Dear Friends in Magic,
Good to be back with you. And it really is me—no AI here! As always, I start with…
A BIG IDEA
Last time I shared an important concept from my theater training that directly applies to magic performance. Here's another piece of theatrical wisdom I’ve been guided by for decades but have never written about:
Our magical deceptions become stronger the more truthful we are.
Truth is at the heart of magic performance. No truth, no magic… or at least less magic. This is almost exactly the opposite of what everyday people assume about our art. And it runs contrary to the emphasis many magicians bring to their work as they dig ever-deeper for new tricks and deceptions.
But I've been at the game for a long time, and here are a few things I know:
1. It is very difficult to sustain lies with others. At some point, they feel it and doubt us, or they know we’re lying. As Shakespeare wisely observes, “The truth will out.”
2. When an audience invests their time, money, and attention in a live performance of any kind (music, theater, magic, comedy), they want and need to know the performer is authentically present. “Going through the motions” or “phoning it in” is the kiss of death.
3. This mean at a magic show the audience is intensely attuned to fake fronts and falseness in word and deed. Their BS detectors are dialed up to 10—the max.
Thus, magicians face a profound dilemma. Either our falseness must operate beyond the max (is that even possible?), or we need to give audiences authentic connection with a real person as we attempt to weave our illusory wonders.
How do we do it? First, we need to develop some theater skills. Eye contact, vocal fullness, and embodied presence. No lounge-singer voices or fourth-wall pretenses. (Adopting a character requires even more truth, but that’s a topic for another day.) No phoning it in but instead dialing in to these people in this unique place who hope (against hope) that a real person will show up (for a change) and create a magical experience to share and remember.
But we also need to develop some truth skills. Like being the embodied performer we are, rather than the one we fantasize about. Performing material that’s organic and true to us, rather than because someone else is successful with it. And saying true things that express our inner world rather than bullshit things no one can even make believe are true.
As I put this for our students: “Truth first, then trick.” That’s a pro tip right there. Because if we start with “trick” we’ll never get to truth and they’ll smell it. But if we start with truth—and stay with it as much as possible—it becomes easier to slide in all our tricks and traps along the way.
More truth = more magic. This is a Zen koan of our art and a big secret for your success.
IN THE STUDIO
About three weeks ago, I had the great pleasure of being interviewed by Adrian Tennant for The Magic Book Podcast. Launched in the summer of 2024, every month Adrian posts interviews with leading authors of magic books or books about magic. His guest list is a “Who’s Who” of people who are having significant impact on our field through their writing, research, and publishing—many names you already know and others you probably want to know.
A huge part of the podcast’s success is Adrian himself, a delightful host who does his homework to ask questions that allow his guests to shine. I was honored Adrian invited me to be on, and we had a wonderful conversation about my vision as a publisher, Eugene Burger’s secret commission, and our latest book, The Ross Johnson Legacy.
As readers of this newsletter, you might enjoy listening in or reading the transcript, which you can do here. |
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