INTERVIEWING DAVID REDFEARN is a
slightly disconcerting business. It's the cards you see.
As we talk in the bar of the Chelsea Village Hotel, Chelsea's
resident magician is constantly doing tricks with a pack of cards.
Having invited me to sign my name on one of them he is flicking them
around effortlessly. The signed card is clearly on the top of the
pack except it's not - it suddenly emerges from the bottom. A second
later it apparently appears from the air in David's other hand and
in the next instant he is cutting and shuffling the cards
single-handedly and making my card appear from the middle of the
pack.
It's still impossible to detect how on earth he does it. But this
close-up magic is key to Redfearn's style. "There is no drum roll
and no cheesy patter," he explains.
I don't patronise my audience, I involve them." With a string of
blue chip corporate clients and high flying business people to
entertain, Redfearn is more Armani suit than spangly bow-tie.
On matchdays, Redfearn visits the corporate boxes, the dining rooms
in the West Stand and other areas of the ground, performing magic
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before kick off. "It was Glenn
Hoddle who first introduced me to Chelsea when he was manager," says
Redfearn who worked as a fireman for 14 years, performing tricks for
family and friends at parties before turning professional in 1994.
Following on from the Hoddle connection, Carole Phair, Chelsea
Village's Corporate Sales Manager invited him to start regular
appearances. "David has been entertaining our corporate clients at
home games for more than four seasons. His innovative close-up magic
is truly amazing, coupled with his unique style of humour and
rapport with clients, " she says. "After a visit from David, our
matchday guests are left thrilled and mesmerised."
"You only have five or ten minutes with each group, so you've got to
pack it in but that suits my style," he says. One favourite trick
includes producing a signed five-pound note predicting the headlines
in The Times on a certain day in the future, which he did on
a recent television appearance. In fact such is his skill at making
predictions that he is banned from gambling in casinos around
London.
But there is more to working with an audience |
than simply performing magic. "
You have to use psychology," Redfearn explains. "You have to know
immediately who has the right personality to be involved with a
trick and who is better suited to sit and watch."
In the last few years with the emergence of names such as David
Blaine and Derren Brown, magicians have become suddenly cool and
their creaky, old fashioned, "end of the pier show" image has
disappeared faster than a rabbit into a hat. Redfearn himself is
fast becoming one of the country's most sought-after magicians.
His other clients include The Ritz, Verve Cliquot and Ogilvy &
Mather and his profile will rise further with Astounding
Celebrities, his forthcoming TV series on ITV. "It was great fun
to make," says Redfearn. "We visited celebrities in their dressing
rooms or on the set of shows and performed magic for them. We
visited Carol Voderman and Richard Whitely on the Countdown
set where I predicted the card they would choose in The Times,
and performed for Carol Smilie, She absolutely loved it."
Chelsea Village Winter 1003/4 |