talkmagic.co.uk

With all this Ellusionist/David Blaine street magic hype, I got to wondering how many people here actually go out on a regular basis to perform magic to random strangers in the street?

When I first came across Ellusionist some months ago and the magic bug got hold of me I had all these visions of going out five days a week to do street magic, but have since realised that I really have very little desire to do that. Now I just do stuff for friends and at the occasional party.

Forcing yourself on strangers is never a very good thing to do despite what Brad might think. If you were to bark up a crowd like a busker, it may be okay, but my route into performing was friends, then performing at parties, then being asked to perform at parties, then being asked to gig as the entertainment.

street magic as in "hit and run" method of acosting a few strangers on a corner is not going to win you respect or much in the way of experience.

Then again, the more traditional method of street "performing", as in building a pitch and a crowd is far more difficult and nerve wracking. More so than bar or restaurant work in my opinion.
This is what I still see as street magic, despite the current trends.

Even once you have built a crowd, you can be halfway through a well thought out and planned set and suddenly loose a lot of them. They are in no way "captive" as they can be in an indoor setting.

It takes a different kind of skill to do this and I have the utmost respect for those that do it well. I have done it myself, although thankfully do not rely on it as a main income.

This said, it can be incredibly rewarding, building confidence and the ability to deal with the unexpected quickly, confidently, funnily and above all professionally


What Tomo says holds very true, I too began by performing at parties and also just by openly practising in a bar or cafe by myself, not even showing anything until asked what I was up to.

I have to agree with the last post, i perform for shopping centres. Who expect you to approach people and 'show em a trick'. i've found to experince these people are usally busy / shopping or just dont have time. And the worse thing for a entertainer of any kind is having an unwilling audience.

I've found the best way to get a crowd is to start with a few card manipulations, wait still someone looks. then invite them to join you. this will bring its own crowd. because people are nosey and will want to see whats going on.

Never jump in uninvited, bring them to you.

I must admit, if I'm in the street and someone says "Excuse me" I tend to react as if they're simply not there and carry on. Some people even shout "rude!" at me. So what? It's an intrusion, it's nothing I need, it's going to take my time and they're probably selling something I don't want. If there's a camera and a sound boom with a street magician, people are willing to stop and participate, but without that, the chances are you're hassling them.

Tomo wrote:I must admit, if I'm in the street and someone says "Excuse me" I tend to react as if they're simply not there and carry on. Some people even shout "rude!" at me. So what? It's an intrusion, it's nothing I need, it's going to take my time and they're probably selling something I don't want. If there's a camera and a sound boom with a street magician, people are willing to stop and participate, but without that, the chances are you're hassling them.

I can relate to that. I do the same thing. It is them wanting your attention. I don't need anything from them as far as I'm concerned and couldn't care less. Just like when I'm in a restaurant and a someone wants to sell me a rose: If I needed a rose, would I sit in a restaurant!? It's rude of them interrupting me.

Forcing yourself on people isnt a good thing.

I do a lot of magic during the day for strangers but it tends to be along the lines of..

I practice by meyself, do flourishes etc.. someone may mention that its impressive.. I may ask if they have ever seen anyone do close up sleight of hand.. they say no.. I go into a story about when I first performed i saw such and such and my story winds up being the magic.. so I dont go in with 'Wanna see some magic' or anything so lame!!

It just happens.. or when I go into a shop to pay I may make a gag by giving forien currency.. then apologise and do a bill switch

Thats the best way to do magic.. I feel.. then give out your cards as neccessary

I dont show any one my stuff its all mine actually I think the line in my sig sums it up nicely....

It's a dangerous thing to do these days. If you pick the wrong person, lord knows what can happen.
Apart from shows, I peform if people ask me to. Often friends and people I know would ask if I have any "new tricks" or have heard I perform magic from someone else and ask if they can see something.
You often get "Show them the one where you...."
I only do the same effect for a person when a passage of time has made them forget the ins and outs of it.

hey guys some interesting posts here. i agree with what magic monkey said,

I'm a full time street performer i perform a half hour magic routine which has taken me around 6 years to perfect to the stage where i can earn a good income from it. Street performing i would say is the hardest kind of performing because you have to get the people walking past interested you have to keep them interested and then you have to make them pay.

the kids who are out there doing 5 card sybils and accosting people in the street have good tricks but they will never make money from doing that kind of magic becuase they haven't got the knowledge of their tricks that street performers do coz we do the same routine 8 times a day 7 days a week. we have the knowledge that we could go to any country and perform and make money. thats not to say that hit and run magic isn't impressive Owen Lean an english street performer got himself through uni in dublin by performing round temple bar doing hit and run magic,

if you want to learn how to deal with hecklers if you want to learn how to keep a crowd engrossed and how to deal with the totally unexpected try street performing but be warned it isn't for the faint of heart

i perform street magic on a regular basis. (not so much the past couple of months due to making new routines practicing etc)

i often just walk up to a small crowd (5 people normally) introduce myself and simply ask if they want to see some magic.

from then on i stand and perform a nice 6-7 minute routine for them and then leave.

soon i'll be giving out my business cards as well

I don't like just going up to people and performing. Most of the time, people are busy and are going somewhere or doing something and just don't want to know.

I much rather use my 'honey pot' technique as I like to call it and attract specs. I'll perform a couple of tricks for Dave or anyother friends I might be with and then keep an eye out for anyone who looks interested in what I'm doing. I find that by getting people who are actally interested, you'll get much better responses than from just approaching people cold.

Figo, thanks. Glad to hear someone else is getting some hard earned experience doing this.

Lady, the honey pot as you call it is a very good way to figure out how to perform for strangers.

Mikey, what I term as real street magic is the opposite of what you are doing. There is a HUGE difference.

You have your spot.
You do something to attract attention.
The people walk up to you, not the other way round. i.e. what you are up to is somehow more interesting than wherever they are headed for now at least.
When you are finished (hopefully not before), it is them that walk away, not you.

In other words, they are the passers by, not you.

The thing is that it needs to be something that you can walk in on at any stage, which is why the cup and ball routines are so popular.
A lot of the best street performances I see are merely two or three tricks, yet still somehow develop into a good 20-30 minute show. The patter is continual, natural and funny.

A friendly warning to anyone trying this, firstly check that it is ok to do this in the area, and secondly if other performers are there already, ask them if it is ok to get in the queue. Most of them will be fine for you to have a go but others can be fearsly defensive of their patches.

That said, it is a great booster for confidence and performance smarts, but can just as easily give it one mighty knock. All sorts of things can happen, from your crowd dissappearing to your pitch being invaded by a 40 strong trail of dancing, drum banging, bell rattling hare krishna's.

Imagine being midway through your best trick in front of 25 people, and within seconds you are facing just 3. It is soul destroying.
Then again 30 strangers shaking your hand, thanking you and leaving you with a hatfull of nuggets gives you a very warm feeling inside.

i often sit and watch the various people at covent garden...one of my faves was a mad irishman doing a good old fashioned cups n balls routine...

though, he should keep an eye on his hold-out device...i saw it twice...

but he was excellent at building a crowd...and a great big rasping irish accent...tatty waistcoat and battered bowler hatted he was...

I've recently fancied having a go at setting up in a town centre somewhere and seeing if Icould get a crowd. Never really been too sure how to get started though