I went along to this event on Friday night.
First thing to note: it was
incredibly busy. By the time the doors opened at 7pm, there were already over a hundred people standing on and near the concourse, waiting to get in (or else milling around with a local astronomy society, who'd set up telescopes outside the museum). Once inside, it was often hard to move for people and getting from place to place within the museum was hampered by corridors and stairwells being used as overflow space for events happening in each of the venues.
I'd hoped to see the flamenco dancers. I'd hoped to see a performance by
Sebastian Walton (Magic Circle Young Magician of the Year 2013). But neither was to be, because both were far too-popular already. I'm not sure that the museum even anticipated that there'd be such interest; they eventually had to post security at the doors and start operating a one-out-one-in policy, with wait times advertised (I heard from a friend of a friend, who tried to join the queue) at up to an hour!
So I took a different tack: I sat myself down near an exhibit of coins, on the basement level, and started performing. Mostly card tricks, along with a couple of rope tricks and a wonderfully hands-on card-destroying effect (learned from
TheGroover at the
first Oxford Magic Club meeting, last month - thanks!) that the kids especially loved. Before long, I'd attracted a reasonable audience of a couple of dozen spectators, many of whom seemed also to have failed to get into the events they'd planned to and were wandering around looking for entertainment.
I got to enjoy a handful of the activities on offer, but mostly I ended up as an extra performer for the night (and the couple of people I spoke to about it seemed quite surprised that I wasn't one of the listed performers but just some guy who'd turned up and started doing magic!). Had I realised that I'd be "working" then I'd have set myself up with a few extra props, rather than just the stuff that I could get out of my desk drawer at work before setting out! Honestly, though, it was amazing fun and a valuable chance to develop some much-needed audience management skills and try to keep energised and bouncy for a couple of hours of non-stop entertaining!
I wish I'd been able to see more of the Ashmolean's events, but there were simply too many people - I think that the organisers might have been somewhat surprised, too! However, I still had a great time and I'd totally go along to a Museums At Night event in a subsequent year.
