The NEW Mr Alexander's Magical Emporium

The new shop website is now live! Check it out here: Visit the new Magic Emporium website

I've discovered that Manus (manus.im) can create a new website in the blink of an eye, so the hours I spent designing, thinking, planning, and deciding on the content last year, can now be done without any anxiety, effort, or fatigue. Of course, you guessed it: it's AI.

I prefer to call AI 'AA', which is short for Aisling/Ailean — two names of Gallic origin, both containing the letters AI. So, if I feel I have an AA reply that seems to show more female characteristics (care, compassion, support), she is called Aisling. If I have a more structured, methodological reply (define, devise, advance), then he is called Ailean. Now I know what you're thinking — isn't that a bit trans? Well, yes, but anyone reading my blog over the years will realise that my female persona is quite strongly defined. We are already linking the female gender with a male characteristic. Anyway, who is saying that 'defining' is male?

Enough of this twaddle already and on with the show…

The stage has gone, and I've moved on. Until May I'm back in school — teaching the tiny teenies — Year One — such fun! More about that in my next blog.

Zanda's Symporium of Illusion is the name of the new show. The show retains much of the flair and panache of the old one but demands far less arduous and exhausting effort than before. More Gandalf than Gandey. Much as I like Gandey's Circus, this is no longer me. This old man finds all that lifting, shifting, and sifting (the only rhyming word I could think of) anything but uplifting.

The motorhome would be parked on my pitch, with the awning extended. The proscenium arch will be set up in front of the awning. A green silk parachute will conceal the van. Old Zanda (if I can get him out of bed) will perch on an antique carved wooden chair and perform close-up magic, while telling ancient illusionary tales… there will be visual, aural, and sensory illusions (and a few more senses besides...).

The new van will be the centre of attention, wrapped in a green silk parachute that makes it appear slightly different, softening the edges and adding a more magical atmosphere.

The van's awning will display the newly painted proscenium arch, creating a performance space in front, similar to how I used to set it up when I had the stage.

I will still have the selfie 'Rosie behind' fun photo frame and two new features — two standing illusions from the collection in Travelling Light Circus's Playground of Illusions. A show worth seeing (or maybe feeling, smelling, hearing…)

A 'Sensorium of Illusion' on a road near you.

So, so far the Summer of 2026 is looking like this:

2026 Provisional Dates