Often, it feels like you have total control when performing magic. But what if everything depended on a split second? That’s where Steve Faulkner begins his desert island journey. He’s a British Close-Up Magic Champion, a working performer and the face behind Real Magic Reviews, which means he sees more new magic tricks than most of us could learn in a lifetime, then has to decide what’s actually worth doing for real people.

We put Steve on the desert island and build his essential set from the ground up, starting with a straight-up classic from Royal Road to Card Magic and moving through effects that have never stopped “storming” for him: Maxi Twist, Slidini Knotted Silks, Nate Leipzig’s cigar routine, linking rings that still fool even when the method is “known,” and billet work like Acidus Novus that delivers huge mentalism reactions when you’ve got the nerve to commit. We also get modern with Inject and the Legacy QR approach, not as a gadget flex but as a practical way to create layered miracles and leave spectators with a souvenir they’ll actually show people later.

Then we get honest about the thing Steve wants to bury: magic dogma. The rule-policing, the “no one would do that,” the opinions dressed up as laws. If you’ve ever avoided a trick you loved because someone said it was “wrong,” this conversation is your permission slip to go try it anyway.

Steve Faulkner’s Desert Island Tricks:

Welcome package. Cards Across

1. Maxi-Twist
2. Slydini Knotted Silks
3. Nate Leipzig Cigar Routine
4. Inject
5. Linking Rings
6. Acidus Novus
7. Optix Pro
8. Paper Balls Over The Head

Banishment. Dogma in magic

Book. Talk About Tricks

Item. Kennedy Half Dollar

Find out more about the creators of this Podcast at www.alakazam.co.uk

A magic classic finally gets its next chapter and the creator is as thoughtful as you’d hope. We’re joined by magical royalty, Guy Hollingworth to talk about More Drawing Room Deceptions, the highly anticipated follow-up to his legendary Drawing Room Deceptions, plus the re-release of the original book with a new chapter that shows how his routines have evolved through real performance. If you care about strong plots, clean handling and material that lasts beyond the hype cycle, this conversation is packed with gold.

We also invite Guy onto the Alakazam island and talk about his eight essential pieces of magic, one book, one banishment, and one everyday item he’d still use for deception. Along the way we dig into The Reformation (his signature torn-and-restored signed card), why slowing down can make an effect feel more impossible and how he designs methods like puzzles when there are no obvious “building blocks.” Expect practical talk on cups and balls, coins across, Professor’s Nightmare rope magic, stage manipulation, linking rings, gypsy thread, and even a modern phone-light miracle.

You’ll hear behind-the-scenes stories from the Magic Circle, what Guy looks for before he’ll perform someone else’s creation and where to find the Drawing Room Grand Tour details through the publishers at Vanishing Inc and Mike Caveney’s Magic Words. If you enjoy the show, subscribe, share it with a magician friend, and leave a review so more people can find it.

Guy Hollingworth’s Desert Island Tricks

Welcome package. The Reformation

1. Cups and Balls
2. Half Crowns & Shell
3. Professors Nightmare
4. Billiard Balls
5. Linking Rings
6. Gypsy Thread
7. Silhouette
8. Luc Apers’ Chinese Silver

Banishment.Mutilated Parasol

Book. Expert Card Technique

Item. Jacket

Check out all of the details regarding his new book ‘More Drawing Room Deceptions’ here:

https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/magic-conventions/drawing-room-grand-tour/

Find out more about the creators of this Podcast at www.alakazam.co.uk

A cruise ship theatre looks glamorous from the outside but the work is brutally practical: your show has to reset fast, pack down smaller than you want and still hit like a full-scale stage production. We sit down with Oscar Leonard, resident magician on Virgin Voyages for the past three years and newly named an Associate Member of the Inner Magic Circle with Silver Star, to unpack what that reality teaches you about building commercial magic and mentalism that actually lands.

Oscar shares how he got the job, what “guaranteed performance spots” every day does to your material, and why recording shows and chasing the right feedback beats guessing. We talk about the problem mentalists obsess over: making mind reading visual. His solutions include a story-driven Fourth Dimensional Telepathy, a dartboard routine that creates instant intrigue, Liquid Forks for fast visual impact, and a standout ESP experiment staged with lab coats and clipboards to make small props feel huge.

Then we go deeper on craft and ethics: Q and A as a closer, how coincidences become fuel for astonishment and why he’d bury most of a stage camera on his desert island. Cameras can help visibility but overuse can turn live theatre into a movie and we dig into where that line sits for modern stage magic.

If you care about cruise ship entertainment, stage mentalism, visual reveals and building a portable show that plays big, this one is packed with workable ideas. Subscribe for more, share the episode with a performer friend and leave a review with the one routine you’d take on your own desert island.

Oscar Leonard’s Desert Island Tricks

Welcome Package. Multiple Selection Routine / Mentalism Reveals

1. Fourth Dimensional Telepathy
2. The Dart Lottery
3. Liquid Forks
4. ESP Cards / 4 Lab Coats / 4 Clip Boards
5. Location, Location, Location
6. Three Billet Routine
7. Book Test
8. Q&A

Banishment. Using a camera for the majority of a stage performance

Book. The Jinx Bound Collection

Item. Debra Dale Blank Index Card

Find out more about the creators of this Podcast at www.alakazam.co.uk