I spent so much time practicing magic the past few days that I misdirected myself from updating the weblog. Between a daylong Cato event on Friday that ended up stretching into the night and the need to rehearse, I’ve had no time to post.

Tonight Court and I invited a group of friends over to the apartment for magic and desserts. As always, she did an amazing job in the kitchen (how does she bake so fast?) and I performed for about half an hour after everyone had relaxed with a glass of wine or two (I take whatever advantages I can get). This was an opportunity for me to try out some of the new effects I’ve been working on since early this summer – to release those pups from the captivity of rehearsal into the wilds of real performance to see if they could scrounge their way to survival.

Fortunately, everything went pretty well. Nothing bombed, some effects went wonderfully, and in many I found a few things that could use some tweaking. Considering that more than half of the show was being performed for the first time in front of a live audience, I’m pleased. Everyone enjoyed it and we’ll do it again sometime.

The style of magic was a departure for me. Most of my previous experience is with close-up magic performed in short sets of anywhere from ten to fifteen minutes. Parlor magic is different: it changes the plane on which the effect has to play and enlarges the frame of performance. Performing close-up, the audience is often looking at a downward angle and the magic can take place on a horizontal plane, such as on a tabletop or in one’s hands. In a parlor situation, people are looking from across a room and the magic has to be staged on a vertical plane so that everyone can follow it.

By “enlarging the frame of performance” I mean that working in a parlor allows the audience to take in a bigger picture. When I’m working close-up, such as at a restaurant or party, people will tend to be focused on just one thing: my face, a hand, an object, etc. That opens up many possibilities for misdirection. In parlor, since people are seated farther away from the action, they can take in everything — if I were on TV, it would be the equivalent of the camera zooming out for a wider shot. Techniques that are effective in one venue don’t always carry over to another.

Those changes in the plane and frame of performance require a lot of adaptation. However, I like being able to work for a larger audience and the theatrical opportunities a longer show provides, so I’m going to continue developing this kind of performance in addition to my usual close-up style. Stay tuned here for details.