Street magician Troy joined us at NMP Live where we talked about the impact of magic and creating bespoke tricks for clients.
Watch the full interview or read the transcript below.
In conversation with Troy
What was the first magic you saw?
The first magic performance that I saw was when I was four or five years old and I saw a magician called The Great Kovari, which I now know his name as George Kovari. It was at the Blackheath Theatre and he just had big stage illusions, very colourful, very flamboyant and that didn’t really resonate with me.
It was only after the show, me and my dad went to the bar and Kovari was coming out just to say hi to everyone who watched it and I was drawing a picture of him on a bar mat or something and I showed it to him when he came. He was like ‘oh my God, that’s amazing! ‘and he gave me a magic kit, and signed my hat, and he gave me a book.
I started learning from that and showed my friends in primary school. Then it sort of died out because I had sort of mastered everything, and it was only little things, it wasn’t anything special.
Then David Blaine came on, many years later, and I was like ‘that’s amazing! I want to learn to do this again!’ and I haven’t stopped ever since.
When did you first realise the impact magic can have on people?
I went on a holiday with my step-dad and my mum and we went to a restaurant. Everyone knew that I did magic, all my step-dad’s friends, and they were all a lot older, and everyone put me on the spot saying ‘Troy, we heard about your magic, do us a magic trick.’
I had some cards on me and did a simple card trick, but they were all blown away by it and they got all the staff from the restaurant to come, and I did the trick again, and the staff were blown away and gave us the whole meal for free.
I think that was definitely a memorable performance for me in terms of the impact that magic can have.
How did you turn your hobby into a career?
My first gig was when I was 14 years old. It was a charity event and my sister was working the bar and asked me to do some magic, and paid me like £50. I had a massive afro at the time and only a few tricks in my repertoire, but I went down really well and raised about £200 for charity, and it started from there really.
I joined a magic club, called The Young Magicians Club, which is the youth section of The Magic Circle. I won their close up competition, so I was the Young Close-Up Magician of the Year. That spiralled on to me getting newspaper features; I remember The Financial Times did a feature on me, and then my name just started to get snowballed a bit and I got booked for birthday parties, bar mitzvahs, music events.
As I got older my style started to develop a bit more and I was sort of like the cool magician, in with the crowds, so I got invited to a lot of cool parties.
How did your TV series ‘Troy’ come about?
I was performing at a residency in a restaurant. There are two floors to this restaurant, and I normally do a two-hour set on the bottom floor, and after that I take a 1½ hour train home. I did my set and was about to go home, and the last train was in 5 minutes, and the manager calls me back to ask me to perform upstairs. I was like ‘I don’t want to miss my train’, and he was like ‘I will pay you a bit extra for your cab fare back home.’
So, I went upstairs and the last table I performed for, a TV executive was on there and he was just looking at me like ‘I like you.’ I said, ‘thanks very much’ and gave him a business card and he emailed me the next day to say, ‘I think you would be great on TV and I would love to have a meeting with you, let’s talk about some possibilities.’
I went to meet him and he said he was going to pitch me around. So I gave him some footage, and I had some on YouTube as well, and he pitched it about and I got commissioned to do a pilot by BBC America.
I went to New York to film the pilot and then for some reason everything fell through right at the very end, but there was no time for me to be upset because Channel 4 came knocking on the door straight after. They commissioned me to do another pilot and after they saw it they commissioned it straight away.
I remember that the guy who discovered me called me up and said ‘Troy, Channel 4 want to commission a 6 part series of you’ and I didn’t even know how to react to it. It just felt like, really normal, and it still hasn’t resonated with me now.
I’m used to things falling apart at the end so I had that at the back of my mind and didn’t get too excited.
How is magic perceived as an art form?
The thing that annoys me about magic is that it takes, hours, weeks, years of dedication, solid practice, but you don’t really get to see the skill at the end, you just see the end result.
Because the skill is hidden within the magic it’s not really seen as an art form a lot of the time. It is sometimes seen as a novelty but it really is an art form. It’s just as hard as learning to play the violin or the piano, it takes that amount of dedication and practice, so I wish people would really see the effort that goes in to it.
Are you ever asked to create bespoke magic for clients?
Yeah, I am often asked to create bespoke pieces for certain clients. Whatever they want me to add in, they could give me a product or they might want me to say something, or anything, but I include it in to the magic and it is quite a memorable thing for everyone.
It’s nice for the client that the magic that I am doing is bespoke for them, so I like providing that for them. It makes it more special for them and I guess it makes it more special for me as well.
Why do you love magic so much?
What I love about magic is that it affects everyone in different ways, but I always think it brings the best out in people. I could walk up to the hardest guy, and he doesn’t smile, and I say, ‘let me show you something’ and you see their face beam up and they’re like a kid again. For me that’s the fuel to keep me going, to keep performing, because I love seeing that.
For me, the best way to see magic is to see it live. I mean, with TV magic it is cool, but I think sometimes a lot of people question what they are seeing because it’s on TV. They ask if people are acting, or if there are camera tricks, or whatever. But, once you have seen it live you can’t doubt it, you have seen it with your own eyes, and I love doing that for people because they have seen me on TV and they think ‘I don’t know, can he do that in person?’, and when they see me in person and I do it, and they are like ‘oh my God, how?’
Do you prefer performing close-up magic or on a stage?
Close-up magic, I am pretty much standing there right in front of you working miracles. On stage you might have a 15-20 minute set and I might just show you a collection of really great illusions. It’s sort of like an album of work on stage, if you like. With cabaret, same as stage but a bit more intimate.
My preference is a close –up and cabaret, sort of parlour style, because I always like to be involved with the audience. I like talking, making eye contact, I like bringing people up and getting people involved because I don’t like doing magic at people. I want people to be with me doing it.
Can you show us a trick?
Back in the day I used to do some really dodgy gigs and some people pay me in cheque. Sometimes the cheque would bounce. Sometimes it would take ages to clear, but I found a way to solve that. So, I have got a cheque right here for £30, and if I just do this I can get the cash instantly. Who needs a bank?
If you're interested in booking Troy you can enquire online, email us or pick up the phone and speak to one of our booking agents. For further information on Troy, testimonials and video clips view his profile.
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