5 Things I Learned Going From Close Up Magic To Stage

When you want to go on stage but don't know where to start

One of the common questions magicians ask is “I showed someone magic and now they’ve asked me to do a show at their event, I’ve never done a show before! What should I do!?” which then garners a range of responses from sarcastic jokes to comments ridiculing them for taking such a gig.

Whatever your thoughts, some magicians need the motivation of a gig to kick themselves into gear and what better way than the pressure of a deadline? I know I wasn’t practicing my stand up routine when I first got asked to perform at a party and they didn’t want walkaround magic!

So while I am not an accomplished stage performer with any name recognition, I have done my fair share of shows and hope others can learn from the knowledge I garnered over the years. When I mention stage, I mean parlour/stand up style shows, and not the large illusions shows you would see in Las Vegas, because that’s a whole different beast which I’m not qualified to expound upon. I’ll be looking at the type of show that is more within the reach of a close up performer and how to get there.

Don’t worry, I’ll even note down what tricks I do so you can get somewhat started.

1. Start With The Tricks You Have

Stand up magic is different from close up in that you have a larger audience with wider viewing angle and the need to play your effects upright, but what effects do you do?

Begin with the effects you already know and see which ones can be adapted for a show context. In my first show over 10 years ago, which was embarrassing to think back to now, I closed my show with card on ceiling. This was an effect that I could manage sleight wise and it played big enough for the audience and location I was at.

A good number of card tricks can be modified to play for a bigger audience, such as the Invisible Deck. Other close up tricks aren’t as adaptable, such as coin tricks which, depending on the audience size may be too small for people to see, unless you’re doing a Miser’s Dream where sound makes up for the lack of visibility. Almost any torn and restored object would work well stand up as well.

Physically take your close up effects and raise them from your pelvis to your chest and see if they can see be performed, if so, consider it for your show!

2. Watch Other Magic Shows and Take What You Like

When I was younger, I had a lot more time to go out, socialise with other magicians and watch shows together, which provided a great source of inspiration and ideas.

When I say take what you like, don’t rip off the effect and presentation word for word, that’s unoriginal and just bad form. What you should be doing is seeing what effects interest you and then looking for the published version to get started when it comes to learning and including it in your show. If it’s an original effect that only that magician does, such as Rudy Coby’s four legged act, don’t copy it of course, but take inspiration and you might find yourself with a three legged act like Axel Adler did, similar yet so different in presentation.

In my case I recall seeing my friend Liam Powers perform the needle swallowing routine at a show. It sat in the back of my head for sometime and when I was looking for a new routine to add to my standup show, I remembered the routine, and studied a few published versions ranging from Scott Alexander, David Williamson before landing on Steve Spill’s handling. I forgot what Liam’s presentation was and came up with my own silent handling done to music, but without seeing it performed in person I might never have thought to explore the effect.

Explore effects from other performing magicians and make them your own.

One of my favourites - Needle Swallowing

3. Go Through Your Back Catalog for Material

This assumes you have amassed a catalog of magic consisting of DVDs, lectures, books, downloads etc.. that you haven’t read, watched or even looked at.

If that is the case, you have a lot of material just sitting around waiting to be discovered. If you’re like me and managed to get a stash of old Linking Ring, Genii and Magic magazines, occasionally there’s a write up of a stand up trick you can consider putting into your show.

But if you don’t have any material to draw from, ask other magicians for help, but you’ve got to give them something to work with. Tell them your style, what tricks you currently do, what you like and then ask for suggestions. This will help other magicians better understand you and recommend material that may be suitable, that way you’ll avoid a trick like Linking Rings when you prefer something like the Egg Bag.

Spend time going through what you’ve already got or ask magicians for specific help and you’ll get a trick or two to add to your show.

4. Have a variety of routines

As much as you may love card magic, a show consisting of only card magic is tough to keep an audience engaged, unless you’re Richard Turner or Jason Ladayne.

Your show needs variety across the board from start to finish. If you are asked for a 20 minute show, instead of performing two long 10 minute routines, do one 10 minute routine and two 5 minute routines as this provides more magic and potential for variety. This might look like a Rubix Cube trick to open, followed by a Needle Swallowing with a participant on stage with you, and finally ending with a bill to orange routine with one or two participants on stage (depending on your routine). All three effects are very different from each other and present different magical effects and categories that I learned from the late, great Scott Alexander:

Rubix Cube Opener - Quick, Visual Magic with a Vanish [Opener]

Needle Swallow - Dangerous/Geek Magic [Danger]

Bill to Orange - Longer routine with more jokes, a vanish and object to impossible location [Feature/Closer]

Scott broke down his routines into the following categories, which going through in detail is a whole piece in itself. Note that some routines can fit into more than one.

• Opener

• Personality Piece

• Danger

• Feature

• Skill

• Closer

Magic is interactive, so you want to have people on stage to change the dynamic throughout the show. Don’t have a show when you’re all by yourself the whole time, and don’t do tricks where you need participants on stage every time. Find a happy medium of a mix between “in one” effects and “participant required” effects.

If you still insist on having a show with only cards, you better make sure you have a dynamic personality (like Turner and Ladayne) to pull it off because the magic will only entertain an audience so much.

5. Work out how long each routine is when building the show

As alluded to in the previous point, knowing how long each show is important, especially as you start to perform in more professional settings such as television, ensemble acts and cruise ships.

In professional contexts, if you’re given a 10-minute spot, keeping to that time shows that you’re a professional and know your act inside out. The last thing you want to do is upset others and impact the overall show by going on too long.

In other contexts, such as private parties and weddings the timing can be a bit flexible, but you should still keep to your allotted time without deviating too much. When I list out my routines I give an estimated time for how long I think the routine goes for, refine the timing in rehearsal and then confirm it when performed in front of an audience. It may not always be perfect due to outside factors such as crowd response and interaction or a routine going wrong and having to recover but it’s certainly better than not knowing at all!

Knowing your timing helps you put together a show easier, whether it’s a 10, 20, 30 or even 60-minute show, you can pick and choose tricks to create a solid show.

I’m Just Getting Started

There is a lot more I could write about each point, but there are other points I want to cover in the next post which will cover things like scripting and reviewing your show.

My hope is that this will give you the confidence to begin putting a show together and get into a mindset where you keep one eye open for potential material to incorporate. The more you perform, the better you’ll understand your routines and what you like in the effects you choose to perform, or take out in the case as you discover what you don’t like. My own shows are ever evolving, I’ll have my constants that go into every show, and I’ll have routines I rotate in and out, depending on the type of show or how I feel about the state of the routine.

Close up magic is great but stand up shows provide a different level of interaction, adrenaline and satisfaction you wouldn’t in an ambitious card routine. See you in the next post with more lessons learned.