For most married couples, working together might mean sharing an office or running a business. For Alan and Kat Hudson, it means trying to read minds, perform illusions and occasionally risk turning a domestic disagreement into part of the evening’s entertainment.
The husband-and-wife magicians bring their comedy magic show Married at First Sleight to The Old Woollen in Farsley on Thursday, 15 October.
Although they now perform together as Hudson & Hudson, both had established careers as solo magicians before creating the double act.
Alan has been performing professionally for more than three decades and is a Member of The Inner Magic Circle with Gold Star, one of the organisation’s highest performance distinctions. He has also won The Magic Circle’s Carlton Comedy Award and performed internationally at venues including The Magic Castle in Hollywood.
His television appearances include Britain’s Got Talent and ITV’s The Next Great Magician, while one of his career highlights came when he successfully fooled Penn and Teller on their television series Penn & Teller: Fool Us with an original trick.
Kat also built her own career in magic, becoming an Associate Member of The Magic Circle with a Silver Star. She has appeared on Britain’s Got Talent, Penn & Teller: Fool Us and Italy’s Tu Si Que Vales, and in 2021 starred in the West End magic and illusion production Wonderville.
Her route into magic, though, began much closer to home.
“When we got together, Alan was a magician, and I just picked it up at home by living together,” she said. “I saw that he was getting to travel to glamorous locations like Hollywood and I thought, well, if he can do it…”
Despite both being magicians, performing together was not initially part of the plan. The possibility was even raised while the pair were appearing separately on Britain’s Got Talent.
Kat said:
“I remember Ant & Dec asking us if we would do one and we both said no. Dec said that was probably a good idea because ‘one of you always ends up doing a lot of the heavy lifting’.”
They eventually changed their minds and created Hudson & Hudson, with Married at First Sleight becoming their first full live show as a double act. It debuted at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2023.
Rather than simply combining material from their individual acts, the pair set themselves the challenge of creating a show specifically for two magicians.
Alan says they agreed not to use tricks they had previously performed individually, allowing them to explore effects and methods that became possible only with two performers involved.
“I thought together we could do something different, something audiences hadn’t seen before, and make our magic more amazing with two people instead of one,” he said.
Kat remembers another incentive.
“You told me it’s because you thought we could charge more if I was in the act,” she said.
That relationship is now central to the show. Married at First Sleight combines magic and mind-reading with comedy, audience participation and sketches, while the pair regularly allow their real married life to creep into the performance.
Asked about the best thing about working with Alan, Kat said:
“We travel together, work together, we get to spend 24 hours a day together.”
Asked for the worst thing, Alan gave exactly the same answer.
The show includes a range of different routines, from larger illusions to mind-reading and close-up-style effects, as well as a game show element and audience participation. Their own description of the production includes everything from card magic to summoning a ghost on stage.
Alan said some of his favourite moments include a bullet catch, the finale and a mind-reading routine involving a dictionary.
“For me, there are so many,” he said. “The bullet catch is incredible, the finale is amazing, and you don’t see it coming.”
Much of the comedy comes from the fact that, while there is a script, there is also plenty of room for the pair to react to each other.
“We obviously have some funny lines that we’ve written, but we go off script all the time,” Alan said. “Kat especially can’t help bringing our personal lives into it. She knows she’s got my full attention if she mentions something in the show.”
That unpredictability extends to the audience, who are involved in several parts of the performance. Kat said years of television and live work had taught her always to expect the unexpected when bringing someone on stage.
“You never know what a person is going to say or do,” she said. “You lot certainly keep us on our toes. We love it.”
The pair say their intention is not to simply create a show for committed magic fans, but a comedy night that happens to have some substantial magic running through it.
Alan said:
“This is all of our best stuff in one show. It’s got comedy, sketches. It’s a magic show that is great even if you don’t normally like magic shows.”
Hudson & Hudson: Married at First Sleight is at The Old Woollen in Farsley at 8 pm on Thursday 15 October.
