Hey everyone/ anyone who is interested! Ive always been genuinely fascinated by the engineering behind magic tricks. This is definitely the aspect of magic that caught my attention, and what continues to motivated me to learn more. After about two years worth of research and reading, I feel I have a fairly decent grounding, and understand the principles behind a lot of tricks. Id love to actually start performing a little now, and was wondering if there are any places I could go to speak to some professionals, and ask for some advice/learn from someone who knows how to be a showman,aswel as a magician/illusionist or whatever the case may be. Im from South Wales, and if anyone can point me in the right direction, it will be appreciated!
ToNa

Welcome to the Café!
Hi ToNa.
Do you mean that you would like to become a creator of magic tricks? If that is the case, then becoming an acomplishe magus, IMHO, would be your first step. Or; is it that you would like to learn the secrets behind most illusions?


I don't know which books you have read but I will recommend reading Hay's -Amateur Magicians Handbook-. Not only will it give you a lot of material to work with, if you read it cover to cover you will gain a lot of insight into the Performance Art itself. Great book.
First check out this post:
Recommended books for beginners
You should find enough material here to practice to your hearts content.


The Café is a great place to ask questions. This is a Diverse community. There are rookies like myself, amateur magicians that are just as good as the pros, and professional magicians. Some of the pros are names that you will recognize the moment they answer one of your questions. I recommend to use the search function often. And if you cant find an answer there, ask the community. They are more than willing to guide you if you are willing to listen and trust their counsel.

Welcome to the Café.
Respects,
Shamsiel.

For showmanship in particular "Magic and Showmanship" is a classic:
http://www.amazon.com/Magic-Showmanship-......2&sr=8-1

Also watching great magicians is a great way to learn. I think any video you can find of Whit "pops" Hayden is worth watching

My most useful experiences in showmanship however have been (a) working with a director who taught me a bit about stage presence and (b) just getting out on the street and doing it til I got it right

Thanks gents. I am interested in helping create tricks more than the actual performance. When I say I want to get into the performance side more, yes, I meant in the development of the trick. Thanks for the reading suggestion, and yes, I have already gone through Hay's -Amateur Magicians Handbook. Good read!

ToNa,

It would be truly beneficial for you to get out there and perform magic so you grasp how it feels to learn concepts such as misdirection, technical movements and things that make a magicians mind tick. Then while you create your effects, you will know all the considerations involved.

IIf you are interested in the mechanics of stage illusions, , the Wizard Product Review before last had a very good things to say about a recent book. I can't remember the name but you should be able to find the review. It wasn't cheap, though, and it wasn't full plans. As I understand it more a discussion of various theories and approaches.

Yeah I'm an engineer and naturally have thought of moving into the field. I would definitely say performing would help, however I think building props would soon lead to improvements and twists on existing themes. I need a larger shed methinks!

My advice would be to look around for places where there are going to be performers at a relaxed setting....somewhere where they are probably not going to get paid much for being there. Ask them to perform for you, and after they do, compliment them and say that you are a beginner and would like to know how to get started. Maybe they can get you hooked up with some gigs or mentors.

Thanks for all the advice gents. All very much appreciated. I think I will try and find somewhere that has performances, and try and find a helpful looking fella to educate me! Thanks again

I know there are several magicians from the UK on the Café. You might try some searches to see who you can locate and send them a PM. They might be able to steer you in a more precise direction. (Just for info, I hang out a lot in the Little Darlings and Tricky Business forums, and there's always someone there from "your side of the pond".)

Cheers!
Ed

Thanks Ed.
Very helpful!