By Cat Lewis
At a club, it’s often the DJ who’s center-stage, working the crowd, captivating clubbers with music. Tonight, I’m sitting in the basement of a London bar with Sid Quatrine, a more mysterious figure in London’s underground nightlife scene. Unlike DJs, he captivates guests in a different way.
At 23, he’s one of the world’s youngest illusionists. Known for his unique twist on stage entertainment, like swallowing razor blades, he’s a member of the United Kingdom’s elite fraternity of escape artists, a certified hypnotist, and for three years worked at The Box, one of London’s naughtiest nightspots, in many roles: performer, stagehand, light operator, prop builder, and more.
Sid has entertained audiences for some of the most prestigious companies and biggest names in the industry, including Sir Mark Rylance, Sir Ian McKellen, and Ronnie Wood. He has worked with The Royal Shakespeare Company and has dozens of regular engagements at resorts around the world.
A 2026 finalist in The Magic Circle’s Close-Up Magician of the Year competition and voted on by their board as one of the youngest Councilors in the history of the society, he is widely regarded as one of the UK’s premier illusionists.
It’s not often one gets to sit and have a conversation with someone from the secretive world of magic. Sid Quatrine sits across from me in a black velvet jacket with a rose pinned to his lapel.
I ask him what led him to a life in magic, and he tells me it started with a fascination with coin tricks, followed by his mum’s friend performing a trick with a knotted napkin and a coin when he was a child, which “blew his mind.”
That experience had such a profound effect on him that he still uses the same trick as his close-up magic opener, whether it’s a cabaret night, burlesque show, or as the resident magician at Nachtlicker, one of London’s most subversive club nights. That’s where he came on my radar and where I watched him catch a bullet fired from a pistol in his teeth.
He says that, while he can’t share the secrets of that trick, he’s an open book. He takes a sip of beer and tells me about childhood.
Tell me about growing up.
Sid Quatrine is from Cornwall, in southwest England. He navigated a tough childhood with his Mum, who lives with schizoaffective bipolar disorder. “You can never really tell what’s her and what isn’t,” he says. “She has many personalities.”
He shares stories from childhood. The “weirdest” one: “When I was 7, I walked downstairs. The TV was on. Mum was lying on the floor, covered head to toe in acupuncture needles. I’d never in my life seen an acupuncture needle. She had candles all around her. I walked in and said her name, but she didn’t budge. She was asleep. I stood there staring at her, then went to the kitchen, got a glass of water, and ran back upstairs. I was so scared.”
When he later asked her about her behavior, she told him she had no idea what he was talking about.
He has fond memories too, like walking the family dog on the beach and having fun in a house full of spiritual trinkets, like Tibetan singing bowls and rosary beads. His mother “liked Buddhism and Eastern faiths.”
“Mum believed in the supernatural. She was very pagan. She displaced a lot of things about energies and the universe onto me as a kid.”
He tells me, “I learned these things from her.”
She had other beliefs, too. “She had episodes where she believed in the paranormal.” After several of these “episodes,” Social Services got involved, changing the course of his childhood.
What happened next?
“I floated in and out of foster care homes, maybe six or seven times. When I was about 13, I was in a foster home in Cornwall,” and this is where a “life-changing” event happened: “I was walking my dog, and this guy came up to me and told me to think of a card, any card. I thought about the King of Spades, but didn’t tell him anything. He took a card deck from his pocket, went through them, and the only one face-down was the King of Spades.”
It awakened Sid Quatrine’s lifelong interest in magic, something that he feels now had been brewing since his earliest memories: ”I thought, bloody hell, that’s the best trick I’ve ever seen.”
Sid Quatrine asked the man many questions and learned that he lived just down the road and was a member of a mysterious group called The Magic Circle.
The man gave Sid some book recommendations. That chance encounter then led to lessons, giving Sid the chance to begin learning the history and craft of being a magician.
Which magic books do you love?
One that meant a lot to him was Hocus Pocus by Paul Kieve. Though the book was filled with stories about magicians and the craft of magic, what stuck with Sid was what came in the back: “It came with magic postcards. I didn’t really read the book much, but I took the postcards and stuck them on my bedroom wall.”
Later, as a teenager, during his lessons, there were two books he was keen to get, but they had a hefty price tag.
He had some funds: “I was making money in my last foster home. I’d just finished a course on hypnotherapy.” Inspired by Theodore Annemann, a famous American magician who practiced mentalism, a rare art form where a performer shows highly developed mental capabilities like mind-reading, Sid became the UK’s youngest qualified hypnotherapist at 17.
Even so, the books he wanted, as a set, cost about £700—too much. They were Steve Forte’s two-volume Gambling Sleight of Hand. He emailed Forte, who, after some exchanges, sent him both books for free. Forte told him, “Pay me back when you can. Just make sure you make good use of them.”
Inscribed on the front cover of Volume One: “To Sid, may Lady Luck forever be your friend.”
How did you find your style?
“Magic is about evoking a sense of wonder through the medium of the unknown,” he says. I ask him to explain. He says, “My style of magic is very noir. I draw a lot from themes that interest me.”
“I feel like that’s where people go wrong in making art, especially as performers. It’s difficult to perform if you’re not authentic within yourself.”
“When I was deciding who I would be as a magician, I thought about what I enjoy, what I like. I draw inspiration from cinema. I love noir films.”
His favorite directors are Michael Curtiz, Orson Welles, Fellini, and David Lynch.
How do the concepts behind specific acts form in his mind?
“It nearly always starts with a prop. I look at something and think, Oh, that’s pretty, that’s interesting. That’s got something to it. Maybe it’s a razor blade, or a gun.”
Sid Quatrine laughs when I mention the trick I saw him perform with the gun—the tension I felt, the shock and wonder of seeing it happen when I realized no one was hurt, that he’d been in control the whole time.
It’s this kind of unexpected experience that makes artists like Sid Quatrine so vital to London nightlife. At a time when many clubs lean on digitalized effects and new technology to manufacture wonder, sterilizing the unpredictability that makes IRL clubbing so special, the more creative nights know something more is needed—something like the kind of antiquated-but-new, quaint-but-edgy performances Sid Quatrine does well.
I believe people want wow, wonder, and magic in nightlife. Who better to call on than a magician?
How is your style reflected in your performances?
“I’m very relaxed. I’m not out there with super high energy, going mental, trying to prove myself. There’s no ta-da, ta-da! Look at his gorgeous assistant! Let me put her in a box and cut her in half! I don’t do all that.”
He rolls his eyes and elaborates a bit on the more showy, flashy styles that so often characterize the industry.
“Most magic acts stay in the same cheeky, chappy, marginally misogynistic, slightly out-of-touch, old boys’ humor. That same benign, banal gag. It’s just horrible. I try to be current and stylish.”
True to the saying that “a magician never reveals his secrets,” I sense Sid is diverting my attention again to how others perform rather than divulging insights into his own work.
One thing he’s happy to talk about is his upcoming show. He’s been working for months on creating his debut solo performance and tells me it’ll feature entirely original routines.
He draws heavily on the inspiration and influence of his friend and mentor Simon Drake. I press further, but the concepts stay secret; it’s clear the only way to enter his world is to get a ticket and go see Sid Quatrine: An Evening of Illusion, which happens for one night only on Saturday, 11 July at Simon Drake’s House of Magic.
For 90 minutes, he’ll deliver what the site describes as a “sleek, contemporary theatrical reimagining of classic sleight of hand. Expect intimate, theatrical stage routines performed with the precision and charisma that have made him one of the most respected performers in Great Britain’s magic scene.”
What makes a Sid Quatrine show unique?
“A lot of magicians buy tricks,” he says. “They buy ideas other people come up with and bring them home, unbox them, learn the trick, take it out, and perform it.”
Sid prefers to create his work from scratch: “You can either be a creator or a consumer in the world of magic. The majority of magicians are consumers who see a trick they like, purchase it, and then perform it for others. And that’s fine!”
“We’re not all super creative, but I like to think I’m a creative magician. I get far more pleasure from presenting an act that came from my mind.”
I ask him to elaborate on his creative process, but Sid Quatrine pivots the conversation—a magician keeping the mystery. So, I move on to a different question.
How did you refine your craft?
At 18, Sid Quatrine spent a summer in Salou, a popular Spanish tourist spot outside of Barcelona. There, he tried everything he’d taught himself about close-up magic and gained a huge amount of experience.
It was a lot of work: “It was 5,000 tables over three months. I was like a mule. Six days a week, two shows every night.”
When he returned to the UK, he moved to London. “I had some mates who worked in cabaret. I only had £20 and didn’t know what to do, so I walked into The Box because someone at the time recommended it.”
The Box, in London’s Soho neighborhood, is a late-night cabaret venue known for its anything-goes performances and tough door—often a large percentage of the queue gets turned away. Sid walked in and landed a job.
I don’t know much about The Box. A lot of what they do there is kept too secret, but I have heard murmurs of it being one of London’s most expensive, exclusive, and explicit nights out.
I try to get more info, but Sid tells me some stories are “unprintable” and suggests we move to the next question.
Tell me about the Magic Circle.
He starts with a story: One evening in 1905, a group of 23 magicians met at Pinoli’s, an Italian restaurant in London. That night, the group decided to form The Magic Circle, a society for magicians to discuss, share secrets, and propel magic forward. Even then, artists worked hard to protect their craft and encourage more creatives into their world.
The Magic Circle is now the world’s oldest and most prestigious magic society. “It’s top of the top. Best of the best. Crème de la crème.” Sid tells me it’s a hugely significant achievement.
By 19, he was the youngest Councilor in the history of The Magic Circle, and in under two years, he’d become their theatre manager. Last year, in September, he was elected to the board as the youngest Councilor in the history of the organization. This year, he was a finalist in the Closeup Magician of the Year because of his ‘Dealing With The Devil’ act.
I’m intrigued by this secretive society and can only imagine the texts and memorabilia it holds. What’s an interesting thing there?
“Oh, God, there are many. Probably the Discovery of Witchcraft, the first book written on magic in 1583 by Reginald Scott. It was written to expose the methods of witches and prevent them from being burned at the stake.”
What‘s some advice you have for working artists?
Dinner nearing its end, our plates cleared, I think about how wild it is that Sid Quatrine has built such a career in our modern world. Many artists struggle to navigate the nightlife industry. I ask him what he wishes more people knew when building their dreams.
“I wish more people knew about closing the circle, in terms of synchronicities.” He leans in and says, “There’s something called Jungian synchronicity,” and explains it:
“As a child, there are things you’re drawn to that you have a gut feeling for. That’s why it’s right to trust gut feelings. They will lead you to the synchronicity as to why things in your life are connected.”
He shares a full-circle moment: When he first walked into the Magic Circle, he met Paul Kieve, author of Hocus Pocus, the book he’d found as a kid, which contained the magic postcards he kept on his wall—which he still has today.
That moment, he says, was one of his “synchronicities.” He explains: “Every decision I make comes from here,” pointing to his stomach. “I’ve had many, many synchronicities.”
“I think people don’t reflect on their childhoods enough, on the things they enjoyed, the things that activated a spark in them.”
And he smiles: “Of course, mine was magic.”
Sid tries to stay connected to those feelings. “I loved reading all those books Mum had about paganism and witchcraft, even though I didn’t understand them. But a lot of people close that door and get caught up in their big-boy and big-girl jobs, you know? They don’t pursue the things that nourish them. They forget.”
What do you actually believe in?
Many people actually believe in magic, or something like it, as a force that really exists in the world. But Sid Quatrine creates acts and illusions; I wonder what he really believes in, and ask.
He thinks a moment, then says:
“All is mind. The universe is mental. Everything you experience is a product of consciousness.”
He adds: “Anything you take in and process from the universe will affect you forever via the butterfly effect.”
The butterfly effect, drawn from chaos theory, is the idea that tiny differences in a complex system lead to wildly different outcomes over time—often illustrated by meteorologist and mathematician Edward Lorenz, its founding thinker, with the image of a butterfly flapping its wings and setting off a chain of events that influence whether or not a tornado forms somewhere far away.
“Even if you’re not conscious of something, even if it’s just in your periphery, everything you come into contact with has an effect on your body and creates an impression in your mind, affecting what you do and feel. So ensure that everything you consume aligns with the outcomes you want in life. Even down to the soap you use. Don’t cut corners. All is mind.”
Follow Sid Quatrine on Instagram and on his website. Limited tickets for his debut solo show, Sid Quatrine: An Evening of Illusion, are here.
Cat Lewis writes on culture, creativity, and the unseen characters of nightlife. Drawn to the subversive, quirky, and queer, her writing champions those not usually seen and tells their stories loud and clear.
Words: Cat Lewis
Edits: Alexander Cheves
Images: Courtesy of Sid Quatrine
