{"id":20222,"date":"2022-04-06T10:30:56","date_gmt":"2022-04-06T09:30:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/?p=20222"},"modified":"2022-04-06T10:30:57","modified_gmt":"2022-04-06T09:30:57","slug":"from-80s-punk-star-to-magician-welcome-to-the-oddly-unique-and-world-of-mr-wizzy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/2022\/04\/from-80s-punk-star-to-magician-welcome-to-the-oddly-unique-and-world-of-mr-wizzy\/","title":{"rendered":"From 80\u2019s Punk Star To Magician, Welcome To The Oddly Unique And World Of Mr Wizzy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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It was a pack of cards and an encounter with a famous comedian and magician that turned the young Steve Wilson from curious teenager into budding child magician. Little did he know then that these experiences would lead to a 25 year relationship with Circusful, formerly Belfast Community Circus School.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy fondest memory was meeting Tommy Cooper at a magic convention in London. I was a wee nipper of 13 and he was a giant.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI bought some cards in Hamleys toy store in London in the 70s and this pack of cards got me into magic,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After establishing his career as a professional magician, performing at the likes of the Royal Silver Jubilee Celebrations in London and at children’s parties, Steve moved to Ireland permanently in 2000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His connections with the Belfast Circus School via fellow Circusful performer, Bucky The Clown, led to Steve creating the building blocks of his original character, \u201cWonderful World of Mr Wizzy\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t very academically good so I was always going to be a performer. I did workshops, and some shadowing for the first month to get up to a certain skill level\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all Bucky\u2019s fault but I\u2019ve never looked back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Originally, Mr Wizzy performed as a double act around Ireland showcasing highly visual and entertaining mobile performances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During his early career, Steve took part in the Special Olympics ceremony held in Dublin where he brushed shoulders with U2, The Corrs and Bon Jovi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBack in the day we did the Special Olympics at Croke Park. We were there for three days and Nelson Mandela was there but hadn\u2019t arrived yet so someone was invited to get up on stage to be him for the camera angles. So I went up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe did a big finish for 30K people in 7 minutes.\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When he isn\u2019t performing, Steve enjoys his role as a Circusful trainer where he teaches workshops to enthusiastic participants who have the opportunity to learn new skills, gain confidence, build resilience and make long lasting friendships. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got them all wired. It helps to build their self-esteem for school or a whole range of things. Circus breaks down all the barriers. It\u2019s not like rugby at school where if you don\u2019t fit in, you\u2019ll be singled out. It\u2019s not competitive at all\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the years, Mr Wizzy has led classes for disabled people and people who are recovering from strokes, he finds this work the most fulfilling. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne of the things we have been doing over the years are workshops with disabled people which I love with a passion, I must say. When we come back from the workshops, we can\u2019t believe that we\u2019ve had the privilege to work in this way \u2013 it\u2019s very rewarding.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Steve worked with a woman who had had a stroke a few years ago. \u201cThis lady was blind and I used juggling balls with her and she held a juggling ball and burst into tears as her carers had all told her she couldn\u2019t feel anything in her hand.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although his colourful career has meant he\u2019s travelled far and wide and performed to a variety of people, Steve believes that Belfast is the perfect place to do what he loves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy favourite place to perform is undoubtedly Belfast because we know everybody from the school, so we don\u2019t have to try too hard to get an audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe already know the people in the audience and with the Festival of Fools, we have theatre on our doorsteps here \u2013 it\u2019s brilliant.\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Steve continues to move forward with the tight knit Circusful family to connect, empower and inspire the people of Northern Ireland and beyond through high-quality circus tuition and performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a family. It\u2019s the circus family.\u201dTo find out how you can get involved with Circusful, visit <\/em><\/strong>https:\/\/circusful.org<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was a pack of cards and an encounter with a famous comedian and magician that turned the young Steve Wilson from curious teenager into budding child magician. Little did he know then that these experiences would lead to a 25 year relationship with Circusful, formerly Belfast Community Circus School.\u00a0 \u201cMy fondest memory was meeting … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20222"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20222"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20226,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20222\/revisions\/20226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}