Ali Cook

In August 2015, Ali starred in Impossible - the first grand illusion show in London’s West End for decades, showcasing five of the world’s leading magicians. Impossible played to sold out audiences over five weeks at the Noel Coward Theatre.

Ali says:

“Starring in Impossible – a west end show – was a dream come true. It really was a thrill to be involved. The Noel Coward was a great room for magic. Even though it's a thousand seat capacity, those old vaudeville theatres are steeply raked with great acoustics and sight lines, so my close up magic set played just as well as the big set pieces. (A special thanks to the ingenious projection design of Duncan McClean). There has never been a magic show of this size in Britain ever. Great for us; not so great for the stage management! But headed up by the incredibly gifted Ben Delfont it was like magic watching the stage crew operate a show of this size.

We magicians are so used to doing everything on our own, it was really refreshing to be part of a family, rather than driving to say a comedy club, doing your twenty minute stand up set then immediately hitting the road again. The sound, the lighting and the framework of the show headed up by Lloyd Wood was second to none. Keep an eye out for the lighting designer Tim Lutkin as he is also lighting Dynamo’s tour. 

It was cool catching up with Jonathan Goodwin who is now a full blown danger man act and also making a new friend of Luis de Matos - the most mellow man in magic (I often wondered what he was smoking in those small cigars).

For me, the real joy of Impossible though was being able to perform so many types and styles of magic. I live by what Paul Daniels says "a magician can do it all. He is after all, magic.”