Rediscovering ‘The Secret Cabaret’: A Journey into Simon Drake’s Twisted Magic That Shocked ‘90s TV!
Magic and illusions do play a wonderfully deep ingrained part in the world of horror. Early cinema, especially George Melies (who arguably created some of the first horror films) used this genre regularly. Germany also had their expressionist era of silent films which runs hand in hand with magic (performers still take a lot of inspiration from those movies even today). This is to give but two examples out of many.
The USA have a lot of famous performers, as does the UK. Names such as Penn & Teller, Criss Angel, Dynamo, David Blaine, all entertain and thrill millions throughout the globe.
One outstanding name is usually missing from any list…
Before Criss Angel, Dynamo, and David Blaine there was Simon Drake. All those prior three use a lot of moody visuals, but back in the early 1990s on UK TV, Channel 4, unveiled a show which would stun a generation. The Rocky Horror Picture Show, metal, punk, gothic movies and music — Simon took from as much as he could from the anti-pop sub-culture to create The Secret Cabaret. Grand Guignol brought kicking and screaming down the decades and onto telly sets throughout a nation.
An average of 2.5 million people tuned in to gawp at the carnival which ran for two seasons, mixing vintage footage alongside Simon and a whole host of guests. Due to copyright issues, nothing of the guests exists anywhere on physical media or YouTube, etcetera, that I can find. A DVD came out supervised by Simon which put together most of his own footage from the shows. This was good enough.
Simon Drake really screwed with my impressionable head as a sixteen-year-old. My brain was awash with ghastly films, books, and loud music. So, imagine what this did to me as you read on. You see, all I had witnessed of magic on TV had been the iconic family friendly workhorse, Paul Daniels. The Secret Cabaret was something else altogether.
Incidentally, I recall when Penn and Teller came to the UK to do a quick couple of shows for TV they totally ripped into Paul Daniels, using him as an example of the British scene. Neither of them spoke of Simon Drake. Maybe they didn’t know about him, or just maybe they were genuinely shocked by him.
My review is from a copy I’ve had sat in my collection for years, so there is no point discussing quality and such.
Beginning with his Post Apocalypse character, a Mad Max Italian knock off looking bad ass dude, who appears throughout the DVD (my fav as a teen) sitting back on his throne wanting to light his cigar. Unable to, he puts his slave girl under hypnosis and the rest of his slaves proceed to set up his variation of sawing a woman in a box trick — basically setting her on fire! I think he took a bit of inspiration from Duran Duran’s Wild Boys video as well, just saying.
Simon ventures out silently into the audience with a trick, then he’s wide-eyed carrying a top hat, popping large metal balls from his mouth. An old school trick, but fun none the less. Little interludes appear now and then with musical box sounds wherein Simon, plus other folks, extensive collection of spooky toys are shown working their magic. Oh and a few quick flash card tricks.
Next, we witness the first handful of many bloody moments to come as his bad ass Max Max knock-off is pierced through his torso with a sword. Then he sticks a rather large needle through his arm whilst the audience cringes. As the show goes on, he does a Harry Houdini call back, a catching a bullet trick, plus his slave minions turn on him.
Series two shown on TV in 1992 and on this DVD is down to Simon’s parts again due to copyright reasons. Again, his Mad Max geeza has his mob of misfit unruly slaves turn on him. Then throughout we have a gory knife through the arm trick, floating tables, a show stopping operation theatre sequence, a beheading, chainsaw chaos, cards, string games, and much much more.
My favourite segment comes just before the final credits of the release and after (both series compilations have post-credit scenes) presenting a twist upon the classic Dorian Gray story involving fire. This is the one that stuck out in my head as a thrill viewing teen and is still as powerful when watched today!
It works better like this. I remember the TV series and the guests (well some of them) but not everybody was memorable. Outstanding names (who will never be seen in this show again) include Highgate Vampire Hunter, Sean Manchester, James Randi, Ricky Jay, and Frank Abagnale. This DVD boils down to Simon, the audience and his support cast of slaves.
In The Secret Cabaret, everything is dark, gloomy, gothic, and damaged futuristic at the same time. Some of the tricks are dated for nowadays viewing, however the presentation and theatre of the macabre is the ultimate reward. Simon was quoted around that era saying, “On television in the UK then, were Wayne Dobson and Paul Daniels, but they didn’t appeal to me. I wanted to see something darker, more fast-paced and rock-and-roll, more sexy, more weird.”
These days he performs private shows for well paying guests. He still lives and breathes the realm of the wild and weird.
Directed by: Sebastian Harris, Don Coutts, Vincent Stafford
Written by: Simon Drake
Produced by: Simon Drake, Jim Steinmeyer, Frankie Glass
Edited by: Emma Lintern, Sasha Kamen, Jerry Chater
Cast: Simon Drake, Sarah Jane Cresswell, Desmond Williams, Juliette Hardy, Helen Bee
Year: 1990-1992
Country: UK
Language: English
Colour: Colour
Runtime: 1h 36min
Studio: Open Media
Distributor: Channel Four Productions
