It's a strange job but somebody has to do it. This man is magic consultant to the stars and has provided the spectacular effects for tons of top West End shows. Paul Revel finds out more ...

If you have been amazed by illusions in a theatre show, chances are the cunning wizardry of magician Paul Kieve is behind it. Kieve has worked on many successful stage shows including West End, national and international productions, as well as films and television.

Now he is bringing his dazzling trickery to Bromley's Churchill Theatre as magic consultant to its production of Roald Dahl's classic, The Witches.

Kieve says he has been practising magic since he was 10-years-old.

"My mum Millie often took me to the theatre to see shows, so I developed my interests in magic and stagecraft at the same time."

His big break came in 1984, aged just 16, performing magic tricks in a pop video for Sade's single Your Love Is King.

"It was hilarious," he laughs.

"I had to have my arms shaved and wear nail varnish so it seemed like Sade was performing the tricks. In one shot the camera goes too far and you can see my hairy arms."

"Sade was an unknown at the time. She said she hoped the album would get into the top 75 of course, it went to number one."

"She was a good friend, and talked about me on Radio One and Saturday Superstore, which really helped me in my career," Kieve adds.

Kieve also worked as physical magic consultant on the box-office hit Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

"The director wanted real magic in scenes, but of course they re-take them several times so I had be really quick at re-setting for another take," he explains. "It was hard work but good fun."

As physical magic consultant he also taught the children sleight-of-hand tricks for crowd scenes.

"I am the first real magician to teach a magic class at Hogwarts," he says.

Kieve got on well with Daniel Radcliffe who plays Harry Potter, becoming his private magic tutor. The young star was an eager pupil.

"Daniel loved magic, saying it helped break the ice with people he didn't know. He said when he first met Emma Thompson he showed her a card trick, which made her scream."

Kieve was also pleased to see his small cameo role in the film did not end up on the cutting room floor.

Other work includes the Madness musical Our House. The main character leads parallel lives, meaning plenty of illusory tricks as he swaps characters.

The many quick-changes resulted in a Guinness World Record for the most number of costume changes by a lead in a musical.

This lead to Kieve becoming a consultant for Guinness World Records.

"It's interesting work. Before I started, David Copperfield had one world record, Now he has 11."

Kieve says audiences have a treat in store at the Churchill Theatre show.

"The Witches has some lovely visuals, wonderful puppetry and amazing changes of scale."

"Magic for stage shows is a really exciting challenge. A director will come to me and say we want to do this...and my first thought is, how the hell am I going to do that?

"It's a combination of direction, performance and lighting, all the elements of stage craft and all the devices have to be disguised on the set.

"Not like a normal magic show, where you can wheel a shiny box onto the stage and produce a girl in a glittery leotard. That's the girl in the glittery leotard, not me."

-The Witches, Churchill Theatre, High Street, Bromley, June 22 to 26, 0870 060 6620.