talkmagic.co.uk

Hiya
my names Ben if you want to know more about me, iv said hey in the intro's section.

I'm about to leave college, and am taking a year out before i go to uni. My new years resolution this year was to put on my own series of close up professional shows for the public.

In more detail, I live in the Midlands, in a relatively boring a quiet town. I'm a member of a magic club, but thats about all the activity there is from a magic point of view. I want to present and star in my own one man close up show. I'm posting this idea on here for ideas and any advise on what order i should do things, or what to be carful of. But just to start heres what i have in mind.

For the actual performance, It will be an hour and a half performance. with an hour of close up magic tricks. with a half an hour of stage magic. What makes this different or maybe more difficult is that it will be for small audiences (maybe 15-20). I hope it will be a relatively casual performance, yet formal. The closeup will consist of simple yet very very effective tricks. I'm the type of performer that likes to milk each effect. I would include ideas such as sending a envelope with the tickets which they carnt open until the show, which will include a prediction of some sort.
For the stage, i have a show and series of routines which i perform when working anyway.

So theres my idea for the performance.

As for the rest, I have a number of friends who i have worked with/for in the past who i suspect will allow to to use there venue. The whole idea here is that the event is to be... a very special, exclusive event, so the better the venue, the better impression it will give when advertising in my eyes.

I'm a media student, and in my courses we always have to produce our own TV. So im trying to tackle this in the same manner, my researching, planning, producing, and performing everything.

Heres an example of what im aiming for.

http://www.magicwebchannel.com/OrleansShow.htm

This is the only example of what im aiming for that i can find!

So what im really asking is has anyone had any experiences like this in the past. Or any suggestions on what i should be carful of, or if this is just way ambitious to start with!

Thanks, Ben.

(Please excuse any spelling mistakes)

Well a good thing is you know what you are aiming for pretty clearly, which is a great start.

Just a question, the hour long close up section, is that a walkaround session or more you sat down with the audience around you? This isn't in anyway a comment or critisism, I'm just trying to picture it

Sounds like a good plan though, make sure to give yourself LOTS of time (like, months) to rehearse it all. Im sure you will anyway, but sometimes it can be a bit exciting doing something like this and its easy to run in head first!

Hi,
Thanks for the reply, the close up will be a seated close up show, with the audience in the classic house shoe seating around the table. But depending on the tricks involved, i think it might be easier to have the chairs in rows facing the same direction to give me a bit of performance space. Just like most close up shows, I will have a overhead camera showing whats goin on on the table.

Thanks, Ben

Hi Ben. I don't want to rain on your parade, but I can imagine few things less appealling than sitting for an hour of close-up.
I have read your introduction and I assume you are a talented and skilled performer. I like the fact that you have a plan in mind. But I do see difficulties.
It will be difficult to market an hour and a half of mainly close-up. If you limit your audience to fifteen to twenty this will not be a commercial show. I know your focus is not on money, but at some point you have to pay your bills, or the whole process becomes soul-destroying.
I understand too that close-up is your thing, and you want to share it with your audience in a proper show setting, and this is admirable. Perhaps you need to look at a different sort of show? Why not do larger venues, more people, and use your media skills to have the close-up filmed and shown on a screen behind you?
There is no reason why a talented close-up performer can not create an engaging semi-formal stage show, but I think you need to put a lot of thought into the format.
As for the half-hour stage portion, you will find that easy. Think of effects such as cards across, bill in lemon, maybe take a look at Michael Finney's rope routine. That part will fall in place quickly.
Good luck with it.

Hey, thanks for your reply, dont worry, theres no parade to rain on at the moment! This is what these forums are for!

I agree with the duration of the close up. Maybe half an hour is suitable, after all, if you have ever been to a magic competition, magicians (and sometimes public) sit through this and longer. Also, because it is a small audience in a casual situation, a short brake will be allowed half way.

Once again, this is a plan for a ambitious project which i am sizing up to see if it is possible, im used to criticism and advice, so thank you! Other comments would be appriciated

Hi ben,

Hmm, I'll have to agree with TonyB, an hour of seated close up is just too draining for an audience. If it was them having a drink for an hour or so on seperate tables before the show, you doing about half an hour of table hopping, it would be alright.

I did a performance at a golf club over the holidays, a seated close-up sort of gig that lasted about twenty minutes and that has taken me SO long to prepare for. And to be honest, if I cut out alot of the chit chat with the spectators, it would probably have been half that time, if that.

Cut the time of the show way down. Maybe even do just fifteen minutes of close up then do your stage work? In my opinion it will make the close up a better experience because you can do four or five really strong effects with cards, coins, pick your poison, then move onto something bigger than involves everyone.

Plus any length of time doing seated close up, as I discovered, makes audience management a bitch because after a while the people who aren't say, one to four seats away from you, are going to feel left out soon enough.

How about having including a meal as part of the evening, you could do some close up table hopping during dinner and then finish off with your stage act?

As someone who performs both close up and stage magic professionally, my advice would be to cut the show in half.

As everyone has said already, an hour of close up is a long time for one audience, especially if you've not really done shows like this before. I also think that then following it with a "stage" set would be a bit... well, weird.

Why not put together about 45 minutes of your best close up - all your favourite effects, nicely routined and thought out, maybe even with a bit of a theme if you fancy it. Then get a venue, a big table, and do an evening of "intimate close up magic" with about ten people. You could easily do this three times in one night, or (venue permitting) once a week for an extended run.

Then, if that goes well, put together a similar length small stage set, about 45 minutes, and perform that to audiences of 30 or 40. Again, you'll get the best out of this if you find a way of performing it multiple times.

It's tempting to want to show your audience everything you can do, but it'll benefit you more in the long run to develop a couple of full length shows that work for different environments, rather than one that tries to accomplish everything, and in doing so only works in the most specific of situations.

Hi Ben. I'm in the Midlands - where abouts are you?

I've done similar performances and they take a fair amount of selling unless you've got 15 friends who then tend to expect you o perform to them for free.

Get your venue sorted first. You can;t do anything until you know where and when you can perform. Some will charge or try to charge you an arm or a leg. Your problem is that for 15 people it's not attractive to some venues as this isn't a lot of trade. Best test the water with a community centre or village hall. You may also get a restaurant interested but you're going to have to be a polished performer.

Secondly, split up your performances into different sections. Consider three 20 minute sessions wth a 10 minute break between each or two 30 minute sessions with a 15 minute break in the middle. Each session should have a different theme such as cards, coins and other stuff or classic close up, mentalism and bizare etc. You get the idea and that will be more than enough as the basis of your show.

Select your material very carefully toensure that the routines are scripted well. You don't want to perform three transposition effects in a row followed by two vanishes. Ensure that there is a good mixture of effects when scripting your show.

Good luck.

Hey, thanks for the great input! its really helping me to get my head around the whole thing

so combinding all ur suggestions, i think its best to stage it on a weekend. The saturday being close up, say, 4 groups of 10 people.

Then on the sunday, invite 2 groups back for one stage show of 20 people, and then the other 2 groups for the other 20? Anyone like this idea?!

how much sale time do you think i should leave? should i have a target, or add dates with the more tickets sold?

Your input is really helping so thanks !!!

Ben Howard

Wow have you thought about getting some help other then a from a forum where you have no real idea about anothers experience? Thats not putting anyone down. Truth is most of us won't be aware of your demigraphic or anything else. Find other acomplised performers in your area, (doesn't have to be a magician) and see just how feasable your idea's for your area are. If you are looking to go beyond an agent may be a wise idea. A good agent (although they are all evil except for the ones that are not evil) will save you a heck of a lot of time and effort trying to re invent the wheel.

Well, i thought members of the forum might benifit or learn by posting a reply, or by reading what other members have put. I think its just asmuch about finding the best way of doing something together, rather than me just gaining the benifits!

Thanks, Ben

I think that it would be extrenely difficult to get an audience to return for a second performance the day after the first - that is how I read the post.

In real world terms any worker will tell you that it's difficult to get an audience there in the first place and the secret is to get them to buy a ticket in advance. If you have a pay on the door policy then many of those who say they will turn up just won't.

Once you've got your audience there you then need to keep them there. As Serendipity wrote, consider splitting your show in two - but on the same day.