Miracles from Steven Frayne aired over the holidays. It's the UK magician's big swing at making a Christmas special with his unique style of street magic and human stories. It's excellent.
On the eighth of June, I received a text from "D."
The magician, formally known as Dynamo, now goes by his full name, Steven Frayne, but I still can't quite shake the habit of calling him D.
The text I received was of a single image – a traffic light with one light brightly shining – a green light.
I'd spent a week earlier in the year helping craft the final pitch document for a special he'd been developing with plenty of talented people.
The text was his way of letting us all know that they'd received the green light and were going to make the special. Very exciting.
Participating in the early development of this show was emotionally complicated for me. I can't put it into words, and trust me, I tried.
I can certainly relate to Steven's difficulty navigating the press for his last special Dynamo is Dead. In it, he had to explain why he could no longer use his name without really being able to explain it at all.
I was first hired to work for Steven when I was nineteen. Ten months later, when I left under not-so-good circumstances, through no fault of Steven's, I was explicitly told by someone at the time that I would never work in TV again. It was not a great thing to be told at that age.
I'm pleased to say that everything seems to have since found its place.
Steven and I both continued to work on TV shows, and the person who told me I wouldn't is no longer doing the same.
A decade later, Miracles was my first time working with Steven again.
The role I played was tiny and early on, so I wasn't sure what to expect when I watched it today. It's the talented work of others who make shows like these.
I'd initially planned to write an article about how magicians seem to have a tough time reinventing themselves. I was going to share how odd it sometimes feels that Copperfield still talks about his Grandad on stage, etc.
