SURREY 鈥� Matt Johnson鈥檚 magic show in Surrey won鈥檛 be quite the same as performed elsewhere.
The Chilliwack-based entertainer will not be attempting an escape from a large water tank here this Friday night (Dec. 1), after being told the contraption can鈥檛 be used at Surrey City Hall鈥檚 Centre Stage theatre, which doubles as council chambers.
The tank-escape trick was performed by Johnson on the CW Network show Penn & Teller: Fool Us last spring.
鈥淚鈥檒l be doing my full show (in Surrey) except for the water-tank escape,鈥� Johnson told the Now-Leader in a phone call Thursday (Nov. 23). 鈥淚 found out about this about five days ago. The (venue managers) in Surrey have made the call that they can鈥檛 have the tank in that theatre, because we鈥檙e told the stage is a hollow one, and they鈥檙e concerned about the weight of the tank and any water that could leak on the stage.鈥�
The show is pre-written, Johnson said, so he鈥檒l have to 鈥渆xtend out a couple of things, a minute here or there over the course of the show,鈥� to make up for the 10 minutes lost.
鈥淚鈥檓 actually thinking of playing the Penn & Teller episode with my water escape during the intermission, for anybody who wants to see it. I haven鈥檛 confirmed that with the theatre yet.鈥�
Johnson blends urban street magic with comedy for his Nothing Up My Sleeves show, a 90-minute display of illusions, mind-reading, sleight-of-hand and audience interaction.
The U.K.-raised Johnson, who moved to Canada in 1998, has been a pro magician for more than two decades.
鈥� READ MORE: , from July.
Earlier this year, a dream of his to perform on Britain鈥檚 Got Talent turned into a bit of a nightmare.
鈥淚 went to do Britain鈥檚 Got Talent in February with the water escape, and it was a disaster,鈥� he lamented. 鈥淥n the day of filming, in the morning, we did a rehearsal before we filmed that night, and two minutes under water, the tank cracked and exploded on stage, basically 鈥� 200 gallons of water went all over the set.鈥�
No wonder the people at Surrey City Hall are a bit nervous.
鈥淚t was a malfunction in the old tank,鈥� Johnson continued. 鈥淚 had tried to get on the show for three years, and rehearsed for a year and a half, had done breath-holding training. I got all the way there, spent five grand to get my stuff there for the show, and then that happened. It was a real down point in my career, and in my life in general, as you can imagine.鈥�
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Six weeks later, Johnson got a second crack at doing the trick on Penn & Teller: Fool Us, and more problems surfaced.
鈥淚 came back (to North America) with my tail between my legs, because I had no tank, so I had another tank built by a guy in Calgary, which cost me a lot more money but built sight unseen, and it was shipped to Vegas,鈥� Johnson explained. 鈥淚 got down there the day before Penn & Teller and it was too small 鈥� three inches too small all the way around. So the one you see on Penn & Teller: Fool Us is a smaller one that I jammed myself in and I basically just went for it, because it cut off my breath-holding considerably. It crushed my lungs, so I couldn鈥檛 hold my breath for any more than 30 seconds when I got in it. So we just put it on the stage and filmed it, and my guy was told to leave me in there and if I stopped moving, to get me out. As you can imagine, it was a pretty daunting experience.鈥�
The trick of escaping from a water tank is something he鈥檚 worked on for quite some time, Johnson said.
鈥淒oing the trick, when I first started breath-holding, I couldn鈥檛 hold for longer than 30 seconds, and now I can do four minutes,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut I鈥檓 claustrophobic, it鈥檚 very scary, and I don鈥檛 like doing it in the show, but it is something in my show now.鈥�
He really wants another crack at doing Britain鈥檚 Got Talent, and he鈥檚 also hoping to take his act on the high seas again, after returning last week from a 10-day gig aboard a cruise ship.
鈥淚鈥檝e been trying for about a year and a half to get a cruise-ship agent, and it鈥檚 a really difficult industry to break into, but once you鈥檙e doing it and you鈥檙e in, you鈥檙e in,鈥� Johnson said. 鈥淭hat was my first cruise with my new agent out of Florida, that鈥檚 where my agent is, and we stopped in Aruba, Costa Rica, the Panama Canal 鈥� just amazing.
鈥淭he ship I was on was quite small, only around 2,000 passengers,鈥� he continued, 鈥渁nd it had a beautiful theatre, an amazing tech team and I got standing ovations for my show, which was amazing. For a fly-on, fly-off, you don鈥檛 take your full show, so my show had to fit in a suitcase. That鈥檚 kind of a new thing for me, but it was really well received.鈥�
For the kind of theatre show he鈥檒l do in Surrey, Johnson brings a special prop.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a plastic music box shaped like a church,鈥� he explained. 鈥淵ou see it at the start of my show and it comes up at the end, and that music box used to sit on my grandmother鈥檚 fireplace before I was born. As far back as I can remember, I used to go there and wind it up and hear it play. It was kind of a magical feeling, like Santa or the Easter Bunny, and that for me was the start of the feeling of magic 鈥� not tricks, but that kind of feeling, a magical experience. That鈥檚 where it started for me, and now I鈥檓 proud to say that that church is on stage with me, and now that鈥檚 the thread of the show, which is the story of my life.鈥�
After his grandmother鈥檚 death, Johnson inherited the music box, which was shipped here from England.
鈥淢y grandmother passed away two days before Christmas,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he music box plays 鈥楽ilent Night,鈥� which is appropriate. And at the end of show, I wind it up and I make it snow in the theatre.鈥�
In Surrey, tickets for Johnson鈥檚 Nothing Up Me Sleeves range in price from $25 to $35. For details, visit tickets.surrey.ca or call 604-501-5566. Johnson鈥檚 website is at .
tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com
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