Kirkland Lake, Ontario
Article by Perry Kong, Northern News
Highly energetic and entertaining Illusionist Sam Pearce was the first of many to wow the crowds for this year’s Homecoming list of special events and effects. Pearce appeared and disappeared Wednesday for a one hour performance at Northern College Auditorium and at age twenty-one, the full-time magician’s dream is more than just smoke and mirrors.
“This is it,” cheers Pearce. “This is how I make my living. All the equipment that you saw on the stage – the light, the sound, everything is mine. This isn’t the biggest show we travel with, but it’s a fairly large show. And this is how I make my living.”
With his seventeen year old assistant Megan Miller by his side, the young Pearce’s clean, humorous and interactive performances are renowned across the country for leaving audiences amused and amazed. Wednesday’s show featured Pearce’s spin and mastery on traditional tricks from age old masters. The act began with Chinese linking rings, and the boxed set that is Pearce and Miller ended the show with the Substitution Trunk, the famous metamorphosis illusion popularized by the late Harry Houdini and his wife Bess.
Pearce says he admires all the greats but it was Winnipeg born Doug Henning (1947 – 2000) that inspired him the most.
“Certainly Doug Henning,” praises Pearce. “He did so much to revolutionize magic. I wouldn’t be doing this if it wasn’t for Doug. Before Doug I had a top-hat, and tails, and a cane, and that was a magician – pulling a rabbit out of a hat. But Doug wore a jean jacket, and multi-colored clothes, and he just made magic real, and he brought it to everybody and he’s really fantastic. And it’s really sad he passed away a few years ago.”
“There are so many people I admire in the industry,” continues Pearce. “It’s really tough to pinpoint anyone, but certainly people like Doug Henning and David Copperfield and people like that really do help inspire me, and that’s what helped me get interested in magic. It’s seeing magicians like Copperfield on TV.”
“I met David Copperfield after a performance I saw in Toronto. I didn’t have long to talk with him but he was really nice, and genuine, it was good to meet someone of his status in the entertainment industry.”
For twelve year old Taylor Lamb who attended Wednesday’s show, it was really nice to have a chat with Pearce and MiIler who sat at the edge of the stage with their fans at the end of the performance. Like Pearce, Lamb started young doing tricks for friends and family, and is now inspired by Pearce.
“It was awesome,” says Lamb. “I loved it.” After seeing Pearce in action and having a chance to meet him, Lamb is far from disillusioned about a career in magic.
“I think that would be really cool,” praises Lamb. “I think it’s all supercool.”
Kincardine born Sam Pearce started magic at age four. At age nine he had his first gig at a birthday party for 20 bucks and grew from there. Years later he enlisted his cousin Megan who now gets cuffed, crammed and what appears to be crushed inside Pearce’s props.
“I started when I was ten,” says Miller, “so he was a bit into it by then. But by then he needed an assistant.”
“She’s a big part in making the magic happen behind the scenes,” praises Pearce, “and managing the props back stage, managing the illusions, and taking care of all that.”
“We got a job early on at a resort in Collingwood,” continues Pearce, “and we appeared there every week, and that’s where we started building the show and started working together. And we’ve been working together since, doing family shows like this as well as corporate shows.”
“I’m always working on new stuff for the show, always adding new stuff. So when some of these people come back next year they’ll be able to see some incredibly new illusions that I’m working on right now.”Pearce says he has a few projects in his workshop that he can’t reveal yet and that there’s always stuff in development. He likes to to keep his show “fresh,” and, “do stuff that other magicians aren’t doing too.”
“I create a lot of my own original illusions,” adds Pearce, “so some of the stuff you see on my stage you can’t see anywhere else.”
Another early achievement was a three page spread featuring Pearce in a 2008 edition of Linking Ring Magazine, a publication by the world’s largest organization for magical arts, the ninety year old International Brotherhood of Magicians. And don’t expect them to reveal any of their secrets. Magicians are sworn to an oath to preserve the magic and mystery for their stage and audience.”The crowd was really great,” said the Kitchener homebound magician. “It was a packed house – I couldn’t believe it. Audience was just fantastic. So much energy and enthusiasm, they were really a great group. I haven’t entertained an audience this enthusiastic in quite a while.”
Published on July 3rd 2012 by Perry Kong for Northern News
