TOP MAGICIAN, illusionist and hypnotist Keith Barry is known as Ireland’s Druid Master. His exceptional sleight of hand and mind control talents carry on the ancient druidic tradition and have marked him as one of Ireland’s leading entertainment figures.
The Waterford native started performing at 14 after buying a magic book while on a school tour to Edinburgh. His interest in magic developed throughout his late teens and during his time in university in Galway in the 1990s.
It was not until he became the resident trickster in the U2-owned Kitchen Nightclub in Dublin during the Celtic Tiger era that his career really started to take off. While working in the illustrious nightspot he impressed Bono, Colin Farrell, Jim Corr, Louis Walsh, and Fun Lovin Criminals singer Huey Morgan with his mind-boggling tricks. He also came to attention of high-profile manager Eamonn Maguire.
Under Maguire’s watchful eye, Keith’s career went from strength to strength. In 2004 he starred in his own show Brainwashed on MTV and followed this with Close Encounters with Keith Barry. Recently he hosted a primetime special on ITV, toured Canada, and headlined the Planet Hollywood Hotel in Las Vegas.
This time last year the magic man was awarded The Merlin Award – the Oscar of the magic world – for Mentalist of the Year, beating big names such as David Copperfield and Penn and Teller.
Now Keith Barry brings his scary and innovative new show The Asylum to Galway’s Black Box Theatre on Thursday January 21 and Thursday January 28 at 8pm.
A Galway start
When Keith was growing up on the banks of the River Suir he was surrounded by the fables of sporting heroes. The Deise county has won the Munster Senior Hurling Championship eight times and All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship twice.
The area has also, in more recent times, produced numerous Irish international soccer players such as Jim Beglin, John O’Shea, Stephen Hunt, and Daryl Murphy. Yet from an early age Kevin was only interested in his own brand of magic and entertainment and one Christmas he started on his journey towards becoming a household name.
“Originally it was a Paul Daniels magic set that got me started,” he says .“I got my first set when I was about 10 and then every Christmas from then on I got a different set. When I was 14 I got a really good magic book and that really took me on the next level.
“I remember a couple of years ago I was in the same room as Paul Daniels but I never actually got to meet him. It’d be nice to meet him though at some stage and thank him for sort of starting me on the road to where I am now. It was his magic set that really captured my imagination when I was a kid.”
Throughout his late-teens Keith’s obsession with magic remained an expensive hobby. However, when he moved to Galway in the 1990s to study cosmetic science he found his tricks and stunts were very popular at house parties and other social gatherings.
“I was practising magic all the time,” he says. “I was living with a bunch of people from college and I used to try out tricks on them. Funnily enough I got a call recently from an American student who used to live with us in the house in Galway.
“He remembered me doing tricks and trying out different things back in the day and then he saw me appearing on the Ellen Degeneres Show in the States a couple of months ago.
“It was in Galway that I first started playing around with mind tricks. My girlfriend, who has since become my wife, was studying psychology in UCG and I started reading her course books at night. It was then I started mixing psychology and magic together. So I have Galway to thank for pointing me down that particular path.”
Vegas bound
After graduation with a BSc in 1998 the aspiring showman worked briefly as a cosmetic technician in Bray but his heart was not really in the job. Upon moving to Dublin he was offered the role of resident entertainer at The Kitchen Nightclub, co-owned by Bono and The Edge, at a time when it was at the hub of the celebrity world.
“It was a lot of fun,” Kevin says. “I was there every Friday night doing my magic for all the celebs and VIPs. It was around that time the MTV Europe Music Awards came to Dublin and I remember meeting all the celebrities after the ceremony.
“I met Huey Morgan that night at one of the after-parties and we became really good friends. The times now aren’t as good as they were then and everyone is feeling the pinch. Ticket sales are down for all shows and it means people in the entertainment have to work that little bit harder.”
There is no doubt Keith is one of the hardest working performers on the scene and he regularly travels back and forth between Ireland and North America. He has become a popular fixture at A-list Hollywood events and on the Las Vegas Strip.
Over the past two years he has performed tricks for Justin Timberlake, Beyoncé, Carson Daly, Jimmy Kimmel, and Sharon Osbourne. The Toronto Star beamed: “Do you believe in magic? You will after you see Keith Barry,” and the plaudits just keep coming.
“You’re really living off what the reviewers say about your show,” Kevin says. “If they’re going to see a magic show they want it to be new and fresh and exciting. The journalists control whether you make it or not and it doesn’t really matter what you’ve done in the past.
“I was lucky enough that the Las Vegas Review voted me Magician of the Year last year. The one place where magic has a permanent home is Las Vegas and there’s usually anything up to eight shows on The Strip at any one time. So you have to be really, really, good to make it there.”
Fresh from his triumphant run in Sin City the rising man of magic brings his new show The Asylum to Galway for two nights later this month. It is his most ambitious project to date.
“It’s a lot darker than anything I’ve done before and a little bit more bizarre,” he says. “It will be a complete world of fantasy and audiences will be shocked by what they see.”
Tickets are available from the Town Hall on 091 - 569777.
