Magician James Phelan plays the Quarry Theatre at St Luke's in Bedford at 7.30pm on Friday 11 December. It is one night only, recommended for ages 12 and over.

Magician James Phelan plays the Quarry Theatre at St Luke’s in Bedford for one night, at 7.30pm on Friday 11 December 2026, with his show The Man Who Was Magic.

His producers start with something that happened when he was four. A teacher told him he would never make anything of himself doing magic. In September 2025 she bought a ticket to his sold-out West End debut at the Adelphi Theatre, sat in the front row and waited afterwards to apologise.

One trick and a shelf of books

Phelan’s uncle was Paul Daniels. Showman Live, which produces the tour, says Daniels taught him one trick and told him to learn the rest from books. He did. On those shelves he found Paul Gallico’s novel The Man Who Was Magic and thought, “One day.” The show takes its name from that book.

It follows The Dreamer, his 2024 to 2025 tour, in which he told the story of his parents’ twelve years of IVF. Before he had a dream of his own, his parents had spent years dreaming of him. So each night of the new show he asks a child in the audience what they dream of becoming. The producers will not say what happens next, only that the child sees something they have only imagined become “real enough to hold in their hand”.

“I want people walking out with the same feeling I had when I was younger,” Phelan says. “That the world just got a little bigger, and if you dream hard enough, you can make things happen. Come sceptical. Stay curious. Leave with a story you can’t quite explain and a reason to believe that impossible dream might actually come true.”

His 2026

Phelan appeared on Britain’s Got Talent this year. He performed at Blackpool’s Winter Gardens, and his producers point out that his uncle had done the same 45 years earlier. They say he also had the biggest magic show at the Edinburgh Fringe for the third year running and has played 203 sold-out shows in theatres around the world.

He was the first magician to sell out a two-week solo run at The Magic Circle, and this year he was made a Member of the Inner Magic Circle with Gold Star, which Showman Live describes as the Circle’s highest honour. Many people still know him for jamming the BBC switchboard when he revealed a lottery prediction live on air. He had tweeted the winning numbers the day before.

His book How to do Magic: Tricks, showmanship and secrets with things you already own comes out internationally on 1 December.

What reviewers said

The tour’s publicity quotes HELLO!, which called it “a perfect night of wonder”; LondonTheatre1, “utterly magnificent from beginning to end”; The Sun, “Joel Dommett meets David Blaine”; and The Guardian, “hugely entertaining”.

World Magic Review gave it five stars and wrote: “This isn’t for people who want to see magic on stage. This is for people who want to feel it.” Lisa in the Theatre wrote: “He stuns the audience into silence, only broken by ecstatic cheers. He may not actually be human.” The Henley Standard called him “a polished showman and raconteur. An unforgettable evening that we can’t stop talking about.”

Going to the Bedford show

  • When: Friday 11 December 2026, 7.30pm
  • Where: The Quarry Theatre at St Luke’s, 26 St Peter’s Street, Bedford MK40 2NN
  • Running time: about 140 minutes, including a 20-minute interval
  • Age: recommended for 12 and over
  • Tickets: from the Quarry Theatre or manwhowasmagic.com

For more ideas for the month, see our guide to what’s on in Bedford.

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