Ok, I HATE sounding arogant, hell I hate sounding confident a lot of the time. But this post is about finding my way in magic,. and the truth of things.
I've been reading Derren Browns "Absolute Magic" a book purely about presentation of close up magic. It's hard reading, not just because of the elegant prose, but because I find myself stopping after each paragraph to reflect on what Mr. Brown says and to try and shoe horn it into my own performance style. He talks of not being a whimsical god figure, but of a hero showing people an ethereal world, letting them touch a universe that is next to our own. This has always spoken to me and something I strived to do.
I attended the art gallery Slack Space to view the work of a friend. Her work was excellent, I was genuinely impressed. Another artist also exhibited, his work was actually moving. I sat down and chatted with people who I know reasonably well, asking one chap about his trip abroad, then asking another about her time in China. When I was speaking, asking questions, everyone got involved, I decided to let someone else lead for a while, and noticed the 6 way conversation changed into 3 two people conversations. The social dynamic broke down. I've heard it said that I often "hold court", this was my first attempted to pay attention to the subtleties of what was going on. The result it seams is I am good not just with engaging with people, but facilitating them to engage with each other. I was beseeched when I first entered the building to show a new effect (or an old one) I quickly performed a new effect I was working on but put the cards away, this was the artists big night, not mine. Later we went to the pub, the cards came out...
A WHOLE HOUR of non stop magical entertainment. 6 people kept fascinated and enthralled with a regular vanilla deck! I only fell back to ambitious card once. I performed "out of this world" on request, I-M-P-O-S-S-I-B-L-E, card in hand, aces high, and direct mind reading. The group of six were fascinated, talking constantly about the magic, and I believe enchanted. Oddly enough this started in the gallery. My thoughts on the art, and a few experiences with I shared with the group, both as a whole and individually seamed to genuinely intreage people. It has been said before I don't need to exaggerate an aspect of my being to get a performing character, I can just be myself. Tonight reaffirmed this. God I sound arrogant, a childhood of believe no-one could like me has left me feeling dreadful and even pitiful for saying "I'm a likeable guy"
The icing on the cake, I gave one of the young ladies a lift hoe, I asked her how the magic made her feel. I was prepared for "baffled" "confused" or just "entertained and happy". I got, honestly, no word of a lie "like you were showing us something that's there all the time, but we normally can't see it." I asked her to expand on this and she said it was like when I'm there SHE can do the magic, it's in her I just show her a path to using it. I actually had to choke back a tear, I'm that much of a sap, but mission accomplished I feel. I
So in summing up things I've learnt.
I can entertain a whole table for an hour with 1 deck
I seem to have an engaging personality and interest people
I don't need deep moody mentalisn to give people the sensation of resonant rich magic.
More effects and slights are always good, but what I have is already very good, and can give a deep powerful effect.
You don't need to script an extended metaphor type play to attach meaning to an effect, the emotional response to the impossible can inspire people to create their own meaning
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