A Way In for the Magician (and the Participant)

The New York Times calls Jim Steinmeyer the “celebrated invisible man — inventor, designer and creative brain behind many of the great stage magicians of the last quarter-century.” And while I am not a large-scale illusionist (working instead in the realm of sleight of hand), I have the deepest respect for Mr. Steinmeyer and this thoughts on the art of magic.

In a lecture Steinmeyer gave earlier this year (“Robert Harbin & the Polemics of Modern Illusion,” February 2009), he offered his thoughts on why Robert Harbin’s illusions have become classics of modern magic.

One quality Steinmeyer identified was that Harbin’s illusions have “a way in for the magician.” That is, Harbin’s illusions — in their very construction — give the magician something to do (doors to open, panels to insert).

A good illusion allows plenty of room for the magician: things for them to do, elements to talk about and accentuate, and opportunities to be interesting or charming. Like a good song, they are meant to be performed, and they are designed to show off a great performance.

I would extend Steinmeyer’s observation to the performance of close-up magic by proposing this modification: Good close-up magic will have a way in for the audience.

That is, good close-up magic ought to be constructed to allow room for the audience. After all, the very proximity of the audience means that magician and audience share the stage together. Good close-up magic is magic that gives the audience things to do, gives them opportunities to be interesting or charming, allows them to share the limelight.

Magic that requires an audience member to pick a card and then merely sit and watch cannot reach the same potential as magic that gives the participants a way into the action, an opportunity to shuffle the cards, to secure the magician’s sleeves, to inspect the props.

Over the years, through a process of natural selection, I’ve observed that magic that doesn’t offer a way in for the audience (magic in which the audience simply sits and watches) has not earned a place in my professional repertoire.

My close-up magic that allows a way in for the audience is simply better.