One of the odd things about being a working magician is that you never can tell what you will find when you arrive at your next booking… Although most nights follow the same pattern. You arrive, quickly set up and off you go. But just when you think you have everything under control, chance gives you something that takes you fully by surprise. A friend of mine needed a favour.. He was away doing a magic show overseas and could not do the booking that had come up. The client was a very well known actor that had booked him before, so he wanted to recommend a magician he knew would he could count on.

I was helping out a friend, so I didn’t a contract and agreed to 2 hours walk around and table magic during a meal for the guests. An easy gig I thought… A nice party in central London, mixing during the drinks and canape's then entertaining at the guests tables.. When I arrived, I discovered there were only 5 people, two of which told me right from the start that they ‘Didn’t know why the host had booked a magician as they hate magic’. Ahhh!

The location was a private dining room in the Chinese restaurant at the Dorchester. It's a small room, with no ‘side rooms’ to hide away when not performing. On top of this, the client wanted a 2 hour close-up magic show made up of an hour during drinks and an hour between courses through the meal. That’s a LOT of magic for just 3 spectators and 2 hecklers! Luckily, I was able to spread the material, and the client agreed that it was best for me to come in at points through the evening and perform small sets of tricks, so it did not dominate too much.

The lesson: Plan ahead of time and find out about your audience and the location, BEFORE you actually get there to perform!
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That experience taught me an important lesson I should have learned many years ago... Be ready for any eventuality. Luckily I had plenty of material to perform a the gig . However, I should have taken the time to ask a few questions FIRST, and then I would have been able to prepare and start the gig in a structured and paced way. Do This: You spend a great deal of time preparing your act. Put time aside to prepare for the situations you will work in too! Here are 4 quick tips to help you not make the same mistake I did:

1) Get information about the event, location, and guests from the client so you can plan ahead.

It’s important that you have these questions on your booking sheet:

• The location – The full address and phone number for the venue
• Is there parking available?
• Are there any special access requirements? – Ferry crossings, security gates, limited access conditions.
• Who is the event planner or point of contact at the venue?
• How many guests will be attending?
• The dress code for the event.
• The duration you would like the performance to last
• Will the event be walk-around, table magic or a show?
• Will other entertainment be running while the magic takes place?

2) Arrive early

Plan to get to the venue an hour before you are booked to begin entertaining. You need time to be able to check out the venue, and deal with any surprises that show up

3) Find a room or screened corner to be your base.

It's important to have somewhere private you can go to for resets and the breaks in the evening. You don't want to be standing around. Usually you can request a room for this, but other times, it may even be a ‘chair store’, a screened off area, or an unused corridor. Keep away from the serving stations and the paths used by the waiters. Make sure you are not getting in the way.

4) View the room layout

Being forewarned is being forearmed. Check out exactly where you will be performing BEFORE it’s full of guests. This will give you a chance to ask for changes, or to adjust your planned material to be right for the setting. Look out for these points:

• Is there space to get to all the tables when the guests are seated?
• Which tables have a good view of your performance?
• Will other tables be able to watch the magic tricks, while you perform to other tables?
• Will there need to be angle adjustment for some of the techniques?
• Is there going to be a lot of background noise?
• Will the lighting prevent some tricks being perfect?

It sounds like a lot, but it isn't really. It just boils down to being prepared and not slipping into a comfort zone, that can one day trip you up. I hope this helps you and your career in magic. Dominic Reyes

About Me and The Merchant of Magic

I'm Dominic Reyes BSc Psych (Hons) M.M.C, a full time professional magician and member of The Magic Circle, based in the UK. I teach, write, and lecture on psychology, sleight of hand, misdirection and practice techniques to magicians, as well as owning The Merchant of Magic which is the UK's largest magic shop.

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