The Secret Cabaret

The Secret Cabaret
Created by Simon Drake
Open Media
Presented by Simon Drake
Country of origin United Kingdom
Original language(s) English
No. of series 2
No. of episodes 12
Production
Executive producer(s) Sebastian Cody
Producer(s) Frankie Glass
Jim Steinmeyer
Running time 30 minutes
Release
Original network Channel 4
Picture format PAL (576)
Original release 9 January 1990 – 19 February 1992

The Secret Cabaret was a magic-based television programme that ran for two series, of six episodes each, on Channel 4 in the UK during the early 1990s. It was conceived and fronted by British magician Simon Drake and was praised for giving a new and shocking twist to the presentation of illusions.[1] In addition to various magicians the show featured sideshow acts and presentations by experts on fraud and confidence tricks, all interspersed with vintage archive footage of freak shows and daredevil stunts. It was nominated for a Royal Television Society Award.

Description and production details

Each programme revolved around a theatre-based show presented by Simon Drake and featuring illusions performed by him in various guises. The styling of the show was dark and mysterious with some elements that reflected goth subculture. One of the features that gained it attention were illusion segments performed by Drake in a guise that owed much to punk and heavy metal. These sections were often embellished with realistic looking blood and gore reminiscent of the infamous performances of Peruvian magician Richiardi Jr. A substantial part of the running time of the show was given over to guest performers and various filmed items, ranging from archive footage to close-up presentations or exposures of scams and swindles.

Simon Drake devised the series, saying: "On television in the UK then, were Wayne Dobson and Paul Daniels, but they didn’t appeal to me. I wanted to see something darker, more fast-paced and rock-and-roll, more sexy, more weird."

The series was conceived by Drake and produced by the company Open Media.[1] It had strong input from sleight-of-hand magician Ricky Jay, who made special appearances in each show and was credited as a writer. Also credited as a writer was poet and playwright Heathcote Williams. Noted illusion designer Jim Steinmeyer was credited as one of the producers.[2][3]

Regular guests included magicians James Randi, Geno Munari, Max Maven and David Berglas and reformed fraudster turned security expert Frank Abagnale.[2] This was a decade before Abagnale became world-famous through the 2002 bio-pic Catch Me If You Can produced by Steven Spielberg.

Episodes and broadcast dates

The following information was compiled by taking cast information from the listing given on Open Media's website and cross-checking it with data on the BFI database and with tapes of some episodes.[2][3][4]

Series 1

Series 2

"The second series was better, because we knew what we were doing. We knew we had to up the ante from the first series. It was slicker. I like it better." Simon Drake

Other broadcasts

The BFI lists a show broadcast on 7 December 1993, but it seems that this was a repeat of either show 1 or show 4 of series 2.[6]

Other credits

In addition to those named above, the following appeared in various end credits:[7]

On-screen cast[8]

Production personnel[9]

References

  1. 1 2 In the end titles for the show Drake received the credit "Conceived and Original Material".
  2. 1 2 3 "The Secret Cabaret". Open Media. Retrieved 2007-03-15.
  3. 1 2 "The Secret Cabaret (series 1)". The British Film Institute. Retrieved 2007-03-15.
  4. ↑ "The Secret Cabaret (series 2)". The British Film Institute. Retrieved 2007-03-15.
  5. ↑ The information for this episode was checked directly with a recorded copy of "The Secret Cabaret - series 2 episode 6". (Open Media and Channel 4).
  6. ↑ "The Secret Cabaret [07/12/93]". The British Film Institute. Retrieved 2007-03-15.
  7. ↑ The credits lists here have been compiled from available tapes of episodes and from lists published on the web by Simon Drake and Open Media. Tapes were not available for all episodes and so this listing should not be assumed to be complete. Where a particular series is noted in parentheses it means the name was found on credits for that series but it does not imply the person was not involved in both series.
  8. ↑ Taken from "Cast & Crew". Simon Drake's Secret Cabaret site. Retrieved 2008-07-17. and also from a tape of "The Secret Cabaret - series 2 episode 6". (Open Media and Channel 4).
  9. ↑ From tapes of "The Secret Cabaret - series 1 episode 6". (Open Media and Channel 4). and "The Secret Cabaret - series 2 episode 6". (Open Media and Channel 4).

Further reading

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