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I'm doing a bit of close up magic a local retirement home. Does any one have any tips on what sort of card tricks I should do the the residents. Most of the residents are coherent.

Please bare in mind that I am not asking for what tricks to do. I am just asking what kind/length/thatkindofstuff I should do.

Doesn't matter. They'll all be asleep. Trust me. I worked old people's homes (as we call them in the UK) for a few months when I first turned pro. It may well be different with your retirement home, but the homes I worked at were generally populated with two kinds of people: a) asleep or b) confused. The b) folk also had a subsection which I'll call c) angry and prone to loud outbursts.

It's not funny really. Rather sad. Card tricks were no good at the homes I worked at. You could hardly get 20 old people to gather around a table to watch the routine. I did what might be considered children's magic. But again, for all the attention they paid I might as well have been standing in front of them reciting the phone book.

Anyway, sorry for the rant. Good luck with your booking. Hope it goes well. The only advice I can really give you is perhaps keep the routines short in order to hold their attention. Such as it is.

Now I feel sad and am pondering my own mortality. It happens after 3 glasses of red wine. Sigh.

The retirement homes here are like massive condo buildings for old people only. Many of them still drive and function on their own fine. But with them living in these communities they have help on hand if it is ever needed. There is a small section on the retirement home that is for people who need more assistance(its called "assisted living")

What I am going to be doing is some "table hoping" during their tea time(3 or 4 tricks per table, type of thing). Hopefully a few decide to have coffee so they won't be sleeping. I will be doing this for both the regular residents and the Assisted living group. The contact I talked to has faith that they will enjoy the effects, but who knows. Should be fun.

Yeah I know that feeling. I remember doing a simple card effect for my great grandpa who was 90 at the time and he was completely confused by it. Tho when you get to that age or even near, you get confused by everything.

I've also worked old people's homes/parties here in the UK and I agree with Mr Wand. Card tricks didn't catch on and what wdid go down well were the more visual routines such as cups and balls, ropes, sponges etc.

Card in Colostomy Bag?

As has been said, working Senior Homes is not fun. I've had more lively audiences at morgues (really)

Though it is one of the steps many take for getting a resume built and those early networks established, its one of the toughest venues you'll ever work.

Just a thought from someone who's never done that sort of thing, folks of that generation might be more at home with effects which hark back to the days of Big Variety Shows on stage and TV so would it be an idea keep it large and visual so all the room can see rather than close up stuff?

The trick is not to wow them so much with the magic, more to just have an entertaining chat with them. They are usually grateful for anyone that is prepared to just talk to them. Make it more of a discussion than a performance.

Try the nostalgia thing. Take some modern effects and backward engineer them to fit some objects from their youth. Effects with old coins, old photos are good.

I do a version of Nana's neckless telling a tale about how my grandmother used to make jewellery during the war from old bits of rope and washers and nuts.

Kemo wrote:The retirement homes here are like massive condo buildings for old people only. Many of them still drive and function on their own fine. But with them living in these communities they have help on hand if it is ever needed. There is a small section on the retirement home that is for people who need more assistance(its called "assisted living")

What I am going to be doing is some "table hoping" during their tea time(3 or 4 tricks per table, type of thing). Hopefully a few decide to have coffee so they won't be sleeping. I will be doing this for both the regular residents and the Assisted living group. The contact I talked to has faith that they will enjoy the effects, but who knows. Should be fun.

Same with any crowd.. I performed for some kids on the train a while back and they loved the tricks (INNUENDO IT AND I WILL KILL YOU ALL ) but I performed for the same group a second time and they heckled me into the ground(AS ABOVE), (so much so I eneded up in a competition so riled that I could barely hold my own and performed two lame ass tricks (and I even dropped cards whilst shuffling)

Probably the best thing would be to make very sure of what the audience will be like exactly.

A retirement home, old folks' home, or nursing home is a place for people who are incapable of living independently for some reason. They'll average out as elderly, frail, and with memory/cognition problems.

An assisted living village or independent-living retirement complex, like you describe, should have younger, fitter, and more on-the-ball residents. Most of them will be mentally fine. My cousin, for instance, lives in a subsidised "senior citizen" complex in California, and she's a database programmer not yet 60 years old. ("Senior citizen" starts at 55 in California.)

Mental acuity peaks at age 22, by the way, and begins to decline measurably by the age of 27. So "mentally fine" at the age of 60 or 70 still means their mental processes will work noticeably more slowly than your own. This includes perception (taking in and understanding what is seen or heard) as well as chains of logical thinking. So work at a gentler pace than you would use with mates down the pub, and stick to the plot without distractions or digressions. Allow a few extra seconds for important points to sink in.

Take into account that most spectators are likely to have some illness or disability, and many disabilities are invisible. Don't insist on people standing up, raising their arms, lifting something, manipulating a fiddly prop, giving you their right hand instead of their left, etc. -- they may not be able to. Don't grab and manipulate anyone's hands by trying to raise them higher, open them flatter, turn them over, squeeze a fist tighter, etc. You don't know their limits of movement, and might cause a lot of pain.

Take sensory problems into account, too. Make sure props are clearly visible with good contrast. Anything that needs to be read should be in large clear print. For card tricks, use low-vision cards with big indices.

Hearing problems are very common. Speak very clearly, rather slowly, and only speak when your face and especially your mouth can be seen. When telling a spectator to do something, use gestures to demonstrate, not just words. Don't get upset if you're asked to repeat a word or phrase -- just say it again, more clearly if possible. Stick to tricks that don't depend on patter, so even if a word is missed at a key point it doesn't really matter.

Ok dont flame me anyone ....

Some people in homes are perfectly able to follow routines, some appear able to, and other no hope in heck...

So aim for things that require no remembering on their part,

for me though older ladies tend to like the esoteric things, and palmestry goes down well for me, as it gives them a chance to also talk about their life, which we all know is what they love to do and reminiscence theapy is well known for assisting communication in elderly....

F x

Another thought. It's easy to say glibly "old people are interested in what happened during their youth". Well, "what happened during their youth" depends on how old they are. A retirement complex for independent or semi-assisted living is likely to have mainly people in their 70s, with some as young as their 60s and some as old as their 80s. An 80-year-old will remember the Second World War, a 70-year-old will have some memories of it from childhood, a 60-year-old knows it only as history.

For most people, their "peak nostalgia period" centres around the age of 20, give or take up to ten years each way. So for an audience aged in their 70s, you'll hit the most nostalgia buttons with references to the 1950s and 1960s.

But even then, it can play badly for a fresh-faced youth to try a "do you remember..." line. I remember Vietnam, mate, I remember Woodstock, and I know darn well you don't. "Being yourself" includes being honest about your age and life experience.

Past references might do better if used in more subtle ways. Suppose in a mentalism effect, the spectator has to choose a song title, movie, or celebrity from a list. It's easy enough to offer a list of items the spectator is likely to be familiar with.

Equally important is to avoid references to modern popular culture. Most people start getting bored with youth culture and the seething froth of general pop culture by the age of 25 or 30, and simply stop paying attention around the age of 40. Name a modern pop song or its singer, or the latest slang or fashion or internet meme, and you'll get nothing but blank stares. (And that's from me, and I'm not 50 yet.) References to current movies, TV shows, etc. are risky too, even if you think they're wildly popular. The older you get, the more it all blends together into a general background hum. I couldn't name you any of this summer's blockbuster films, for instance.

Thank you all for your comments.

I do believe that more visual(coin, sponge, Cups&Balls) magic would be the better choice. But I am a card mechanic, so card tricks are what I am going to do. I am learning sponge and C&B magic.

One of you stated something about the fact that you believe its not so much the magic that matters with this sort of audience, but rather that you interact with them. Interaction with the audience is a large part of my "act/style".

I've done shows for a grade two class[ages 6&7&8] as well for a group of children ages 5-8. I only used card tricks for these groups and I felt that about 90% of the effects went over very well.

I am at a point in my magic where I have a large repertoire of card effects(most likely two large). But I feel my routines or "act" is some what lacking so I am just looking for opportunities to learn and improve. Childrens shows and elderly shows may be difficult but if I can pull them off then theres nothing I can't do, or something like that.

Again thank you all for your input.

Kemo wrote:Childrens shows and elderly shows may be difficult but if I can pull them off then theres nothing I can't do, or something like that.

I'd stop thinking "elderly shows" if I were you, unless you really are doing a gig in a nursing home. Nowadays 70 is only advanced middle age for most people. They'll be highly offended if you treat them like noddies.

Do you actually know anyone aged 60, 70, 80? If not, go out and meet some. Or get to the library and have a look at magazines aimed at the retirement and post-retirement age group.

Doing a show at a retirement complex if you don't understand older people is like doing a kiddy birthday if you don't understand children.

http://www.who.int/healthinfo/survey/ageingdefnolder/en/index.html

- Most developed world countries have accepted the chronological age of 65 years as a definition of 'elderly'

and According to dictionary.com

Elderly:
–adjective
1. somewhat old; near old age: a resort for elderly people.
2. of or pertaining to persons in later life.

Now "old" is a relative term. I am old to a new born and some one who is 60 is old to me, but the earth is older then us all.

I do not use the term elderly as a insult, nor do I look down upon people who I consider "elderly". I do know people who are over 60 and I refer to them as elderly to their face, it's not a bad thing. When I say elderly I don't think of crippled people who can't walk, can barely concentrate, and at best can only mumble words. To me someone who is elderly is just some one who is over 60(apperently I should change that to 65)

I don't actually understand what you mean by "noddies". I treat every one pretty much the same. The only thing I change is my tempo and/or language, to be respectful of my audience. I then adjust here and there as I see the need during the show.

Also there is the say "respect your elders". Now granted we live in a world where this isn't done nearly as much as it should be, but I actually do practice that.

The elderly are just people who have lived longer then you or I. They like to laugh, they like to live and they like to have fun. To me there is nothing to understand about them as long as I understand humans(sure you can turn that around on me).