Magician Ben Hart’s homecoming performance is the culmination of more than a decade on the theatre and club circuit.
The former Kings School and Peter Symonds College pupil may have received wider notice by getting to the finals of ITV’s Saturday night talent show Britain’s Got Talent, but he was by no means an overnight success.
“I felt like I had established myself in quite well in magic, but most of what I was doing was pub shows, private events and corporate entertainment,” says Ben, who is playing two sold-out shows at Theatre Royal Winchester. “I wanted to make money from people who wanted to see me. I had to find a way to let people see my work – and the best way was to go onto the highest rated television show in the country.”
He went on to wow the judges, win the public vote for his semifinal and come third in the overall competition. He puts part of his success down to his versatility. “I’m a general practitioner of magic – I can do close-up magic and stage magic,” he says. “I have a slightly bigger range and I wanted to show that.”
He showed his versatility in the ITV audition show, which saw him both create an egg from a piece of confetti in front of the judges’ eyes and teleport an audience member across the stage. He focused on his closeup skills for his semi-final and final appearances – performing illusions with a book of matches and a shrinking pack of cards.
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