Interview with Sam Hume, executive director of Showmen Productions

Could you first introduce yourself to the reader?

My name is Sam Hume and I am the Executive Director and Producer from Showmen Productions based in Melbourne, Australia. Together with my business partner Justin, we create, tour and star in currently 3 different productions that we take around Australia and the globe!

How would you describe your show?

So we are bringing two shows to the Fringe this year – one for the families and one for the adults only!

Our Family Show, The Greatest Magic Show, was created as a family magic show unlike any other that was currently out there in terms of the uniqueness of the routines, comedy, magic, and the pure scale of the show and production.

The Ringmaster (played by Magnus Danger Magnus) commences the show with a story told through song in which he explains he has travelled far and wide to find The Greatest Magic Show but after being unable to, he decided to make his own instead! A rollercoaster ride of spellbinding magic involving the two magicians as well as the ringmaster at times sees all sorts of craziness ensue including incredibly Vegas-style illusions, giant pairs of underpants on faces, a child from the audience being transformed into a magician themselves, and an inspiring finale in which we encourage all the kids (and big kids) in the audience to pursue whatever they want in life no matter how weird or different their dreams may be.

Our 18+ show, Adults Only Magic Show, is essentially exactly as it sounds – an incredibly impressive magic show with adults only humour at every twist and turn! We have taken the very best effects in the business, and compiled them all into this 65 minute performance where everything is combined with 18+ humour and whit throughout all of the routines. Both our favourite magicians growing up were Penn & Teller, and this show shares the same style of Adults Only humour as displayed by the world famous duo. We have the very best of mentalism, close-up magic, illusions, and an extremely dangerous routine in which both Sam and I both race to escape with the loser quite literally having to ‘reveal all’!!!

Why do you want to perform at Edinburgh Festival Fringe?

We first performed at Edinburgh Fringe back in 2019 with our family show – The Greatest Magic Show – and have just been edging to get back to the UK ever since! There is undoubtedly something truly special about Edinburgh Fringe in terms of the pure size and quality of the festival, the audiences and the impeccable talent from all over the world which transforms this city for one month every year that could only really be described as a live entertainment aficionado’s DREAM! To be apart of it presenting two of our own shows, bringing something completely different and unique with magic into the festival, is a true privilege and something we are honoured to do here at the Fringe.

What differentiates it from other festivals?

Obviously the pure grandieur of the festival makes Edinburgh stand high and above the other fringes in the world, but for me personally there is just something so special and unique observing all the bustling crowds (sometimes in their millions over the month!) rushing off to see another world-class show, the excited buzz just palpable all around. Having some of the very best productions on your front door step with no where near enough time in the day to see all that you are hoping to! Plus for me, it is a bit of an extra special catch up with so many other performers that I work with or cross path with throughout the year – there’s always a grand rendezvous at Edinburgh!

What first motivated you to enter the industry? Who were your inspirations?

So I actually come from a background that is quite absent of certainly any magicians but people in the entertainment world in general. My father was in a band for most of his 20s and worked in audio engineering but besides that, I quite literally fell into it!

I learnt my first card trick out of necessity in my last year in primary school as everyone had to perform an act of sorts for an end of year concert, I found a card magic book and was instantly hooked! Gaining even more interested over the summer holidays, I eventually found a magic school in Melbourne (not quite the Hogwarts type) that was also a magic shop and a meeting place for many Melbourne magicians who did this for a living! It was here that I learnt all the skills and confidence needed to start selling my very own private show for children’s birthdays which I took up when I was only 13!

In my mid-teens was when I met my best friend and current business partner, Justin, as well as Australian Illusionist Michael Boyd who took me under his wing and I was able to pick up through working as his assistant, all the knowledge and experience of producing large scale shows in theatres, festivals and across the globe. With Justin throwing hundreds of new ideas for magic routines at me each day, and my experience working for Michael, we very quickly entered the Fringe circuit in Australia back in 2018 and haven’t stopped since!

How has your background, upbringing and education had an impact on your artistic career?

I was extremely fortunate in my upbringing to have parents who actually fully supported my artistic endeavours as long as I didn’t fall behind in school! My mum would drive me every weekend to do sometimes as many as 4 different birthday parties and other events all around Victoria where I was living. This support really allowed me to grow and develop my performing style and business in ways that I would never have been able to without them. What’s more, because of their stance that I had to get an education to live at home (not that I needed to be forced I actually loved school!) this really gave me an appreciation for the education system and encouraged me to pursue a Marketing Degree in tertiary studies. Because of this background, all my knowledge and experience in show business and how to turn that into a successful business for myself, came quite naturally.

What is your earliest childhood art memory?

So many things immediately come to mind! There’s drama classes at school, seeing my very first musical – Rice and Webber’s Jesus Christ Superstar in Melbourne which I STILL get inspired from to this day – and my discovery of the Melbourne Magic Festival which was my first training ground for putting on our very own shows that would later take us around the globe!

Art however, has been around me since my earliest memories. My dad was an avid artist and made his own music when I was little and growing up, so my very first art memories are of bringing a cup of tea down to my dad who had been painting in his little studio for the past 12 hours, or seeing him put another charcoal drawing up on the wall. He was a great father and always made time for me, and it was this first peek into a creative outlet and non-traditional lifestyle that I attribute my first artistic spark to come from.

If you didn’t have your current job, what would you probably be doing?

I think it would be damn near impossible for me to have not ended up in events and show business one way or another! I think if I didn’t have my current job, I would have ended up working in some regard with a theatre or other touring production managing marketing, stage management, logistics, or any of the areas of show production I feel a natural affinity towards.

Or a pilot. I did always want to be a pilot growing up!

Did Covid-19 change the way you create work? Do you approach shows with a different mentality now?

Absolutely. 100%. No Questions Asked.

We were put through such an incredible amount of obstacles that we have had to overcome since 2020 just to keep our heads above water, let alone continuing to create and put work out into the world. If anything, it has taught us that all of this industry can be brought to a grinding halt at any minute, so it is so imperative to seize every single day and do as much work as you possibly can, while you can.

It has forced us to think about entirely different ways to tour the shows, including having multiple casts and contingency plans that were never even on the scale of consideration prior to COVID. Particularly in terms of magic shows, we have had to come up with so many different ways to achieve effects in a form of entertainment which resolves so heavily around audience participation, handling of props, being close to the performers etc. in a world where everyone must be 1.5m away from each other. This was the biggest challenge – no more ‘miracles in the audience’s hands right underneath their noses’ – now we had to replicate that feeling of impossibility from a distance.

With so many months of performing and touring, we were also locked down in Melbourne more than any other city in the world – which allowed us plenty of time to come up with brand new shows and concepts which we will continue building on as the world slowly returns to normal.

Describe the last year in 5 words or less?

Lockdowns, Shows, Lockdowns, Shows, Pyjamas

Do you subscribe to the idea that art should be exempt from ‘cancel culture’?

I think that art is, perhaps first and foremost, an expression by the artist in response to the world around them which is where a lot of this inspiration is stemming from. They are responding to the world they exist in, their own interpretations of different elements of the world, and largely with art if we are trying to make works with a sophisticated underlying concept or commentary on a certain aspect of life, then these works will be made to deliberately shock, move and disturb their audiences.

I think with that in mind, art is an extremely difficult thing to control in the way that cancel culture attempts to, as there is so much depth and understanding to be had by interpreting different forms of art in the wider context of the circumstances surrounding the artist while they were creating their work.

There are of course beliefs and ideologies that are objectively foul and should not be supported, and in cases like this I think it is important to not erase this from the public’s view but educate everyone as to where these views come from, not to justify the negative beliefs in light of talent and to always acknowledge potential harm that may have been caused.

I recently watched the original Peter Pan on Disney which now features a screen at the start of the movie with text which acknowledges that the movie was made in a different time, and that a lot of the references and resemblances present in the movie are now not tolerated by society or indeed Disney themselves. Art galleries around the world proudly display paintings of Picasso, some of which depict animalistic scenes of rape and murder; yet the simple concepts these artworks deal with are not reason to pull them off the wall and cancel Picasso. Instead we can look at these works through the lens of Picasso depicting his psychological tensions and causing us to question how we as a society can work to better educate and rehabilitate those who need it.

J.K. Rowling is another example in more recent times that comes into this question, whether a society should respond to an author publicly attacking trans people, and the consistent racial stereotypes that plague every single one of her books making it impossible to escape just how ingrained her views are. I don’t think the literary works of Harry Potter should be cancelled in response, but surely we can highlight these issues and make it widely known why they are incorrect. Put things into place which can support the groups of people who suffer harm from such views, and don’t excuse such views form an individual just because of their talent. Source merchandise not directly from the artist so not to fund them, and become a vocal supporter of the groups they discriminate against.

So while I will not argue in an absolute sense against the censorship on art, we should definitely err more on the side of allowing humanity to experience and learn from challenging works of art, and be sure to accompany all of these works with context of the artist and their backgrounds, the issue addressed, and the commentary attempting to be explained.

If you could work with anybody, from any point in history, who would you pick and why?

Oh this would just have to be Penn & Teller! They are at least the first people who come into mind when I read this question!

Justin and I have both been obsessed with Penn & Teller since we first discovered the world of magic, with their unique presentation style and twist on magic that they accomplish with every routine that they do has inspired us to push the boundaries on what we personally consider possible or realistic with every new routine of work that we put out into the world! It would be an absolute dream to be able to work with them, get a glimpse on the creation processes behind their routines, and just bounce ideas of them to create incredible feats of magic!

What advice would you give to someone who wants to take a show up to the fringe?

Give it absolutely everything you’ve got! Find something different about your concept that will really pop to a section of the Edinburgh audiences, and once you have your images and concept just get out there and be amongst this amazing festival! Of course put everything into your own show making sure the audiences leave loving every second, but don’t miss out on the opportunity to consume some of the other shows on offer and network with many of the global artists who all come together for this one very special month in Edinburgh.

When and where can people see your show?

The Greatest Magic Show is playing everyday August 3 – 29 (except the 15^th and 22^nd) at 14:35 at the Assembly George Square Gardens in the Spiegeltent Palais Du Variete.

Adults Only Magic Show is playing every night from August 3 – 28 (except 15,22) at 21:15 in the Assembly George Square Studios – Studio 3

And where can people find, follow and like you online?

Below are the links to our websites and socials for our production company and shows we are bringing to Edinburgh Fringe this year – we would love to connect with you all!