My brother and I don't exactly carry a light load to our performances... We fill my Grand Caravan with all the seats down pretty near the max, and it takes us about a half hour to get everything set up. I'm just curious about how much other magicians bring to their show, and how long it takes them to set up.

Danny

What kind of show do you do?

My wife and I have a street act that consists of a table top w/stand. She has a gym bag with her stuff in it. I have a buskers pouch for my cups, a trickster hipster for the other magic, and for sound either a small bose system or a happie amp. We can carry everything out in one trip. All this fits in the back of my Ford Mustang.

For our stage show we have an additional suitcase type table that carries everything else. So for a stage show, 2 trips.

Jay Marshall made a living and traveled the world with all his props in his pockets.

Evildan,

We do a variety of things in our show. We do small illusions, large illusions, unicycling, juggling, an act when my brother gets inside a large balloon, a lot of different things. All our stuff is a pain to load, unload, set up, etc... but the kind of reception our show gets makes it well worth it.

In magic the hardest part of being a magician is prop management, storage, and traveling. I have seen some performers do it easily and others who did not consider it, thus they have plastic tubes, boxes, bags, etc.

I finally after many years have reduced my act to pilot/salesman case.

In the end it is all about what you want to present and how much you are willing to go to the additional work of set up and storage. Some do not mind taking a 10 minutes to set up a trick that only takes 2 minutes to present, other do.

I think that is why some do not perform silk magic, as they do not want to take the time to load the silks for a few seconds of production.

It is all about choices.

How much stuff do I have?

Too much and not enough.

Danny,

I guess you have to travel with what you perform. We like to pack small and play big. But I've know others who have packed a van full of props as well. You do what you need to do. It's when you get tired of lugging stuff around that you hire a roadie or modify your show.

Evildan, I agree. You do what you need to do. My brother and I are the type of performers that need big, bulky things in our performance. I do get tired of lugging it all around, but that's what our show is, and people love it. You've gotta give the people what they want.

I generally work a trickle. My table is a modified clarinet case. Everything that I use, but my hat and the tripod stand that holds up the case, fits inside the case.

I would love to pack small and play big
but doing childrens shows requires
bigger props sometimes for a better show.
I generaly have a 30 minute set up time.

For close-up it's balls and cards for the stage, I have a warehouse with 38 illusions. lighting ect.

The question is same as asking how much money is enough? or what car is the best/

My wife says "Too Much"!
I say "Not enough"

remember: He who dies with the most toys wins!

I used to do three trips to the car for my show. Now it's down to one. I got smart and realized that people are looking for entertainment and they don’t seem to mind that I don’t have all the big boxes and props.

Give them what they came for, a good show.

Too much! I go by the motto, "Too much is never enough"!

:)

Regan

My normal kids show fits in my Honda Civic Hybrid
My Large Kids show fits in my Girl Friends Hatch back
My Clown Illusion show Takes two Pickup Truck loads
(Would have rented a box truck but Girl friend is cheep....)