Does anyone here perform strolling silently? I do there is at least one person who works as a strolling mime magician but can't think you he is at the moment. I'm looking at this because I have found my silent work on stage gets much better reactions than my spoken work. So I wondered if it would translate to close-up.

I'm certainly not a mime magician. (Ugh....even the thought of those 2 words together.) In clubs and bars I'm often forced to perform silent as there is a band or DJ. In cases like this, it's best to have material that is very visual and doesn't rely on lots of instructions or questions. You'd probably be surprised how much of your regular material can be done silently.

Dear Michel Fouche,

Like pepka, I don't plan to work silently but in noisy situations or if there is a language barrier I can end up working silently or not being understood (in which case I generally still talk but recognize that I need to act it out bigger as well).

If these conditions don't exist some people can be mighty uncomfortable with a silent performance. I'm not saying it wouldn't work but be prepared for people to either try to get you to talk or start translating for you. If you can have Music it might make it work better.

- Mary Mowder

Same here. I do it when I need to or when the mood strikes me.

I've done the linking rings silently when gentle music just happened to be playing for all to hear.

I've done a whole set silently at a 10-top of elderly folks at a corporate gig for no other reason than I thought it would be cool at the time.

Not silently but .. I've done the professor's nightmare for some hispanic spectators and had them try to help me do it in spanish. My spanish was/is awful but we all thought it was funny and great interaction. That idea is a great way to make a connection with your audience, btw.

As mentioned, due to conditions, I've been forced to work silently. Some routines can play well that way....some suffer.
One night, on a whim, I decided to work a few of the tables silent (even though noise was not a factor). I did this for a few of the regulars. The consensus afterwards was, and I quote, "that was creepy".
Several years later I purchases an instructional DVD by Jay Scot Berry that was completely silent.....I thought that was "creepy", also. I've heard some other people are putting out silent instructional DVD's. Why?

Easy! They only speak one language and they figure the majority of the folks who buy their DVD won't understand what they say...so silent is the way to go (in their mind).

For a little extra time they could subtitle the the DVD or for an extra expense, offer the DVD in several languages...or they do it silent and it's a "one size fits all" type of thing...

I've worked tons of clubs, bars, etc. that were very loud and forced me to think outside the verbal box and communicate in other ways. Initially, it was actually a bout with laryngitis that forced my hand to mime the presentation. I had NO voice at all, so I winged it, and to my surprise and pleasure, it worked.

The interesting thing is that I believe it will actually make you a stronger performer, even when you are able to speak and be heard. In a sense, the magic becomes more like dance, in that you are using visual elements to communicate, rather than audible ones.

Even practicing you magic silently and to music, will allow you to "hear" music in your head as you are performing silently, even when none exists. Your routine becomes more fluid, and you'll get a sense for the correct level of "exaggeration" required for the venue you are working. Obviously, close-up requires much less than stage work, but this internal script of music adds a certain timing to your delivery. Highly recommended!

Michel -

You want to contact jlevey at http://www.maxmagician.com and talk to him. He and his wife work as "Max & Maxine" and work silently. I personally saw them, some years ago, at a conference in Montreal and can attest to there silent abilities.

Are there any Silent Mora experts in the house?

When I have been "forced" to perform in a club\band playing\loud music\etc situation, I created a notepad with short instructions like "Pick a Card", "Don't let me see it", "Sign your Name". Thinking about it further...pay attention to a flight attendant when they are giving the safety instructions and maybe you could create hand gestures and have a fully working close-up act suitable for all languages.

Jamie

Christopher,
I probably should have re-phrased that...lol. I know why they do it. It just doesn't make sense to me. It reminds me of a George Carlin bit where he talks about blues music being played by white people. "It's not enough to know what notes to play....you have to know why they need to be played".

There are so many factors involved in learning and performing a routine. The how's, why's, when's, etc. are difficult,and probably impossible, to translate silently. Sorry if this is off topic. I'll sshhhh, now.
patrick

I am thrown by the references to "mime magic" equated to "silent performance"

Wouldn't a Mime performance be a parody of a magician rather than actually performing an effect? Is it still mime if you use a prop? I could see a mime successfully walking around a magic convention and pretending to do traditional effects like linking rings, egg bag and even rabbit from hat -- with exagerated gestures anf facial expression being very entertaining.

but, simple doing an aeffect with ut words in in mime.

Good point, funsway. I agree, miming the exaggerated movements of most stage magicians would be quite hilarious.
patrick