Simon Drake

Simon Drake is the stage name of a British magician based in London. He is best known for the innovative and shocking television series "Secret Cabaret" made for Britain's Channel 4. [cite web
url = http://www.openmedia.co.uk/secretcabaret.htm
title = "Secret Cabaret" information
publisher = at television production company Open Media
accessdate = 2007-03-10]

Early life

Drake has said he is the son of a surgeon and that both sides of his family were connected to the medical profession for some generations. [citation
last = Quinlan
first = Tim
title = Celebrity Interview: Simon Drake
journal = Inside Magic
url = http://www.branaghcompendium.com/artic-ducktastic_insidemagic2005.html
publisher = (link is to copy at www.branaghcompendium.com)
date = 3 October 2005
accessdate = 2007-03-10] [citation
title = Interview with Simon Drake
newspaper = Daily Mirror
publisher = Mirror Group Newspapers
date = 19 Feb 2000] In an interview included in a recent book about Arthur Brown, Drake says he was born Simon Alexander and was working as an office boy at the Gull record company when he met Arthur Brown:

Arthur's single 'Fire' was the first record I bought at the age of 12, the same year my father was cremated. As the years went on I saw Arthur at the Rainbow with Kingdom Come. I was a huge fan...I was promoted to plugger. I took Arthur round for interviews with the radio, and got to know him as a person. He came round to my squat in West London - of course we weren't paid enough to afford a flat. ["The God of Hellfire: The Crazy Life and Times of Arthur Brown" by Polly Marshall, SAF Publishing 2005]

Simon Drake should not be confused with the Berkshire-based magician Simon Alexander, who specialises in close-up magic. [cite web
url = http://www.simonalexander.net
title = Simon Alexander: Award winning Magic Circle magician
publisher = Simon Alexander]

Performing career

He first came to wider attention in Kate Bush's UK live tour in 1979 for which he co-devised visuals and played seven characters. [cite web
url = http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/254543
title = High Band: Kate Bush Live at the Hammersmith Odeon
publisher = British Film Institute database
accessdate = 2007-04-01] He has a diverse performing history, from Terayama’s Tenjo Sajiki theatre in Japan to the Royal Variety Show at the London Palladium before Queen Elizabeth II. He advised Nicolas Roeg for the film "Castaway", with the tricky task of coaching Oliver Reed in sleight of hand, and was magic advisor to Harvey Keitel on "Fairy Tale, A True Story". [imdb name|id=0237012|name=Simon Drake] In two series of the award-nominated "Secret Cabaret" for Channel Four, he won an international cult following for his original and shocking presentation of illusions. He has performed and consulted with many stars including: Elton John, Phil Collins, Madness, David Gilmour, Meat Loaf, Steve Miller’s Abracadabra, Darryl Hall, Bill Wyman, George Harrison, Julian Lennon, Peter Gabriel and Pamela Stephenson. In August 1993 he was seen on American TV in the special "Raising Hell", in which he co-starred with heavy metal band Iron Maiden. [The show was shot at Pinewood Studios, near London, and broadcast live on American TV. It was later bought by the BBC for transmission in the UK and broadcast in an edited form. See cite web
url = http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0304203
title = "Raising Hell"
publisher = Internet Movie Database
accessdate = 2007-04-03] The same month Drake performed with Carl Davis and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. On October 28 1995, he appeared on the Saturday morning ITV children's show "Massive", where he sawed host Denise Van Outen in half. The graphic nature of this performance, featuring the liberal use of fake blood, drew a number of viewer complaints, and resulted in the show's producers being warned by the independent regulators, the ITC, to moderate the show's content.

Drake has performed twice as a guest with The Royal Ballet at The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and the London Coliseum. He has appeared at festivals and tours in Canada, New Zealand, Europe and in the UK and has had residencies at many London nightclubs as well as a month in cabaret at The Casino in Monte Carlo, Paris and Dubai. He was the magic and effects supervisor to Cameron Mackintosh for the West End production of "The Witches of Eastwick" and "Ducktastic", directed by Kenneth Branagh. [Quinlan, "Celebrity Interview"]

He was a consultant on the South London Theatre's Spring 2007 production of " [http://www.southlondontheatre.co.uk/productions/2007/faustus/ Dr Faustus] ". He was also a consultant on the production of episode 6 of the fourth series of the BBC television drama "Hustle", broadcast in 2007, where he worked with actors Marc Warren and Jaime Murray, teaching Warren how to saw Murray in half. [cite web
url = http://www.houseofmagic.co.uk/News/Index.htm
title = "Simon Drake's House of Magic News"
publisher = Simon Drake
accessdate = 2007-04-03] [cite web
url = http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0379632
title = "Hustle"
publisher = Internet Movie Database
accessdate = 2007-04-03]

House of Magic

In 1996 he opened his own 5,000 square foot venue, "Simon Drake’s House of Magic", in a converted former pub at an unpublicised location in south London. [Described by the Northern Echo newspaper (19 Aug 1999) as a "grey, anonymous-looking building"] [citation
url = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2098-2444564.html
first = Karen
last = Robinson
title = "Mister spook"
newspaper = The Sunday Times online
date = 12 Nov 2006
accessdate = 2007-03-06] This performing space specialises in corporate entertainment functions with occasional public performance nights. Shows feature such gory effects as light-hearted amputations and decapitations of senior executives and celebrity guests. [citation
first = Karen
last = Robinson
title = "Mister spook"
newspaper = The Sunday Times online] . His regular warm-up act is piano-based comedian Adam Kay, aka Amateur Transplants.

References

Further reading

* citation
url = http://www.magicmagazine.com/november06/november06contents.html
first = Mark
last = Walker
title = Simon Drake's House of Magic
journal = Magic
publisher = Stagewrite Publishing
date = November 2006
* Cover story of January 1992 "Magic" magazine

External links

* [http://www.houseofmagic.co.uk Simon Drake's House of Magic]
* citation
url = http://comment.independent.co.uk/columnists_m_z/john_walsh/article1784653.ece
last = Walsh
first = John
title = "Tales of the City"
newspaper = The Independent online edition
date = 3 October 2006
accessdate = 2007-03-06
* [http://www.branaghcompendium.com/artic-ducktastic_insidemagic2005.html Inside Magic Interview]