Community Magic

One of the greatest perks of my job is being able to bring people joy and amazement, where ever you’re from, what ever your back ground. So it was a delight to be asked to perform at my old primary school ST JOHNS ROSYTH to an assembly hall full of 270 kids, P1 to P7, assembled to celebrate the 100th year anniversary of the school. Walking through the corridors Brought back fond memories and it was great to see three teachers at the school who were there when I was just ten. Of course I don’t think they were as happy to see me 🙂 I’m not really a kids performer, so I was a little nervous when I stood on the stage to begin the show. The last time I tread those boards was as a 12 year old as ‘Joseph’ in the musical of the same name. But it was an absolute joy. The kids were simply delightful and their energy lifted the whole show. It was great to get such warm feedback from parents of these kids, many of whom I was at primary school with! I

In a similar vein a career box was ticked when I was able to work alongside RICHARD WISEMAN on a visual arts project the brainchild of brilliant producer SVETLANA MCMAHON – she produces my live shows and also the MAGIC FESTIVAL here in Edinburgh. Together we put on an exhibition “NOW YOU SEE IT, NOW YOU DON’T” of visual art using kids as stars of the show from EDINBURGH YOUNG CARERS. The end product was a stunning, free-to-view exhibition on display at the SCOTTISH STORYTELLING CENTRE on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh. The project was inspired by a collection of photos curated by DYNAMO and his team around London. To create the photos we worked with a whole host of sponsors and venues including MACKIES OF SCOTLAND, JESSOPS, EDINBURGH CITY COUNCIL, NATIONAL MUSEUM, EDINBURGH CASTLE, KIRANS TRUST and many others to materialise a delightful display viewed by tens of thousands over the festival period in Edinburgh. The kids were just a delight to work with and it was a real honour to play a small part in this project. On a side (and perhaps selfish) note, as a performer I’m used to being the one in the spot light, being part of this and pushing the kudos onto others was such an exhilarating and self satisfying experience, one I hope to recreate in the future!