Dear all,

Would like to get comments from Café members on this subject:

Years ago at a magic convention , I saw an illusion act whereby the performer performs about 8 illusions, and all the illusions are all around the same direction such as Appearing,Vanishing or Shadow. If I am not wrong its jus this 3 kind of effects built into a show with 8 illusions.

For example, Would it be wierd for an audience if you perform the sword basket and say the Spiker in the same show? Both illusions involves poking into a box and implying the the person has vanished. Although the premises on both is different , like the spiker could be shown empty after the spikes are inserted.

Also for example a sword box and a geometrix illusion, both also imply that the girl is gone from the box after inserting obstacles into the prop.

If performing these illusion in a show together, will the audience gets bored and think "well if he can make someone vanish, why go through the process of putting into so many different boxes".

Regards,
Jeremy

I think what you just said is one of the things that sets a good performer apart from a great one. Variety is the spice of life, and of a good show too.

Perfect case in point, about a year ago, I saw a guy perform 2 shadow boxes in his show. One was a stand up box, that he opened the show with by producing himself. Then later he had more of a standard shadow box where he produced his assistant. After the show, one of the people I was with asked "didn't he do that shadow thing twice?" Granted, it is a different prop, he did have a different mood to both, but my friend only remembered that they were shadow effects. He may have even thought they were the same prop, and at that point, they might as well have been.

So, I think you are right, the audience can get bored with too many like effects.

scott

I agree- don't do the same illusion twice. Generally, when I think of which illusions I'm going to perform, I try to divide them up into categories, then never pick two from the same category. Don't mix two penetrations, or two cut-and-restored illusions, for example. A thin-box sawing and a zig-zag are obvious examples of two tricks which shouldn't be included in the same show. However, I also wouldn't throw a guillotine in with either of them.

Of course, there are certain exceptions, if they're being done for thematic reasons. I have seen a magician (who's name I can't remember for the life of me) go straight from a zombie levitation to an Asrah (producing the assistant from within the zombie ball itself). I personally followed my silk routine with an illusion where I transformed the assistant into a long series of silk streamers. If you can show off doing it small, it's fun to suddenly do it big, too. I wouldn't go back to silks at any other point in the show, though, and I'd only use this sort of thematic transition once per show.

I love to break that rule! I do 2 sawings in my show but I throw it in in a way that the audience Loves it.....I introduce my teen daughter and the patter is around that fact that she thinks that she is better than Dad...I do the Wakeling sawing and she does the Impossible sawing and we let the audience clap for the better..a big bit of comedy. I thought of this because I go a new sawing but I am in love with the wakeling one and I cant leave it out of the show...i have added some things to my wakeling sawing.

Lusion, yes- the key is knowing when to break it. Are you doing them simultaneously, or one after the other?