Simon Drake

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Simon Drake is the stage name of a British magician based in London. He is best known for the innovative and shocking television series Secret Cabaret made for Britain's Channel 4.^[1]

Drake has said he is the son of a surgeon and that both sides of his family were connected to the medical profession for some generations.^[2] ^[3] He first came to wider attention in Kate Bush's award winning tour in 1980 for which he co-devised visuals and played seven characters. He has a diverse performing history, from Terayama’s Tenjo Sajiki theatre in Japan to the Royal Variety Show at the Palladium before HRH Queen Elizabeth II. He advised Nicolas Roeg for the film Castaway, with the tricky task of coaching Oliver Reed in sleight of hand, and was magic advisor to Harvey Keitel on Fairy Tale, A True Story.^[4] In two series of the acclaimed Secret Cabaret for Channel Four, he won an international cult following as one of the most original and shocking illusionists in the world. He has performed and consulted with many stars including: Elton John, Phil Collins, Madness, David Gilmour, Meat Loaf, Steve Miller’s Abracadabra, Darryl Hall, Bill Wyman, George Harrison, Julian Lennon, Peter Gabriel and Pamela Stephenson.

Simon Drake was seen live on coast-to-coast American TV in the special Raising Hell in which he co-starred with Iron Maiden. The same month Drake performed with Carl Davis and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.

Drake has performed twice as a guest with The Royal Ballet at The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and the London Coliseum. He has appeared at festivals and tours in Canada, New Zealand, Europe and in the UK and has had residencies at many London nightclubs as well as a month in cabaret at The Casino in Monte Carlo, Paris and Dubai. He was the magic and effects supervisor to Cameron Mackintosh for the West End production of The Witches of Eastwick and Ducktastic, directed by Kenneth Branagh.^[5]

He is also acting as a consultant on the South London Theatres Spring 2007 production of Dr Faustus.

In 1996 he opened his own 5,000 square foot venue, Simon Drake’s House of Magic, in a converted former pub at an unpublicised location in south London.^[6] ^[7] This performing space specialises in corporate entertainment functions with occasional public performance nights. Shows feature such gory effects as light-hearted amputations and decapitations of senior executives and celebrity guests.^[8]. His regular warm-up acts include piano-based comedian Adam Kay, aka Amateur Transplants and original singer Earl Okin, along with stand-up comedian Anthony Davis in the guise of Rafe the Butler.

^ Secret Cabaret information. at television production company Open Media. Retrieved on 2007-03-10.
^ Quinlan, Tim (3 October 2005), "Celebrity Interview: Simon Drake", Inside Magic
^ 19 Feb 2000, "Interview with Simon Drake", Daily Mirror
^ Simon Drake at the Internet Movie Database
^ Quinlan, "Celebrity Interview"
^ Described by the Northern Echo newspaper (19 Aug 1999) as a "grey, anonymous-looking building"
^ Robinson, Karen (12 Nov 2006), ""Mister spook"", The Sunday Times online
^ Robinson, Karen, ""Mister spook"", The Sunday Times online