Jun 23 2009
Good Magic Evolves
Mike Caveney - magician, author, collector, and all around nifty guy, has said more than once, “Consistancy is the key to good magic.” I agree with that, but I also believe that good magic evolves with the number of times you perform it.
Case in point - One of the centerpieces of my current show is my take on Whit Haydn’s Mongolian Pop Knot routine. This routine is available for purchase (you can look it up online, naturally), and while the mechanics of the effect remain the same (otherwise the tricks would not work), the manner in which I perform the routine has changed over time.
Part of the reason good magic evolves is because, if you can read your audience while performing, you’ll find that there are bits which work well for your show and your audiences if you break from the scripted “patter” and respond to what’s going on in a way that’s consistant with your character (and perhaps suprising to the audience).
For me, the best example of this is during the second phase of the routine - Whit’s scripting has the magician cut the rope in half, but not cleanly, and then snip off the offending extra length. For me, I leave the ropes uneven, reacting to my error with a wide eyed “But that’s not the IMPORTANT part!” and then, when cutting the ropes into three equal lengths, get fed up and snip off the unequal bit while declaring that the rope is cut into “Three… EQUAL… pieces!”
What happened next was more a lucky coincidence. Playing up the frustration Tobias is feeling, I chucked the sharp, pointy Madagascarian Rope Shears at the wooden stage floor. And they stuck - just as if I was a knife thrower and the floor was my target. *WHUNK*
A moment passed. The crowd, rather understandably, went “OOOOO!”
“… I’m not messing AROUND anymore… “
Looking back over tapes, I’m seeing a similar evolution taking place with the Mallet Trick and the White Tiger trick.
So, Good Magic Evolves.
