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Just wondering what people thought about the pros and cons of each and which is better to perform etc

I had this discussion with someone earlier actually...

Close-up/street is more "in your face" magic. There's no hidden wires, no trap doors, no smoke and no mirrors. People know this... and apreciate the skil and practice gone into the magic.

Stage magic, everything is gaffed. Normally hugely!

No surprise then that the "Death Saw" is alittle more dramatic than "Ambitious Card"!

Stage magic requires lots of phsyical training, to make your body do all the right stuff, and is very expensive. However, regardless of the fact that people have no idea how it's done, they know it's all done with gaffed items, and that perhaps David Copperfield wouldn't be so happy to have his body sawn through by their giant jigsaw blade

I do like stage magic best. I do hope to get back into illusion stuff in a few years. Finding the right girl has proved almost impossible. My lockup has a few pieces i have not used for many years

Assuming that you have lumped all of closeup magic into "street" I have gone for that, though I never perform on the street to strangers who have not requested (either directly or indirectly by turning up to a party) me to perform.

Trying to put everything into either stage or street is very limiting in my opinion, and more or less excludes the kind of closeup table magic that I tend to perform.

As for watching magic, I watch all genres with enthusiasm, though if I had to choose between watching a fifty year-old stage performance or this week's latest street magician on TV then the stage magician would win everytime.

Street ... or hit and run magic? Just read an interesting ebook from somewhere which described street as 'set up, get a crowd, perform.' where as hit and run is 'you do something, someone shows an interest, you show them a few tricks'

So the second is more audience centred. Somthing like that anyway.

Having done street clowning and up front 'inside stuff' I love both of them for their different nuances. (how do you spell new-onsis anyway!)

lol

im not to sure, i think street magic is better though. When on stage the audience you are performing are EXPECTING to be entertained and usually high expectations whilst when perfroming on the street, nobody is expecting it and in my opinion, its because of this is why there reactions are great. This however is my own opinion and i have only performed on stage twice so i dont have experience on stage.

I refuse to vote in that the answer is rather simple; If you want name recognition, general credibility and cash in your pocket you aren't going to stand on a street corner in the hopes of making a fast buck.

Buskers rarely make anything that remotely looks like "real money", they live a very hard and oft times dangerous life, and see little in way of genuine respect from within the industry (as in magic on the whole vs. fellow buskers & carney's). They exist from payday to payday, oft times become involved in far less honorable practices, some of which involve tricks of another kind as well as the related drug and booze addictions... long story short, it is typically a no win course of action (and please don't scream about David Blaine being a millionaire... he has friends with money and he's managed to make a couple of bucks but he's far from knowing the kind of success club & theater performers come to know.)

NONE OF IT IS EASY!

It's all hard work but it's also learning how to work wisely and see how to let your work (efforts) serve at the most productive level. If money and security aren't an issue with you, then go and work the streets or hit the grinder. If you want to make something of yourself however, you might want to look at the reality of show BUSINESS and stop chasing the MTv fantasy that's been painted in your mind these past few years.

Sorry, but I've done both and I'd rather work the nice controlled club or theater any day of the week... more money, less hours, and far more rewarding (not to mention that you get more audience respect).