In theatre, all characters have a backstory - information which the author has in his head which helps to shape the character’s words and actions.

I’d like to suggest that your “character” when you’re performing at Faire should also have a backstory. It doesn’t have to be massive - just a few thoughts as to why your character is “like that”.

Here’s mine:

Tobias the Adequate is a self-professed “hack magician”. Overeducated and underemployed - spent most of his six years at University studying things other than what he was assigned. Big, loud, silly looking and painfully aware of it. He’s bounced around a number of jobs and found that “magician” is one he’s the least inept at.

In short, he’s smart enough to know that you should not end a sentence in a preposition, yet dumb enough to write that last sentence up there.

I’ll get into how this backstory helps decide what tricks I do as Tobias the Adequate tomorrow.

… and we’re back! Did you miss me?

Ok, let’s get moving here. I’ve been quiet for a week, but I have quite a bit of stuff to write about. I’ve been thinking - or perhaps rethinking - about the context in which we perform. Why are we doing what we are doing where we are doing it?

The shortest answer tends to be MONEY or perhap RECOGNITION. But in the context of a Renaissance Faire, where we are, in theory, all in a small English village during the 1600’s… why would you be performing magic at a harvest / planting / other festival?

This week, I’m going to explore the context in which I perform, the character and the justification I give him for doing the things he does.   I’m also going to be wandering around a concept I’m playing with which I call “organic magic”.

Onward

So this last year I was at one of my Faires and I saw one of the most popular shows at Faire… and the performer therein… did a card trick.

… I’ve been avoiding card tricks for many years - as mentioned previously - and doing a card trick at a freaking Renaissance Faire entails - to me - the use of cards that don’t look modern… or at least period neutral cards. However, since the person who did the card trick was a juggler - the natural enemy of magicians everywhere - I felt the gauntlet had been thrown.

Fortunately I found some. So, for those who arrive early to my show, they will bear witness to..

THE MOST DIFFICULT CARD TRICK

… IN THE WORLD!

and yes, there will be video.

Just a rumination here…

Trees and magic have gone together for centuries.

• The first magic wand was probably a piece of a branch.
• The same can be said of a wizard staff
• The “ring on stick” trick continues to be one of the classics of magic, and can be done close up and on stage
• In the 1700s and 1800s, as paper became less expensive, paper was used to wrap dry goods - grocers would make a “cone” of paper, twisting the ends to serve as an enclosed container.  This is why there are so many old tricks that used paper cones.
• The invention of the paper bag in 1852 marked the beginning of the end of “paper cone” tricks in popular magic.  Of course it also marked the beginning of “paper bag magic”
• Pound for pound, newspapers and paper napkins are the least expensive materials to use for magic. Mostly because the magician can often “acquire” the materials for free by walking past a bar, restaraunt or recycling center.
• There are over two  hundred variations on the “torn and restored newspaper” trick
• Likewise for the “torn and restored napkin” trick
• Harry Houdni published a book of Paper Magic  - I won’t say “wrote” as many of the tricks existed before he published them
• Making a rose out of a paper napkin continues to be one of the simplest ways I’ve found to make a lady or young girl’s day at Faire.
• And I couldn’t make a list like this without mentioning Slydini’s Paper Balls Over The Head - Others have done it after, but Slydini was the master

Magicians have two types of props, really…

1. Specialized Devices for specific tricks
2. Utility Items which can be used for multiple tricks

A deck of playing cards is, I suppose, the most common Utility Item that people see - you can do all kinds of things with a deck of cards - flashy handling flourishes, subtle mental experiments. In the lexicon of Alton Brown, a deck of cards is a multi-tasker.

There are plenty of multi-taskers out there - handkerchiefs or scarves, rope, cards… shockingly enough a roll of toilet paper might be one of the best (and cheapest) multi-taskers out there as it can provide a rediculous amount of “raw material” to do effects involving paper and / or balls of paper.

As far as unseen items… and here I’m voyaging into secrets territory (I did warn you about this), the best and worst kept secret in magic is the humble thumb tip.

oh dear lord I said it. Ok, in for a penny, in for a pound.

The Thumb Tip is a smallish plastic or metal tube shaped so that it fits neatly over the thumb, usually to the first ‘joint’ after the thumbnail, permitting the magician to carry a small item in his hand without the use of his fingers. Originally, a thumb tip was just a metal or leather thimble, much like the ones people still use for hand-sewing.

Paranoid magicians began to paint it flesh colored, and even more paranoid (and profit-motivated) magic manufacturers began to make it look more and more realistic in an attempt to ‘hide’ the item in plain site.

In my opinion, that’s going in the wrong direction. The idea is that the audience isn’t supposed to be looking for a Thumb Tip.  Here’s another secret:

The “moment of magic” in a magic trick is usually not the moment when the “dirty work” - the unseen folderol that makes the trick work - happens.

So, if you know what you’re doing and have the physical skills and the ability to direct the audience’s attention where you want it to go - remember giving focus ? - then the unseen utility items a magician may use can be bright day glow orange for all the good it’ll do.

Bricolage, pronounced /ˌbriːkoʊˈlɑːʒ/, /ˌbrɪkoʊˈlɑːʒ/ is a term used in several disciplines, among them the visual arts and literature, to refer to:

• the construction or creation of a work from a diverse range of things which happen to be available;
• a work created by such a process.

It is borrowed from the French word bricolage, from the verb bricoler – the core meaning in French being, “fiddle, tinker” and, by extension, “make creative and resourceful use of whatever materials are to hand (regardless of their original purpose).”

- Wikipedia

For me, bricolage is the key to doing what I do - the heart of improvisation is being able to take a bunch of things you already have “in stock” and assemble them into something new and, hopefully, entertaining.

A brief aside - When I was growing up I wanted to emulate the really clever banter I saw on TV (growing up in the 70s and 80s meant I was witness to a Golden Age of good sit-com writing - Barney Miller, MASH, Cheers, Night Court, all the good stuff).

I did not realize that this apparently impromptu wit was coming from rooms of writers who labored over the Funny for hours and hours on end. By the time I learned this, it was too late and I had conditioned myself to generate this stuff automatically.

This explains a lot about me, doesn’t it?

Going back to my Script vs Outline ramble, I know that there are moments which are likely to happen in my show, and I have a few “riffs” (to use the comedy term) that I can fire off when those moments happen. Thus, I assemble my show based on the outline of things I will do and reactions to likely outcomes…

So where do these “riffs” come from?  - They come from where all writing comes from - running through scenarios in my head, personal experiences performing, things I thought of after the fact (yeah, we all do that, don’t we?)…

Bricolage.

Here’s something I get asked a lot

Do you do birthday parties / kid shows / school shows?

This may come as a shock, but no, no I don’t.

“Magician” has been equated with “children’s entertainer” for about 50 years or so, probably coinciding with the last of the touring Big Magic Shows - Blackstone, Willard and the like. Oddly enough, this also coincides with when TV started running Warner Brothers cartoons - written for an adult movie-going audience - as morning entertainment for kids.

Magic, like comedy, can be aimed at a young audience. There are plenty of very talented magicians who perform “family entertainment” (read: kid’s shows*). I’m not one of them.

My act is family-friendly … I don’t work “blue” or use much adult humor. Working Renaissance Faires gets one attuned to the idea of using layered humor if you pay attention** - but my show mixes slapstick and, apparently, startlingly high end references. Not too many kid show magicians reference “The Platonic Ideal” in their shows, yes?

So no, I don’t do kid’s shows. I do shows where kids might come and watch, but my act is geared toward anyone who can think and laugh at the same time.

… that sounds really conceited of me, doesn’t it?

* What’s the difference between a “Kidshow Magician” and a “Family Entertainer”? About $200 - Jeff McBride 

** If you don’t pay attention, you just learn to shout a lot and use archaic language to talk about naughty things.

Some additional thoughts from 18 years of flailing about at Faire on “Gigging”.

• Learn Names (or at least nicknames)
  Knowing the character names of the people you’re improvising with will make gigging with them a heck of a lot easier. It also means you’re more likely to pick up on their character traits for more gig fodder
• Develop a Route and Learn Schedules
  Improvisation is about structured randomness! If you set yourself a schedule (likely wrapped around your guild or show schedule) your peers will learn when you’re around, which will make it easier for them to gig with you
• “Yes and” is better than “No”. Always
  A “no” stops improvisation dead. There are always directions you can take from any idea thrown at you. Build build build build!
• Dare to Lose
  I’ve said it before - losing in an improvised conflict can be much more satisfying than winning, especially if if you lose in a creative, funny, clever way
• Funny Works
  There we go. People come to the Faire to have a good time. High Drama is ok in small bursts, but when all is said and done, people do not go home talking about the subtle, tense dramas. They talk about the crazy things those performers did. Remember that, and you’ll not go wrong.
• When All Else Fails - RUN!
  Running away… is funny.  It’s even funnier if you have a blatantly contrived reason for fleeing.  When I was a SeaDog, the default excuse (and method for bailing out of a gig) was “We must sail! We must go meet the tide!” followed by hurrying away with shouts of “The tide!” “We mustn’t miss the tide!” “Where the hell did we put the ship?” and so on…

any other suggestions?

Some more cheap advice, in short bursts

• Always Take Credit - if it’s cool, maybe you did have a hand in it
• The Answer is “Yes And” - The key to improvisation
• Master Your Domain - Control or at least understand your environment
• Treat ‘Em Like People - your audience like to be talked to not at
• Frugality Make Genius - Get the most out of what you have - you’ll be amazed at how much you can get out of it
• Fail Funny - Brilliant success and brilliantly screwing up are closer together than you might think

More Cryptic Maxims soon - or do y’all have any to suggest?

Here’s something I’ve started doing which can be used by Rennies and Magicans alike - an exercise in creativity.

Pick your favorite prop - yes it can be a magic prop or it can be something you tote around with you at Faire… honestly it can be anything you like to fidget with.

Now, find three things - three different things - you can do with this prop.  It could be three tricks, flourishes, random bits of business - but find three things you can do and that you like to do. There’s no use in messing with something if it doesn’t “feel” right.

See three things equals a routine, or lazzi (there’s that word again!)… and lazzi  can be incredibly useful to both the Rennie Improv Wizard and the Itinerate Magician.