Principal Edwards Magic Theatre

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Principal Edwards Magic Theatre was an English performance art collective in the United Kingdom made up of about 14 musicians, poets, dancers, and sound and lighting technicians. It existed between 1968 and 1971, after which core members formed a more conventional rock band under the shortened name Principal Edwards.

Formation

The collective was formed by students at the

Their first public performance was at an event called "Dance of Words" organised by students (one of whom was Jeremy Ensor) in Portsmouth and hosted by John Peel in May 1968, which also featured Fairport Convention, Free, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Alexis Korner, Gary Farr, Pete Brown's Poetry Band with John McLaughlin on guitar, and poets Brian Patten and Michael Horowitz. They were signed by Korner's management team and, with Peel's active support, performed at similar events and gigs in London and elsewhere, sharing bills with Pink Floyd, The Fugs, Family, Free, King Crimson, Yes, Deep Purple, Elton John, Ten Years After and others. The group were the first to be signed to Peel's Dandelion Records; though the label's co-founder Clive Selwood later described them as "the most pretentious act I have ever come across", and Peel's radio producer John Walters described them as "incorporating all kinds of arty-farty nonsense"; and performed at the first Bath Festival of Blues in June 1969.^[3]

They released their first

With their education conflicting with their musical activities, members left their studies at Exeter and moved together into a large farmhouse/commune

In early 1972, the core trio of Root Cartwright, Belinda Bourquin and David Jones, formed a new more rock-oriented band, with the abbreviated name of Principal Edwards.[2] They were joined by musicians Richard Jones (bass, previously of the Climax Blues Band), Nick Pallett (guitar, vocals), and Geoff Nicholls (drums).^[2] Over the next three years they mounted three complete stage musicals, touring around the country; King of Changes; Stone Age Sam; and The Glass White Gangster. They were managed by Miles Copeland, and signed to Deram Records, who released their album Round One, again produced by Nick Mason, in 1974.^[2] However, the album was not a commercial success. After recording some more material, not released at the time but issued by Cherry Red Records in 2008 as The Devon Tapes, the band broke up.^[3]

Life after Principal Edwards

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Since the 1970s, members' fortunes have varied greatly. Singer Martin Stellman directed Denzel Washington in For Queen and Country; David Jones ran a community centre; and Root Cartwright became a gardener and photographic artist. Bindy Bourquin and Richard Jones married and both went into teaching. Jones plays in two bands: The Climax Ceilidh Band and Meridian. Nick Pallet and Geoff Nicholls played Twang and Bongo on Animal Kwackers,^[5] a British children's programme similar to The Banana Splits, which would also feature Tony Hannaford from G.T. Moore and the Reggae Guitars as Boots, with all three ending up in the EMI/Cobra-signed act Electrotunes in 1980.^[6][7]

Lyn Edwards worked extensively in theatre, as well as children's television (