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In about a month I will be performing a shortish set (about 30 mins) for a group of 11 to 14 year-old boys, most towards th 11 or 12 end. My intention was to mock the (false;)) stereotype of the patronising children's performer for this odd age group.

My experience with boys of this age is that they are quite hard to pitch at, they are usually too old for kids stuff (though there are some exceptions, trick-wise and spectator-wise), but in the setting (a scout meeting) prefer the light hearted nature of that compared to my more serious closeup persona.

Does anyone have any suggestions of either tricks (I have the beginings of a program down) or of lines that might be overused by children's entertainers that I might include?

those of you in this age range, i'd be particularly interested in the types of trick your mates prefer. I imagine that you find better ways to pitch certain things than I might

All my friends are 14 (well pretty much, we will be 15 this year) but they like all the tricks that the adults do. Its the same with my wee brother, he is 11 and likes all of the same tricks as my Mum. I showed a 12-13 year old and he also liked the same tricks as adults.

Just make sure that you don't pick ones that are too complicated. Do things which are quite visual, but in syaing that my brother understood The Eye of Stonehenge.

a classic running gag you can do is to force a card on steven for example and then throughout the show reveal his choosen card in more and more hilarious ways:-

1) ambi wasname card revelation.
2) his card written on your arm.
3) on a jumbo card.
4) on a big rolldown banner or large cloth / table cloth.

its corny in the extreme but gets great laughs and makes a point.

ace of kev wrote:All my friends are 14 (well pretty much, we will be 15 this year) but they like all the tricks that the adults do. Its the same with my wee brother, he is 11 and likes all of the same tricks as my Mum. I showed a 12-13 year old and he also liked the same tricks as adults.

It's more down to my audience handling I think. In groups of four or five I can get away with pretty much everything I would do for adults, but in this case I will be performing for about 20 so will need to adapt slighty. I tend to focus on cards and keep a fairly intense atmosphere most of the time which will obviously be harder to manage with a larger group who might not be quite as forgiving as an adult audience with not being right in the centre of the action.

MagicDiscoMan, I might try that, or something along those lines.

I can honestly say that kids of that age (me!!) loveeeee levitation tricks! Not self-levitation! Levitating a dollar or bank note! Spun is an awesome example! I would loooove to see Spun performed. It looks awesome!
Thanks,
Dominick

oooh thats a hard one