Hey there,

I recently noticed I'm about to find my true magical self... meaning the type of magician I want to be. However, I sometimes find it difficult to really be me during a performance, especially when there's a lot of unforeseen audience interaction.

I worked in a restaurant yesterday ... two hours of table-hopping magic. It was a rather lower-class place (50 $ of tips in two hours...): very earthy, sometimes rude, definitely simple-minded audience. It wasn't difficult to connect to them or impress them, the magic was fine. But I could not live out my truest self as a performer, which is - may I say - a more sophisticated, elegant type and I'm quite unhappy with this.

Will I learn this in time or should I skip these places instaed and only perform at more classy establishments? I really want to be a good magician but definitely fell short of my own expectations here.

Hi, Christof.

I would think that a lot of this depends on your situation. Certainly, if your goal is to perform in higher class venues then you would try to get more of them.

Developing a character is an interesting thing. The character should stay true to himself/herself, but it doesn't mean the character would react the same way in different situations.

Think of yourself for instance. Would Christof act the same way in a 10 star restaurant, perhaps with a charming date than he would in a crowded bar with his friends out just to have a good time?

I perform in many different venues. Some are exclusively adult (not erotic-adult, just grownup-adult), some are family, and still some are children-only. Even though my character is consistent, I do react somewhat differently in these instances.

Mike

My advice would be to be more you.
The more "you" you are then the easier it is to deal with audiences of any kind.
Rather than thinking "how would my character react?" you can simply react as yourself.
Of course many are so comfortable with their performing personas that this isn't a problem for them.

My performing persona strays very little (and sometimes not at all) from the person I am.
This makes it a lot easier for me to interact with my audiences.

Ultimately, I think that rather than trying to find a venue that fits you, make yourself fit the venue.
Because if your character (or indeed you) can only perform to certain types of people you could well be limiting yourself magically.

My thoughts.
Stephen
:carrot:

Christof says. "It was a rather lower-class place (50 $ of tips in two hours...): very earthy, sometimes rude, definitely simple-minded audience."

Perhaps christoff would have got more tips,and less "unforseen audience reaction" if he hadn't seen himself as so superior to his audience.

I would suggest christoff learns to see people for what they are. A genuinely "Sophisticated Elegant" person would never categorise any group of people as he did. In my time working cruise ships and large corporate and society functions I have met many people who are genuinely "Sophisticated and elegant," and they mix with, enjoy the company of, and are respected by everyone.

I would humbly suggest that christoff aims for the same thing.

Andy

Gotta go with Andy on this one.
You can't categorize your audiences like that; (well, you CAN, but you shouldn't).
I have seen performers -- not just magicians -- who assume they are superior to their audiences; it shows and it doesn't take long for them to lose that audience.
You never know what kind of audience you might get or who might be in that audience; so treat all audience members with dignity and respect.
They are doing you a favor by watching, not the other way around.
Remember: He who abuses his inferiors, has none!
cheers,
Peter Marucci
showtimecol@aol.com

Well said, Andy and Peter!

I'm reminded of an old quote a musician friend of mine recalled:

"Be kind to those you meet on the road to success, you'll meet them again on the way down - and sooner than you think!"

Love and peas,

Ben

The initial post in this thread appears to have been written to raise hackles. If, in this day and age, someone is not more in tune with diversity, I would be surprised.

Peter

Another way to think of it is: everyone's human and there's always a way to relate to most everybody. That's not to say we don't have preferences on who we like to be around and the same is probably true of performing magic. There are some great books out there on people skills that apply across the board including work, business, social, dating, day-to-day, etc. "How to Win Friends and Influence People" and "How to Have Confidence and Power in Dealing with People" are to fantastic examples.

The ability to comfortably deal with disparate people is a skill that cannot be undersold in any life venue. This could also help in developing "characters" tuned to an audience...

general good advices, but it´s legal for a young man in his youth not to "know who he is" .. this conciousness is also a fact of time and experience of self knowledge in humans life.
Generally speaking on strengthen audience impact in close up performance I can only highly recommend (as I did often) Darwin Ortiz book "strong magic".. it deals with all kind of presentational aspects and also with spectators expectations and thinking...
Martin

I am very interested in the performer's persona and would love to hear more about it. I am also interested in the narrator's "voice" in good writing--which is sometimes that of the true author and sometimes (supposedly) that of a completely ficticious character. It is questionable whether any great writer ever really created a sustained "false" narrative voice. They put themselves into their personas or storytellers.
"Method actors" discovered the same thing, and hence trained themselves to somehow become the character or allow the character to become them. The best con-men probably know the same thing: lace it all with the truth.
So the advice above seems in harmony with other arts and performing arts.

The question above of how to think of and relate to the audience reminds me of my Dad. Although he is a respected university professor, he loves getting out and talking to good country people. I have never seen him slight somebody because of their economic or education level. He often strikes up a converation with gas station attendands, for example, and has a genuinely good talk. He might even read their minds.
I hope I can always appreciate people and audiences the way he does.

Unless they are really nasty, of course.

alleycat

HI Christof,
It sounds to me as if the character you are trying to be is not really who you are?

I understand that the books all say you are an actor playing a part. but that part needs really to be an extension of your own good qualities with the bad qualities (we all have them) greately reduced or eliminated.
Maybe the fact that you considered thaese people bellow you is not such a good quality
and you should make efforts eliminate it as it WILL SHOW THROUGH!

My advice is to work these types of gigs more
let your good qualities shine through and learn how to adapt to the challenge. we all have to alter our character to suit our audience. Monday I performed Balloon Modelling/magic and Punch and Judy for 600 disabled mentaly/ physicaly children/ adults and their helpers, last night I worked for Liecester Police Bowling Club (all male) who are touring are area. They where roudy, loud and liked a joke. Tonight It's 42nd Signals Officers Mess. I have performed there many times and they are a far more sofisticated audience. tommorow 40 kids at a birthday party.
All of these require different emphisis in my persona / people skills, I could not possibly do this if my performing character was created rather than close to my true self.

phillip

Christof,

By the way, it sounds like you had a good time and connected well with your audience, but maybe felt as though you slipped into a little simple-mindedness or vulgarity.

You really sensed yourself to be "out of tune" with the performing quality you are developing--which proves you have discernment. I am not sure we can jump to the conclusion you looked down on this audience just because you felt "out of tune"
with your image.

alleycat

quote:
I am not sure we can jump to the conclusion you looked down on this audience just because you felt "out of tune"

Alleycat,
Just as I said things show through in performance, I think that they also show through in Christof's writing.

"It was a rather lower-class place (50 $ of tips in two hours...): "

or

"very earthy, sometimes rude, definitely simple-minded audience"


or

"But I could not live out my truest self as a performer, which is - may I say - a more sophisticated, elegant type and I'm quite unhappy with this."

or

"should I skip these places instaed and only perform at more classy establishments?"

This may be just how it comes accross to me. But then if it seems like that to me and others that read this post then maybe?

Phillip

Phillip,

I stand corrected.

alleycat