by Dr Percival RP Pound » Jul 10th, '12, 08:07
My good friend, when working upon the pier are you approaching small groups with close up magic or are you gathering a crowd with a more traditional buskers set?
Either way, it's my opinion that 30-45 minutes is far too long for a set of this type. Closeup with small groups, if I was in your position I'd just be performing one very strong effect before moving onto someone else. It may always be worth your while to have a second, encore routine waiting in the wings in case you're asked for more but that should only be for when you are asked for more.
With a busking set where by you're trying the gather a large crowd, you should probably limit yourself to a set of about 10 minutes. It needs to be of a length that people will be happy to stand and watch it in it's entirety. Too long and people will move on mid way through, not preferential if you're passing the hat at the end. With a set of this type, you'll only really learn pacing by performing it, one rule of thumb is let the audience murmer and applause but as soon as that aplause starts to die down, move onto the next part of the routine.