With the pandemic continuing to surge and a number of my August gigs being canceled, I find myself with some unexpected free time on my hands. And during some early morning writing sessions, I’m finding myself rewriting and fine-tuning the script to my show Miracles & Other Deceptions: The Close Up Magic of Paul Gertner, which I recently reopened at the Omni Parker House here in Boston. Getting to perform for an actual audience again after 18 months of silence has given my creative brain a jolt. It’s not just the interaction with people I missed or the look of surprise on a stunned spectator at the end of a magic trick. What I missed most was the instant feedback that only a live audience can deliver. I can choose what I think is the right sequence of words or rewrite the story to create a better through-line, but only a live audience can tell you if it works. That is the part I missed the most.
And as I make the changes on the computer screen searching for the right word, or I rearrange the position of one magic effect with another in the show, I try to visualize where each new change will take my audience. I am creating a painting, a visual story that is designed to take them on an entertaining journey that will hopefully connect with them on an emotional level. If I’m successful, they will leave having seen much more than a magic show or a group of tricks. They will leave having learned something about me and perhaps something about themselves that they did not know when they arrived.
But in order to accomplish that with a series of magic tricks (and I admit that’s a tall order), you have to be willing to take a risk and to put more of YOU in the show. As my teacher, Bob Fitch always said:
Photo courtesy of fitchmagic.com
“I want to see more of YOU!” The first reaction of a new student was to say: “What do you mean? Here I am, you are seeing ALL OF ME!’ But by taking a risk, by being vulnerable and adding your unique perspective, and your experiences, those quirky things that make you, you, your show will become much more interesting. Magic tricks by themselves are rather mundane and boring events. You have a card selected, it’s shuffled into the deck, and you find it in an interesting or funny manner. I can teach a dog to do that. But if you help me understand why you are doing what you are doing, if you create in my mind a logical or even illogical reason based on an emotion, if you share with me your personal point of view, if you tell me an interesting story, now you have my attention!
I’m currently exploring the introduction to my closing illusion in the show. In the process of the show, the audience learns why I am performing this specific illusion. My audience no longer views this final piece in my show as an audience of individual strangers watching a guy do a cups and ball routine with few steel balls. Instead in their mind, they are now watching as a unified group who all share a secret, that they are watching my last trick as a proxy for my father, who inspired the trick, but never got a chance to see me perform it. It creates a powerful moment and raises the value of the trick way beyond a normal cups and balls routine. I’m asking a lot of the audience, and yes it’s risky because if I push it too far, it will fail. But if it does, I can always correct it for the next audience. So don’t be afraid to push the edge, don’t be afraid to fail. It’s enjoyable and a little scary to walk that fine line, to find that edge. And each new step is exciting, even after 50+ years of doing this. Try walking the line. It will keep you alive.
We all have many, many stories that have made us who we are that we are not using. We all have many experiences that we are not exploring. As a result, we have many illusions that are not as interesting as they could be. Why? Because we stopped thinking too soon, we stopped writing too soon; we end up performing the illusion the same way every other magician is doing it. There is nothing wrong with that. You might even be able to make a nice living doing that, but there is another level and it’s a hell of a lot more fun.
So try using this downtime to add an interesting story or a new context to those same magical effects you are doing. Don’t be afraid, as Bob Fitch would tell you to “Add more of YOU.” When you do, no one can copy you, and your entire performance will become more interesting and more important in the eyes of your audience. And isn’t that what we are all striving for?
Bob Fitch (front center, white shirt) with fellow teacher Ed Bordo (front center, grey shirt) and some of their students, including me.
