Magic Tricks Blog

In a theatrical context, should magic require a reason for being done?

Most of the time, there is little or no theatrical context applied to magic. There is no need to do the magic. The performer does it just because they can. Let me explain to you what I mean.

Consider a performance piece in which a performer flies across the stage from one side to the other. Think David Copperfield if you like.
Now imagine another performer who flies across the the stage because in the middle of the stage is a fire.
The second performer has a reason to need to fly, while the first one just wanted to show off that he could fly.

Is magic improved by this kind of motivation? Is there any need for this motivation?

David Blaine, when he performs his coin vanish, making a coin disappear off a spectator’s hand.
I do a similar trick (in method) where I change an American cent into British 5 pence. It is beautiful in appearance because a brownish copper coin turns into a shiny silver one on the hand of a spectator. My reason for doing that trick was that I recieved the cent shell coin with a PK magnet I bought years ago (before I opened MagicMegaStore.co.uk) and I wondered why they had sent me an American shell. What good could it be to me?
Well, I found a use. I tell spectators that it was given to me as change when I bought something in a shop and how much I hate it when foreign currency gets given to me in change and sometimes I just think about how useful it would be if I could change it into British legal tender. And then I do.
In my version, there is a reason to perform the coin change – because the American cent is unspendable in this country.
Magic is inherently showy. We have seen magician after magician do various tricks and illusions for no other reason than to show it off.
My question is, does this motivation make the magic better?

We’ve all seen magicians and illusionists do magic tricks. And there is enough magic about that we have all seen bad magic as well as good magic. But here’s an important question: What is the difference? What makes good magic good and bad magic bad?

After ten years of performing close-up and street magic, I have come to realize that there are five elements that create a powerful performance of magic.

#5 A strong effect. And in this context, by effect, I mean what is supposed to happen that is considered magical. It could be a vanish, or a transformation or an act of mind reading. But it has to be a decent idea. Decent effects in magic are usually things that are obviously magical – easily communicable. The more direct, the better.

#4 The moves. Obviously, no trick requiring sleight-of-hand is going to work if the performer cannot adequately execute the moves required. That much is obvious. Mastering sleight-of-hand moves essentially comes down to careful practise and muscle learning.

#3 Elements of impossibility. These are the little things that stick in the audience’s mind when they recall the trick. The deck that the magician never touched, or the *** that could not have happened. Some would claim that this is part of the effect, but I disagree because a lot of the time you can perform the same effect without these elements and it won’t be as strong. Equally, some elements of impossibility are presentational and as such are not part of the effect itself.

#2 Audience involvement. And what I mean by this is slightly different to, but could include, audience participation. But what I mean by audience involvement could be a physical involvement – participation – or it could mean emotional involvement. Now, whether or not you have audience participation, an emotional involvement from audience members is essential if you are going to get reactions to your magic. And since David Blaine’s shows, all magic and all magicians are judged by the audience reactions they get.

#1 Good presentation. Any veteran magician will tell you this. And there’s a good reason for that: because it’s true. Even when you have all your moves down and you have chosen a reasonably strong effect idea, and you have elements of impossibility in place, the thing – the skill of the magician – that puts the whole lot together and makes it into a powerful magic performance is the presentation. It is this that communicates what is supposed to happen. It is this that communicates the whole scenario to the audience. It is this that essentially affects what the audience experiences.

I see it on forums all the time. Post after post asking how to handle those inevitable annoying questions that every magician gets asked when they first begin performing to friends and family who have never seen anything like it before.

As one such sufferer wrote “More often that not, amazement is followed by some annoying question or statement.”

1. “Do it again!” or “Do it for my friend!” – The request for repeat performance
2. “Do another!” - The requestion for more
3. “How did you do it? Tell me! Pleeeaaaase!” – The request for explanation
4. “That’s obvious. You did it by….[insert explanation here]” - The declaration of explanation.

The solutions:

What To Say To “Do It Again!”

In this case, you can just do another trick that is similar but not the same. Then again, there are some tricks that you can repeat several times to the same audience.

What To Say To “Do another!”

“I can’t. My spidey powers are worn out!” But if you perform tricks in sequence with a opener, a middle sequence and a finisher, very few will ask. There are ways to let people know the performance is over without saying so as such.

What To Say To “How do you do it?”

This question, in my experience is usually asked with a surprised tone. The asker gets higher pitched towards the end of the question. It is not asked in a matter of fact way, so why does it require a matter of fact answer?

The smart alec answer is “Very well.” But if you don’t want to be flippant there are other ways to handle this question.

I usually just laugh off questions like “How do you do that?” or take it as rhetorical and come out with, “Yea, it’s amazing isn’t it?”

What To Say To “That’s obvious. You did it by…”

Do you really have to say anything to this? Or just do the Spok thing and mysteriously say, “Did I?”

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The bottom line is to take all of these questions with a light heart. Don’t take them as personal attacks. They’ll only annoy you if you let them. And the only reason they annoy most people is because they don’t know what to say.

The Alternative Solution: So You Don’t Have To Memorize All These Answers To Questions

Better than learning the answers to all these questions, wouldn’t it be better if you could just prevent the people asking in the first place. Remember that in any performance situation, you are in charge. It’s your performance and if you can project that leadership, even if there are spectators who ask you questions like the ones above, they’ll accept whatever answers you give them. But more often than not, they won’t ask.

I have come to believe that any response you get to your performance, be it hysterical reactions or annoying questions, are a result OF your performance and as such they are all your fault. This may sound like I’m harshly planting blame with you and you may be defensively thinking, “But I didn’t do anything?!” But if you look at it from another point of view, it’s a good thing that it is your fault because it means that you have the full power to do something about it.

Darwin Ortiz points out in his book “Strong Magic” the difference between demonstrating magic and presenting a puzzle. Which means it all comes down to presentation. If you show people a puzzle, they want to solve it and if they can’t, they think it is their right to be given the solution.

In professional situations and even unprofessional situations with strangers, this sort of behaviour is uncommon. It only happens a lot when you perform to people who already know you and know what you’re like underneath the magician persona.

The now legendary 13 Steps To Mentalism is considered to be one of the most important books for any student of mentalism and mind reading. While it is now available as a single book, it was originally published as 13 individual booklets as a course in the art of mentalism.

The book details a whole host of methods and techniques used by magicians and mentalists to imitate psychic phenomenon without having the so-called “gift” that psychics claim to have.

The entire 13 steps to mentalism course was recently recreated by Richard Osterlind in DVD format to bring about a 6 DVD box set.

13 Steps To Mentalism at MagicMegaStore.co.uk:

We have the original 13 Steps To Mentalism Book, now back in print for just £12.99

We also have in stock the 13 Steps To Mentalism 6 DVD Set at a UK low price of just £75.99