Stonehouse-based “mystery storyteller” Nick Brunger has won a prestigious award at an international magic festival held in Derby.
The “Doomsday” gathering celebrates performances of so-called Bizarre, Gothic or Mystery Magic in which entertainers take stories of the odd, eccentric, or historical nature and tell it using magic as “proof” that the story did in fact happen.
Nick’s prize-winning performance was part of the “Hex Factor” competition which closed the festival and pitted four British entertainers against four leading magical storytellers from the United States.
As in the TV talent competition a team of expert judges gave their opinion of each of the varied routines before the audience of one hundred fellow performers cast their vote.
The panel chairman, actor Reece Shearsmith from TV’s “The League of Gentlemen” and “Inside Number 9”, himself a keen amateur magician, praised Nick’s “amazing storytelling” and the strong theatrical nature of his act.
“This is exactly what you want a Gothic Magician to be,” he said. “dark, mysterious and completely absorbing.”
A newcomer to the county, Nick is seeking unusual performance venues locally. Over the past eighteen years he has taken his shows to a wide variety of atmospheric locations including castles, stately homes, museums and former prisons and courtrooms.
A recent performance at Tetbury Police Museum will be followed by one at Blackfriars Priory in Gloucester later in the year with appearances at venues in Bristol, Stroud and Cheltenham in the pipeline.
