talkmagic.co.uk

Paul, just like you, is not a believer in hard work. In fact he took early retirement at 21 years of age and that was twenty years ago. He does work a little part time nowadays but refuses to work in any month that has the letter "R" in it. He is a member of this site and occasionally comments when he is out of bed.

With regard to this particular show I just looked at the very first page of the website and shuddered in horror. I am afraid that I couldn't go any further.

He sounds like a very sensible man indeed. Although on the description you give of him, it still sounds like he's overdoing it.

K

I am afraid that Paul and the word "sensible" do not go very well together...............

I saw this show in Oxford on Wednesday night and it was excellent! Yes, there was a guy in the lobby merchandising individual tricks such as Trick Decks, Lights from Anywhere, programmes/brochures and also the bargain offer of all items in a bag for a discounted price. He didn't do any strong selling or demoing and I didn't check his linguistic abilities but I presume he was the one who got the job mentioned above!

The show itself was great, fast paced and full of action (apart from the mentalist's chair test section which has to be at a slower pace!) and all the acts were accompanied by a 5 piece band playing some great music, heavy rock style mainly but it all blended in well and the band members themselves were 'disappeared' from a crate on stage only to reappear in the audience shortly afterwards. There were lots of big box illusions, escapology and some really close up stuff - there were three or four fixed and mobile cameras in use and the big screen over the stage meant that everyone could see the close up routines well. Cameras also zoomed in at all angles on the big box stuff so we saw views from the back of the stage as well as the usual front and side views.

Not everything worked as intended, a DeKolta chair effect in the opening sequence fell over and one guy who trod on a balloon to burst it and thus misdirect whilst producing a dove was surprised to see the balloon shoot out unaffected from under his foot and bounce across the stage - it still misdirected and the dove arrived on schedule! Live shows are always going to have items which don’t work on the night for some reason but none of this affected the enjoyment of the performances. Kevin James did his signature Charlie Chaplin Doll and chain sawing a guy in half routines but also did some very neat close up stuff as well.

Jeff Hobson performed stuff which I’d seem him do over 20 years ago in Las Vegas but it was as fresh as any new stuff and, as he spent plenty of time down amongst the audience before and during the show itself, he really went over well with everyone.

If you can catch the show at any of the remaining UK dates then I can heartily recommend you do so – well worth the money for 2 hours of non-stop magic.

The Illusionists 2.0 kick off in Australia in January and the line-up includes James Moore from the UK – I’ll be keeping watch for news of UK dates for that show!

Hmmm... This sounds like they want the equivalent of people who sell t-shirts and programmes at the back of gigs. If so, the money will be bad, and the accommodation worse.

But, hey, it'll be great exposure, yeah?

Yup, I forgot to mention the Tee shirts on sale as well !

To be honest, I didn't see the need for any magical ability when serving customers, taking the cash and assuring people that they could perform the Lights From Anywhere 'as used in the show'. In fact to have any talents other than the essential ability to sell, be communicative, helpful and friendly would be unnecessary. The area set aside for merchandising was right over the far end of the lobby and there wasn't much point in demoing anything as the audience would have seen far more powerful and fast paced magic in the theatre show so a quick card trick wouldn't really be all that impressive.

This reminds me of advice given to me yonks ago when I was asked to compere a show featuring comedians - the advice was to resist cracking any jokes during the introductions, just announce the acts and leave the comedy to the professionals. Or as one guy put it, don't have a dog and try barking yourself.....

Mandrake wrote:This reminds me of advice given to me yonks ago when I was asked to compere a show featuring comedians - the advice was to resist cracking any jokes during the introductions, just announce the acts and leave the comedy to the professionals. Or as one guy put it, don't have a dog and try barking yourself.....

Yup, when I chair the local SciBar, I don't try to do any science while introducing the lecturer!

I just make a fool of myself and get off.

Yes. I learned some time ago that selling magic in theatre lobbies is best done without demonstration. There just isn't the time. I really think this company would be better off with a non magician anyway. Magicians are very unreliable employees in general.

Oddly enough years and years and years ago Alan Alan wanted me to sell svengali decks in the theatre lobbies for his touring show in Europe somewhere. I am glad I didn't.