Denny:
Hi Mr Leveridge,
I am a magician of just 14 years and the biggest fight I have in magic is to
get originality. I am quite advanced at magic for my age and it is my belief
that, if I can come up with some more original effects, then I have a good
chance of success. Recently I entered the British Junior Close-up championships,
which I enjoyed immensely, and increased my experience. The winner of the
competition was the magician with the best technique as, at our age, originality
is lacking. At the adult competition, I also noted a lack of originality.
I therefore wanted to take this opportunity, to ask you, a greater performer
and creator of magic: Where you get your originality? How do I come up with
things that will break the mould?
Originality in itself should never be the be-all and end-all of any performance,
even in a competition, although it must be said that performers who enter with
an act consisting entirely of totally standard effects are less likely to curry
favour with magical judges, unless the performance of those standard effects
is exceptionally good.
Some people find it easier to be original and creative than others. I think
it partly stems from what you know already. The more knowledge you have, the
easier it can become to break away from what has come before. The less you
know, the more likely it is that you will spend much time re-inventing what
someone else has come up with in the past.
The best advice I can give you if you want to be original is, try to let your
imagination have a free reign. In other words, don't initially restrict yourself
to things which you know you can either already do or to props that you already
have or to methods that you already use, but instead just fantasise about what
you would like to do if you could do anything.
You might start with a fantasy about a plot, for instance.
You might think to yourself, "OK, I want to produce a red sponge ball and magically change
it into a red rose to give to a lady helper." Having got your plot you then
try to come up with practical ways to get as near to your fantasy as possible.
It may be that in order to make the effect possible you need to compromise
- instead of having the ball transform into a rose in your hand you may feel
the only way is to drop it into a small box, for instance - and so you keep
agitating away at the idea until you settle on a method that is possible and
practical. Write all your ideas down too, because sometimes you will have a
good thought but will have forgotten it by the next day! Try never to be satisfied
with something until it is as perfect as you can make it, and keep coming back
to ideas, because I find that after a gap of a few days something new may occur
to me and I will be able to take an idea on again to a new level.
I am also intrigued at to what age you got into magic and whether I have the
upper hand so far.
I first started in magic at the age of 6 when I was given some little magic
books by an Aunt of mine. I did my first public show aged 10 and have performed
regularly since then. Oddly, I didn't really meet any other magicians until
I was 18 and went to University. I also never had much money to spend on magic
and so I think this is why I tried to create my own ideas and effects, simply
because I couldn't afford to buy very much and because I didn't have any imput
from other magicians.
BrucUK:
Mark, welcome to Magic Bunny and thanks for spending
some time with us. You seem to have some routines that have taken years to
build and "get right" or
effects that you never change, (e.g. those in your " Master Routine Series. ")
Do you ever get tempted to get involved in the "latest magic fads" or are you
a firm believer in repeating good, simple and powerful effects that allow you
to concentrate on the performance?
I tend to think that if you want to find some good solid
performance magic, the first place to start looking is at the 'classics'.
The reason these items get referred to as 'classics' is because they have
stood the test of time, and while I would not necessarily want to take a
routine from the past and simply slavishly perform it exactly as it was originally
intended, I would probably want to analyse it and see which parts are suitable
for today's performing conditions and which need to be changed.
For instance, the Chop Cup. I would class that as a 'classic' effect. I bought
the Ken Brooke cup and routine in the late 1970's but I would not dream of
performing the Ken Brooke routine exactly as written now. The reason is that
for me, a) the routine is too long, and b) the concept of constantly proving
that a spectator is wrong about where the ball is seems a bit insulting and
perhaps not to the taste of audiences today.
In the book The British Close Up Magic
Symposium - The First Decade I published
a Table Hopper's Chop Cup Routine which sought to change the original idea
into something which I felt more comfortable with. I used a chop MUG instead
of the standard aluminium or copper magician's cup, and the presentation did
not set out to in any way belittle the spectators. I also managed to routine
it so that there were no angle problems, even with the final surprise load.
So, this is just an example of how I like to take a well known effect and give
it my personal treatment. I've done it with the Flying Ring, with Ring and
String, with Ring On Wand, with Coin Box magic and much more besides.
I've never been one to bring out effects which have a short shelf life. By
this I mean, I wouldn't release a children's trick which used characters currently
popular with youngsters, because the pace of change these days is such that
within 12 months those popular characters may well be considerd out of date
and therefore no longer have the appeal they originally did. So, instead I
like to use props and/or presentations which are reasonably future proof, so
the 'latest magic fads' would not normally be of interest to me unless I feel
that the current fad may well become mainstream and be around for some time.
Doc:
Mark,
The Close up symposium has been going since 1989. What changes, trends or general
comments have you observed in close-up magic in the UK during this period?
Has close-up improved, changed or adapted?
Interesting question! I would say that taken as a whole,
things have remained fairly consistent. The levels of skill, presentation
and originality have
not noticeably changed. We have had some fantastic performers appear at the
Symposium over the years, and I have to say that we have rarely if ever been
let down by any of them! I have always tried to book people who have something
special to offer - it may be that they have enormous skill, are extremely funny,
perform highly original magic, have great popular appeal or who simply have
a justified big reputation which creates an interest and demand for them to
be seen.
The only aspect which has possibly changed is that there seems to be more
emphasis these days on good presentation, on commercial performance rather
than just technique. Whether this is a general trend in close up or whether
it simply reflects the types of performers that I have tended to book, I'm
not totally sure, but I suspect that over the last 15 years the opportunities
for close up to be used commercially in the real world has increased and as
a result close up magicians have had to get away from simply fiddling around
with a deck of cards for their own amusement, and have had to look to devising
routines which will play well with the general public.
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