FOR magicians, their props are an essential part of the act.
So when performer Mat Ricardo’s luggage did not arrive with him ahead of his performance at the Jersey Festival of Words at the weekend, there were fears for the show.
Mr Ricardo, a juggler, magician, circus performer, who has written a children’s book about dealing with unexpected challenges suddenly had to practice what he preached.
Fortunately for him, and the audience, local amateur magician Richard Pedley – one of the festival’s organisers – stepped up to provide some replacement props, while also taking to the stage himself to help cover any gaps in Mr Ricardo’s scheduled performance.
Mr Pedley said: “At noon I got a call from Paul Bisson, part of our team, saying that the good news was that Mat had landed, but his bag had not, and his entire act was inside, including a lot of specialist kit we couldn’t replace.”
He explained that his partner was already due to attend the show and was tasked with grabbing a list of items from home including a “giant sponge balls, ropes, thumb-cuffs, scissors, a jumbo deck of cards and our cleanest dishcloth”.
“With 20 minutes to go Paul, Mat and I came up with an extremely rough plan, got hooked up to microphones, and let the audience in,” Mr Pedley continued.
“Mat’s book is all about facing challenges, so Paul leant into the unexpected events of the day, and he’d somehow cobbled together a slide show illustrating the highs – Mat got on the flight! – and the lows – his bag didn’t!”
Mr Ricardo and Mr Pedley shared the stage, later describing the audience as “terrific” despite the issues they faced due to a lack of equipment and minimal time planning their new act.
Mr Pedley said: “You can often tell how well an event has gone by the buzz in the room afterwards, and the queue to get books autographed.
“Mat was signing for at least half an hour afterwards, so hopefully it was memorable for all the right reasons.
“He texted me from London the next day to say thanks and, to everyone’s relief, confirm that yes, he got his bag back.”
