When we ask our children what they want to be when they grow up we often receive the run-of-the-mill answers like “police officer”, “fireman” or “vet”.
But you always know you have a dreamer on your hands when you hear the more fantastical answers like an “astronaut”, “zoo-keeper” or… “magician”!
And, Armagh’s Caolan McBride is most definitely a dreamer – not in the quixotic sense – but in the creative and imaginative sense, and an almost boyish charm that screams “nothing is impossible!”
As a magician by profession you might expect to be faced with an enigmatic man of mystery who holds his cards close to his chest. But Caolan is charismatic and animated. Keen to engage, he openly discusses his trade with an honesty, warmth and joy that makes it abundantly clear – he loves what he does.
Yet, he says “I had no ambition to become a magician”.
It all began by pure chance when the then 10-year-old Caolan was searching the shelves of Armagh Library for books on craft, mechanics or engineering; anything, he says, that told you how to “take something apart” or “figure things out”.
There, he found a magic book – or rather, “the book found me” said Caolan – and everything he’d been searching for all seemed to make sense.
He took inspiration from prime time TV Magician Paul Daniels and “really started getting stuck in” around age 12 or 13.
Speaking to Armagh I, the illusionist explained: “Most magicians are self taught – at least to begin. There’s no Hogwarts!
“When you start learning magic you need someone to show it to, so you start by showing your family and friends – and then they get sick of it! You move onto others but you always need an audience.
“The audience is an essential part of the process in learning a magic trick. You can only do so much at home practising with the technical side of it.
“A good way to improve is in front of the mirror like a dancer or performer. You can see how it looks and nowadays you can film it and really get a look at it from a technical point of view.”
As they say, “a good magician never reveals his secrets” – but the open and honest Caolan was only too happy to share his ultimate secret!
“The actual technical secret of a magic trick – like the card up the sleeve or whatever it may be – is not the real secret at all… the real secret is the performance,” he said.
A card trick that starts and ends in the blink of an eye can, according to Caolan, take weeks if not months to master.
“There’s acting, there’s the physical side, there’s the verbal side, body language, psychology, scripting, experience and timing is essential,” he said. “The more you work at it the more you develop it.”
He began honing his skills in those early days with cards and coins – for their accessibility and affordability.
Later – after dropping out of university, which just hadn’t been a good fit – he sprang head first into full-time self employment focussing largely on children’s parties as a magician/entertainer.
That was 21 years ago and while Caolan said making that move was “scary and hard” he knew ultimately it was “the right thing to do”.
He added: “Immediately I was happy and immediately I had an energy and a verve to give this a go.”
Within the first few months of going solo, Caolan heard from another Armagh man, Paul McAneany, Director of theatre company, Cahoots.
They had met before and Paul shared a background in magic and acting. He heard that Caolan had gone full-time and offered him a chance to take his show to the stage with a tour that had a workshop running alongside.
“That was my ‘in’ to this world and he sort of became a major help and a mentor if you like,” explained Caolan.
Since then, it’s been a steady grind forward. When asked of his greatest achievements he humbly says, “I would never say I’ve made it.” For Caolan, it’s a constant and conscious journey of self-improvement.
He adds: “When I’m improving as a magician, I improve as a person, and when I improve as a person, I improve as a magician.”
But of course there have been failures and flops. “Oh yes!” he laughs. “They come to mind quicker!
“They call it the negativity bias where if you have an audience of 200 people and 199 are smiling and laughing you will only notice the one who isn’t.
“With magic and technical theatre so much can go wrong and it needs to go wrong. It’s part of learning,” he explains.
Not one to dwell, Caolan takes the highs with the lows and always find a way to turn that to his advantage in the long run.
He shirks the old TV and film rule of “Don’t work with children or animals” and while he still doesn’t work with animals he adores working with children.
With over 20 years in the children’s party scene he’s developed somewhat of a gift for keeping children eating out of the palm of his ever so sleight hand.
Their innocent curiosity and almost complete lack of cynicism is of course a major plus!
“An adult has scepticism and cynicism coming in just because of life and you have an intellectual barrier there which children generally don’t have.
“Part of my job is to find the line between the intellectual and emotional intelligence of the audience – it doesn’t matter if they are children or adults.
“An audience comes in and they know the magician is using some sort of trickery but my job is to take them out of that and on a journey with me and then in that time they forget about all of that and in that space they believe in it – that becomes a feeling.”
Caolan has long honed skills that allow him to read his audience – children and adults alike. It’s a vital part of his art, enabling him to control the room and ensure his performance goes as planned.
When you attend a show – make no mistake – this master of magic has given you the once over and it’s all done in the blink of an eye.
In response to a question about how he sizes up his audience, he joked: “It doesn’t take much to study it. I follow people for weeks and dig through their bins and look for information. I haven’t got caught yet!”
In actuality, he believes that for the most part it’s his own demeanour that matters most.
“We are all unique, but there are commonalities. Whether they are cultural, or social. When I walk into a room and have to walk around to do close up magic and there are 200 people in that room there are only so many kinds of people.
“When I’m on stage the more important thing is my own body language. The way you plant your feet, how you move and the voice is a big one,” he said.
In reflection of his profession, Caolan came to realise that there were stark similarities between the techniques of a magician and those employed by one of the world’s most outlandish, esoteric and dumbfounding fictional detectives… Sherlock Holmes.
The realisation brought forth an idea – as he said before, he’s always moving forward.
In October 2025, Caolan will launch a show based on the methods and commonalities between the magician and the detective.
His Sherlock-inspired Arts Council funded performance is one he is visibly excited about – but regrettably – can’t give too much away on just yet!
He’s currently working alongside a new writer and director for the project and plans to announce full details closer to the time… all will be revealed.
