I possibly have a paid gig at a high school field house in March. I want to tie this in to a full evening show in that same city. So, I wish to turn the field house show into a publicity stunt.

The main audience is high school kids, so the stunt needs to be very good (well - it needs to be good regardless of who the aud is). On the most part, todays audiences are only exposed to magic by Criss Angel, so whatever I do has to be on par with something he would do.. I do not want them to see the stunt (show) and walk away disappointed.

The stunt will take place inside the fieldhouse... so, no being run over by a semi, etc...

What are some good ideas for this stunt....

Hanging straight jacket? Not sure of the impact of this when done the standard way - (get in jacket, hang upside down, escape, come back down). It is very cool when Copperfield did his, it had extra suspense with the ropes breaking. How couold you make this more impressive?

Something where you disappear from one side of the place, and end up somewhere else....ie in the bleachers, on the other end of the fieldhouse, etc.... This type of effect is what I will probably do. Any thoughts....


Thanks in advance for any input...

scott

I sent you a PM about the straightjacket.

Here is a write up of the event we had this past weekend.

http://www.mlive.com/news/kzgazette/inde......l&coll=7

Very interesting. I'm sorry I missed it from a couple hours away.

If the purpose of the publicity show is to get people to attend a second show, then you need to let them know why they should attend the second show. For example, if on the evening show you are going to do the Upside Down Water Torture that has "killed so many great escape artists in the past -(hey, we know that ain't so, but the audience probably believes it anyway!)" it should be displayed on stage at the afternoon performance. Instead of doing that escape, however, you do one that leads up to it, like the Milk Can escape underwater. Then, after you escape, you look up at the big Water Torture and say to the audience, "Come and see me try to get out of this one tonight at yada yada yada."

I have no idea what's in your act or available to you, but that's the basic concept- display the big apparatus, but perform a smaller version.

So if your biggest escape is the straight jacket escape - display a large photo of you performing it elsewhere, display the straight jacket dangling high above the arena, describe what you will be doing that evening, how high up you will be, no nets, etc. Then as a "warm up" for the evening show, you perform a different type of escape that is just as exciting, but not the same as the straight jacket escape.

Spellbinder is correct

You show some small magic and talk about how much they will like the big show. The tricks do not need to be big but as spellbinder points out, they need to see and/or feel the stunts they want to see... large pictures at least... You can also have a link to your hand=outs with a youtube link so they can see one of your escapes.... with HS kids.... it's all about the sensationalism. HS kids respond to magic that is different from what you would do for a party. Stunts, escapes, simple mentalist (mental epic) head chopper. and anything else you can get someone on stage to do something with.

Tell them, at the promotional show, that some of their friends will be in the show - BUT - you can't say who or what they will be doing and if they want to see someone, they know, possibly do a wild stunt (don't use the word magic) they will just have to come to the show.

Avoid using the word magic as they will associate it with a kids show... and if you want to sell tickets don't wear cloths their father would wear. just go out and get your lip pierced, and you'll fit right in.I would give completly different advice that is in conflict with this dribble if you outlined a different set of circumstances.

If you took the advice of one escape artist who puts the people in the jacket - to show them that the escape is real and not trick.... you would be doing yourself a favor... What escape artist promotes straping someone from the audience in the jacket before you do the escape?

jay leslie

P.S. Another good stunt might be the old "wrap-up" then the person in the cloth becomes the principal and you're in the back of the audience... You can do a lot wit that one.

Dynamike

sorry that you missed the event. We will be performing our show at Athens High School on Nov 2 at 7:30

Not sure how far you are from there. But just giving you the heads up that way you don't miss out.

Cheers