Principal Edwards Magic Theatre

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.

The collective was formed by students at the University of Exeter, who had originally intended producing an arts magazine. The initial musicians were Root Cartwright (guitar, mandolin, songwriter), Belinda "Bindy" Bourquin (violin, keyboards, recorder), David Jones (vocals, percussion), Jeremy Ensor (bass), Martin Stellman (vocals), Lyn Edwards (drums), and Vivienne McAuliffe (vocals). Dancers included Gillian Hadley (choreographer), John McMahon Hill, Eva Darlow and Monica Nettles, while Les Adey, Harry Housman and Chris Runciman were responsible for sound, lighting, props and effects. The name was taken from the Magic Theatre referenced in Herman Hesse's novel Steppenwolf, and from Principal Thomas Charles Edwards, a theologian who was the first Principal of the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth and an ancestor of Lyn Edwards. According to Cartwright, the name had "no religious overtones, we just thought [it] sounded neat."

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. 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. Lyn Edwards worked extensively in theatre, as well as children's television (Play School) and BBC radio. He is currently teaching drums in schools and playing in several bands. Jeremy Ensor toured (as sound engineer/tour manager) with Deep Purple, Fleetwood Mac, McGuinness Flint, Dick Heckstall Smith Band, Groundhogs, Albion Country Band and Greenslade (co producing two of their LPs) and then worked as an A&R man for CBS and Phonogram Records signing, amongst others, Judas Priest The Only Ones, and Graham Bonnett. He currently lives in north London and is an IT consultant. Chris Runciman is still on the road as a tour manager/production manager, and sound and lights engineer for, amongst others, Jackson Browne, Steve Earle, and James Taylor. In recent years he worked as a technical consultant to Sir George Martin in Montserrat, helping design and then managing the Montserrat Cultural Centre. Les Adey was the lighting technician for Genesis. Serious illness and breakdowns have befallen some of the other former members. Dancers John McMahon Hill, Vivienne McAuliffe and Les Adey are deceased.