Will Houstoun has a PhD in the history of magical education, supervised by Dame Marina Warner, and is a winner of both the European Magic Championships (2006) and the Magic Circle Close-up Magician of the Year 2015. He holds a Literary Fellowship with the Academy of Magical Arts in Los Angeles and a Research Fellowship with the Victoria and Albert Museum Research Institute. His current research interests lie in exploring the ways in which the skill and approach of the conjurer can be utilised in an educational context.
Fusing his interest in the history of magic and performance, Will has written and internationally performed his one-man show Dr Houstoun’s Conjuring, described as: ‘An enticing glimpse through a secret trap door into the often unbelievable history of magic,’ (TVBomb, 2015).
Will is the current editor of The Magic Circular, the Magic Circle’s 113-year-old journal, as well as the magazine for the Magic Circle’s youth initiative, Secrets. Consultancy credits include Martin Scorsese’s Hugo, the BBC’s Wolf Hall, the Royal Opera House’s Katya Kabanova, and the Almeida’s The Twilight Zone. Will is also deeply involved with Breathe Magic and their innovative clinically researched therapy programme for young people with hemiplegia.
Will has published widely on topics including the history, performance, and psychology of magic, including several self-published books and numerous articles, reviews, features, and columns for The Stage, Genii, MAGIC Magazine, and other trade publications.