talkmagic.co.uk

It's the same in writing as well. You have to cultivate a mindset in which half your mind can sit back and enjoy reading a book, while at the same time the other half is analysing technique.

The drawback of being anywhere near an "expert" in any field, I suppose. An advantage is that, knowing technique, you can sometimes get a much richer enjoyment out of appreciating really masterful work.

I think the telling line in your post, is......

Quote:
I suppose I started to learn magic because I loved it and wanted to know how things were done, initially for my own curiosity.


Do you perform much yourself ?

I kind of see what you mean here.

I don't actually perform much, just for family and friends and at the occasional poker game or party. The only time i perform for strangers is when I'm on the train on the way home from work (hardly ever though).

I suppose if I performed a bit more i'd appreciate how difficult an actual performance is espcially all the 'non-magic' stuff.

I watch a magician strictly for the show. Unforturnatly most magicians focus on the method and it leaves me incredibly bored. I can watch the late Al Goshman for hours. I remember sitting at a restaurant with him and he performed for the wait staff it was an incredible thing to witness. I can watch Paul Daniels for the same reason. He just entertains me, although he did one effect which completely fooled me. Unfortunate it came to me at 2 in the morning. I woke up laughing so hard my wife thought I had finally gone insane, the method was so simple that it blew right by me. But still it was the performance. Shawn Farquar is another one, just entertaining as heck. He used to drag me to his illusion shows as I don't like large illusions but he wanted my feedback. Unfortunatly I usually had to see the show twice before I could begin to comment on the illusions themselves as I was just caught up in his showmanship the first time around.

Flyinbrian wrote:

I think the telling line in your post, is......

Quote:
I suppose I started to learn magic because I loved it and wanted to know how things were done, initially for my own curiosity.


Do you perform much yourself ?

I kind of see what you mean here.

I don't actually perform much, just for family and friends and at the occasional poker game or party. The only time i perform for strangers is when I'm on the train on the way home from work (hardly ever though).

I suppose if I performed a bit more i'd appreciate how difficult an actual performance is espcially all the 'non-magic' stuff.

yup.

Hello,

Firstly, thanks very much for coming to see my show, it means a hell of a lot to me when people come and enjoy it, so for that, I do thank you.

I don't really post on forums or such anything, else but what you said in your original post made me think a lot about what I do, and the 'problem' I have with magicians.

To cut a long story short one of the reasons I don't really look at magic forums, is I've found in the past that I've received very negative, rude and harsh comments from others. I see myself as an entertainer, not a magician, and my job is to entertain, amuse and amaze an audience, but above all I want to entertain them.

That said, I'm deeply flattered that you noticed how much a lay audience enjoyed the show, and you say that my showmanship and effects were quality. This is what it is for me, it's all about the performance, about the showmanship, about entertaining people who have no idea how any of this stuff is done. A line I'm constantly walking on, and trying to decide which side to end up on, is that of how much do I let my audience in on what I'm doing, be it real or a red herring. I feel in this years Edinburgh show I gave a bit too much in terms of psychology, and subliminal messaging, and as such it lost some of the magic. There's that fine line you have to think about with people wanting to work it out and as such giving them some information on it, or people just wanting to be amazed. It's a bigger discussion and thought process worthy of it's own debate, and one I'm doing a poor job at getting my thoughts across on here.. so I'll move on.

The thing that struck me here is that you felt a bit disappointed that it wasn't magic to you, but you can appreciate the performance and how the audience loved it. YOU MUST HANG ON TO THIS! This is the problem with a lot of magicians, they sit, and think, I can do this... because, let's face it, they can as they've read the same stuff I've read. This is not the way to view a magic show, you might not be able to experience that magic first hand anymore, but you can experience it through others, and you can appreciate the show for what it is, a piece of entertainment. Look at how it's structured, the scripting, the comedy, where the moments of magic come from, how the performer is creating magic in the audiences mind, but above all, enjoy it. Try to turn that magic side of your brain off and just sit and enjoy the show for what it is, and live in the hope that it'll inspire you to work on your own material that'll grow and grow.

I view very little magic these days, but do all these things with theatre, comedy and film, and am constantly trying to improve my act. I've spent the last few weeks re-writing the past two Edinburgh shows to put them together for the tour that I start next month and I know that'll keep changing.

I've gone way off topic here, but I suppose what I'm trying to say is that even though you know how it's done, the magic hasn't gone, it's still there, you just have to look for it.

Chris

Thanks for those comments Chris, they should be tattooed on the inside of every magician's eyelids. ENTERTAINMENT is what it's all about - cheers !

Good post, I think that just about sums it all up.

I suppose becuase I'm relativley new to magic (just over a year) there's loads for me to learn in terms of performance. I admit that as a newbie I'm perhaps a bit naive at times and think the effect itself will be the main source of entertainment and not the performance as a whole.

The show was amazing (I was there on the final day). People were walking out if the theatre stunned with disbelief at what you'd done.

I don't really know what I'm trying to say here - I already know the patter and performance is mega important. But I suppose it's way more important than I ever thought and it's something I need to think about and work on if I'm going to take magic seriously (Which I do).

P.S. Chris, once more, great show - anybody who gets a chance should witness this guy. Incredible.

Thanks again Fly, in my opinion the last show was my worst of the whole festival, so it's glad it still resonated somewhat.

I think the key to it is to always focus on the performance as much (possibly even more so) than the tricks and don't set out to fool magicians, just set out to entertain.

Oh and since you suggested people see me, this seems like a easy chance to remind you all that I start my UK tour on the 5th October, full dates at www.chriscox.info hope to see some of you there.

cc

I may be at Norden farm. Though i have a feeling the date clashes.

If you havent played the venue before, i can tell you that it has a great feel about it.

The stage is Intimate for the audience, huge for the performer.

Magic, and related arts go down quite well there too. you have a good solid am dram community , who treat the place like home.


(the bar does a good range of beers too .)

you should look into playing the new arts complex in slough. 175 raked seating, nice stage, in house tekies..
Its council run, and i recon it needs a bit of a boost.

ah I see that you're at the Trinity in Tunbridge Wells. I might have to pop along to that one.