travelling magicians Morgan and West are fast becoming stalwarts of the contemporary magic scene. As two nineteenth-century gentlemen, they purvey elegant entertainment – engagingly executed effects, laced with gentle, character-based humour. Free of insult, innuendo and every other cheap device, this act is of the David Devant school, in which it is “all done by kindness”.
Rhys Morgan and Robert West met and started performing together whilst at Oxford University in the late noughties. Since then, they have clearly worked hard to hone their well polished double act and to come up with original ideas for the presentation of their magic. Careful to avoid using anachronistic props, this innovative duo breathes new life into old plots. Each effect is both a pleasure in itself and part of the overall illusion that we are in a wealthy friend’s drawing room a hundred plus years ago.
With several different shows in their repertoire, Morgan & West are in constant demand all over Britain and have recently returned from a run at The Garden of Unearthly Delights in Adelaide, Australia. They were headlining at Steve Faulkner’s magic show in Sheffield this week and I enjoyed their act so much I’ve booked to see them again in Buxton at the end of the month.
In an era where edgy street magic still holds sway and many magicians strive to be cool, a return to the Victorian age of parlour magic may seem to run counter to the Zeitgeist. But the tide is turning and by evoking the bygone golden days of conjuring Messrs Morgan and West may well also be showing us the future of magic.
Find out more on their newfangled website: www.morganandwest.co.uk