A corporate guest reacting with astonishment to a close-up magician

Who we are

Entertainers, not just magicians.

We started the Collective because we'd sat through one too many bad magicians. So we hand-pick the UK's finest close-up entertainers and match the right act to your event, for the reaction you'll never have to apologise for.

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Why we exist

Magicians, not middlemen.

Corporate magic usually gets booked one of two ways: a gamble on a directory, or an agency that takes your brief, takes its cut, and doesn't much mind who turns up on the night.

We're neither. The Collective is run by close-up magicians, so we know exactly what a great one looks like in a real room, because we've spent years working those rooms ourselves. Come to us and you get the judgement of people who actually do this: we match the right act to your event instead of leaving it to chance.

Sometimes that's a Magic Circle name. Sometimes it's a quieter performer who's every bit as good without the badge. We judge them all on the same thing: the reaction they get.

Your entertainment, chosen by experts, not left to a search result.

The standard

We book for the room, not the CV.

Awards and Magic Circle membership are the floor, not the pitch. What earns a place in the Collective is what happens when a performer actually walks into your event. Every one of them clears the same bar.

The reaction comes first

Skill is assumed. The job is turning a stiff corporate crowd into a genuinely amazed one, and that's what we hire for.

Close-up that holds up

Sleight of hand good enough to survive inches from your guests' faces, with no stage and no spotlight to hide behind.

Room-ready, every time

They arrive early, dress the part, read your run of show and work the floor without ever making it awkward. Fully insured, and booked through people who make sure the right act actually turns up.

The curator

Founded and hand-picked by Close-Up Chris.

The Collective is the work of Close-Up Chris, ranked the UK's number one close-up magician. Every performer on the roster is someone he has watched work and would happily put in front of his own clients.

That's the point of a collective with someone at the helm. You're not scrolling a directory of strangers, you're booking a team that one of the country's best magicians has personally chosen and staked his name on.

The Close-Up Collective hand-picked seal

Hand-picked by
Close-Up Chris

What this means for you

The entertainment stops being the risk.

No gamble on a stranger, no cringe in front of your colleagues, no quiet apology afterwards. Just the right act for your event, chosen by people who know, and a room that remembers it for all the right reasons.

The roster