03 Aug museum of illusions manchester opening
Opening Night at the Museum of Illusions, Manchester
They built a whole museum out of illusions - then booked a real close-up magician to open it. Here's how opening night went: a welcome speech I actually had to memorise, and sleight of hand for a room of influencers who've seen it all.
Every so often a booking lands that just fits, and this was one of them: a real close-up magician, hired to open a museum built entirely out of illusions. The Museum of Illusions opened in Manchester in September 2024, and I was brought in for launch night - part performer, part, as it turned out, master of ceremonies.
It was an invitation-only opening. The room was full of bloggers, influencers and reviewers - people who look at "amazing" for a living and are professionally hard to impress. Not the crowd you want to misjudge. And before I'd pulled out a single card, I had a job I don't normally take on: open the night with a welcome speech, then introduce the company's CEO.
Hosting isn't my usual gig, so there were a few days beforehand of being back in school mode, drilling the speech until it was second nature. Then it was over to the bit I actually get booked for. Here's how the night went.
First, a proper wander round
I got there early and had the run of the place before a single guest arrived.
Room after room of illusions I'd never seen - the kind that make you distrust your own eyes. A magician geeking out in a museum of illusions. You couldn't script it.
And it wasn't just the exhibits. They'd laid on bespoke cocktails that actually smoked, and edible food illusions - canapes that were nothing like what they looked like. In a building designed to fool you, even the food was in on it.
The museum sits right in Manchester city centre, a part of the world I'm in and out of constantly for close-up magic across Manchester and the North West.
The bit I don't normally do
I was booked to do the magic. I was also asked to open the night with a welcome speech, then introduce the company's CEO.
Hosting isn't something I offer. So there were a few days beforehand of being back in school mode, drilling a two-minute speech until I could do it in my sleep.
Turned up, delivered it, handed over to the CEO, and got straight to the thing I actually get booked for. But I'll be honest: after a career of making people gasp, two minutes of talking was the part that had me nervous.
"Give me a heckling stag do over a scripted speech any day. Funny what still gets the nerves going."
Then, the actual magic
Speech done, CEO introduced, and finally I could do the thing I'm actually there for.
The guests fanned out through the exhibits, and I went with them - weaving between the illusions with close-up magic. The museum fools you with mirrors, angles and clever engineering. I do it live, in your hands, six inches from your face. Two very different kinds of "how did that just happen" under one roof.
And this was a hard crowd to land - bloggers and reviewers who look at "amazing" for a living and film everything. Watching a few of them actually forget to hold their phones up for a second, because they were too busy reacting? That's the whole job, right there.
A whole building built to fool people - and it still needed a real magician in the room. That's the bit I love: give me a hard crowd and an unusual brief, and I'll hand you back a night they can't stop filming.
Opening something in Manchester?
Launch night, venue opening, awards do or corporate party - if you want a magician who can host the room one minute and take it apart the next, drop me an enquiry. I'll come straight back with availability and a pricing PDF.
