talkmagic.co.uk

Just FYI, the posts from Mark & Mark have been posted over in The reference Library. Any further posts of quality will be copied there to make sure they are seen by a many people as possible.

mark lewis wrote:Yes, surrender is often the best option. These people fought the Germans and survived the blitz. You won't win with them. Let them stay where they are.

Unfortunately there are fewer and fewer people alive who had these experiences as adults, I am privileged in my day job to meet and work with many of them. There is something incredibly moving about talking to someone who was in the beaches of Normandy etc.

With regard to the original post, try and chat to whoever is in charge to get an idea of your audience, olderly covers quite a range of ages and impairments (or the lack thereof).

Yes indeed. There are certain shows such as nursing homes or extended care facilities where the mental and physical capacities can be very severe and these will be very difficult shows. I often think they would be far better off with a music act of some kind rather than a magician.

Having had some recent experience, although not as a performer (and no, not as a resident), I can confirm that a lot of good advice has been given.

The first thing I can highlight is for you to find out about the residents. Does anyone suffer from dementia? If there are a lot of dementia sufferers, keep it really simple. I would say don't make it like a kids show in terms of wooden rabbits changing colour, or stories about a giant's hat, but in terms of lots of really visual stuff. Even if they can no longer follow the trick, you can entertain a dementia sufferer with something that is fun to watch. As Mark Lewis says, there does come a point when magic really doesn't do the job.

The other thing that has been touched upon is the venue for the show. Depending upon how the home is laid out, there may be a function or meeting room that isn't used regularly by the residents. If there is, and it can be used for the show, you might have fewer problems with people sitting at odd angles and refusing to move, because no one should have a particular spot.

Brilliant!