Close up magic performances are a captivating and intimate form of entertainment that typically takes place in close proximity to the audience. This type of magic, also known as micro magic or table magic, involves the magician performing tricks and illusions using everyday objects such as cards, coins, and small props. Unlike stage magic, which is performed on a large platform and is more visually oriented, close up magic focuses on creating a personal connection between the magician and the audience. The magician engages spectators by performing tricks directly in their hands or right in front of their eyes, making the experience all the more mind-boggling and astonishing. One of the key aspects of close up magic performances is the element of surprise and astonishment that comes from performing tricks mere inches away from the audience. Being so close to the magician and witnessing the magic firsthand creates a sense of wonder and excitement that is hard to replicate in other forms of entertainment.
13. Spectator Failure–A spectator cannot accomplish some simple tasks, suggesting some special power has affected them. A classic is where the spectator is invited on stage and a magician lifts a box or chest. The spectator can’t budge the objects no matter how hard they try. A lot of stage hypnotists may perform this type of material.
Once they confirm that they have a country in mind, ask them to focus on the second letter in its name, and then pick an animal beginning with that letter. Acts seen on stage include the mentioned illusions, but they also include manipulation acts to music, mentalist shows or comedy magic which combines both stand-up comedy and magic.
Being so close to the magician and witnessing the magic firsthand creates a sense of wonder and excitement that is hard to replicate in other forms of entertainment. Another characteristic of close up magic is the interactive nature of the performance. Unlike watching a magic show from a distance, close up magic allows spectators to participate in the tricks and illusions.
The “18” Different Types Of Magic Tricks
Magic tricks have been performed for many centuries, captivating audiences with their fascinating illusions. But what are the different types of magic tricks? In this article, I’ll briefly discuss the various types of magic effects which magicians amaze and astound audiences.
We can roughly divide magic into three camps in performance. Close-up, Parlour, and Stage. These describe the general space and thus the character of their act.
Close-up Magic.
Close-up magic is what I usually perform. This is where the magic is performed right in front of your eyes, and even in your own hands to small groups or individuals. Locations, where performances take place, include weddings, parties and corporate events. Performance timing will only be short–from 5 to 10 minutes per group as the magician will mingle among all guests at the event. Each new audience will be a brand-new show to the magician!
Parlour Magic
Parlour magic is a more formal setting where a magician performs a show to a seated audience. Other names for this include stand-up magic or cabaret magic, and platform magic. They will perform this in a medium-sized room, such as in a house, a lounge bar, or a function room. A magician can seat himself at a table to perform more formal card tricks he wouldn’t usually do walk-around close-up.
Stage Magic
When someone thinks of a stage magician, they usually expect a man with fan-blown hair and sequins performing grand illusions with a glamorous assistant, such as David Copperfield and Lance Burton, but stage magic could also be a stand-up show performed to large audiences, such as a local theatre, or on a platform to a few hundred spectators. Acts seen on stage include the mentioned illusions, but they also include manipulation acts to music, mentalist shows or comedy magic which combines both stand-up comedy and magic. A well-known magician with a great manipulation act is Jeff McBride’s mask routine. which you can check out here.
Magicians may also specialise in just one area of magic, such as performing at children’s parties. It would amaze you how many people still consider magicians children’s entertainers only!
A common speciality is mentalism, where the performer will use tricks of the mind to show apparent psychic ability. A Notable practitioner of this is Derren Brown, whose live shows and TV specials have long confused people. I have seen his show several times, and it still blows me away!
The Different Types of Magic Tricks
Often I get asked many tricks there are (many thousands!), but we can break many down into categories. Much talk on this among some magicians say there were only 8 different general effects, though this may be a myth as many pieces do not fit into these narrow categories.
The 8 that are banded around are: Levitation, Penetration, Prediction, Restoration, Transformation, Transposition, Appearance, and Vanish.
Instead, Magician Dariel Fitzkee, pen name of Dariel Fitzroy (1898–1977), wrote in 1944’s The Trick Brain that we can boil all tricks down to 18 types
I will now briefly talk about those 18 types of magic tricks that you may see. Strap yourself in!
1. Vanish–A vanish is the first thing a lot of people think of when thinking of magic tricks and magicians. If I have a pound for every time a spectator asks me “Can you make my wife disappear?”, I’d be a very rich man! Just watch when small children ask you to close your eyes as they quickly put an object behind their back or in a pocket.
We can again use the example of the magician’s assistant going into a wooden box. This time they vanish from the box before the curtain falls, or a dove held in the magicians’ hands vanishes alongside the cage it was in. In close-up magic, we may see a coin placed in the magician’s hand, then when he opens it… gone!
Some of the most famous vanishes have been by famous Illusionists such as Copperfield who made the Statue of Liberty Vanish! We can see here this on YouTube. Even Houdini performed a version where he made an elephant vanish. On January 7th 1918, in New York’s Hippodrome, Houdini made an elephant vanish from an oversized cabinet. Sadly, no film exists showing this miracle.
2. Production–The polar opposite of a vanish is appearance, and just as popular. Sometimes productions are linked together with vanishes. A magician will wave his wand over a top hat and suddenly pull out a white rabbit, or after making the coin vanish, a wave of the hands and the coin reappears.
4. Transformation–The idea of this trick goes back throughout time, with Jesus turning water into wine, alchemists turning lead into gold, and the idea of humans even turning into werewolves at night. The idea of something turning into something else is shown throughout nature and culture and it is something that has fascinated everyone since. A wave of the magic wand and that pumpkin shall be a carriage.
In close-up magic, watch as the playing card changes into another suit with a different back colour, or watch the woman turn into a Lion!
5. Penetration–Ok, stop laughing at the back! Pushing one object through another has long been a staple of magicians. An assistant (of course glamorous!) enters a wooden box, the magician spins it around, a big bang and… the box is empty and the assistant is on top of the box. In close-up magic, you may see them pushing a pen through a matchbox to only find out the box contains a large block of solid brass or passing two elastic bands through each other, even in the spectator’s hand.
6. Restoration–A famous restoration routine is the classic sawing in half of the assistant, separation of both halves before restoring her to one piece again before taking a P. T. Selbitnd of applause. The first public performance was by British magician P. T Selbit in 1921 at the Finsbury Park Empire theatre in London. Horace Goldin made the arms, legs, and head visible in his 1921 performance of the trick, which is the version most are familiar with today. The image shows P. T. Selbit performing this in the mid-1930s.
P . T. Selbit in the 1930s saws a box in half. Woman assumed within!
A close-up version you may see me perform is a very much scaled-down version with no threat to human health! This is the Torn & Restored Card. This classic card trick involves tearing the card into two pieces, or even four pieces, and restoring it right in front of your eyes.
7. Animation–Animation gives inanimate objects the power of movement. A wedding ring may move in your palm, or the stick figure drawn onto the back of a playing card moves to select your card… Comedy magician David Williams has a great routine where he animates his… raccoon!
8. Anti-Gravity–Also known as levitation – the ability to cause an object or person to rise or remain in the air with no physical support. One may perform levitation tricks close up or large scale on a stage.
A close-up magician will make your wedding ring float between our hands, whilst a stage magician would make a person float in the air. We know illusionist David Copperfield for his stage flying routine, where he would somersault in the air and pass-through hoops.
The classic version levitates an assistant through a hoop. John Nevil Maskelyne developed this in 1900 but made more famous, especially in the States, by Harry Keller, who named it The Levitation of Princess Karnac, first performing it in 1904.
Levitation in action!
This trick, though, is reputed to have been “borrowed *” from Maskelyne, who performed at his EgyptiaKellar how in England in 1900. Keller tried to buy it, but Maskelyne would not sell, so Kellar hired someone who had worked with Maskelyne, thus creating his version.
* stole!
9. Attraction–Attraction is where a magician becomes endowed with the power of magnetism. A close-up magician may hold his finger over the pack of cards and your selected card will rise out of it towards his finger. Another time, you may be asked to tap the top of the pack of cards and your signed selected card keeps rising to the top. A classic magician routine that is a favourite of mine.
10. Sympathetic Reaction–Two or more people or objects showing sympathetic unity with the other. A card trick known as the Sympathetic Cards has the plot that a red-backed pack will sort itself out in the same condition as a mixed-up black pack.
11. Invulnerability–Show your resistance by being immune to damage and injury! Many sideshows have displays of superhuman toughness by having nails hammered into noses or blocks bashed over their heads. When I was part of a stage magic show many years ago, I had my head placed in a box, where it had blades shoved in and set alight. I am still here to tell the tale!
12. Physical Anomaly–Exceptions of normal physical rules or reactions. Bit of a weird one, and the title doesn’t sound PC these days!
13. Spectator Failure–A spectator cannot accomplish some simple tasks, suggesting some special power has affected them. A classic is where the spectator is invited on stage and a magician lifts a box or chest. The spectator can’t budge the objects no matter how hard they try. A lot of stage hypnotists may perform this type of material.
14. Control–Where the mind of the performer seems to direct a subject. A mentalist may demonstrate his psychic powers and make an object inside a see-through sealed box move.
15. Identification–Another mentalist staple of discovering the identity of something written or a card that a spectator has chosen…
16. Thought Reading–Similar to the last effect, though this time the performer reads the thought of another–maybe a thought of playing card or a name someone is thinking of.
17. Thought Transmission–the projection of thought from one person to another. Several acts use more than one performer, basing the act on their telepathic abilities. Examples include contemporary Victorian/Edwardian-themed performers Morgan & West, to one of the most famous acts, The Piddington’s, composed of husband and wife team Sydney and Lesley. One BBC broadcast had Lesley kept under armed guard at the Tower of London across the river from the BBC studios. They still guessed items and names from the studio audience.
18. Prediction–Famous effects include the mentalist posting a sealed envelope to the event beforehand. The details in the envelope include details of the day’s news or items spectators pick. A simple version I might even do is predict what playing card someone picks.
Here is a simple prediction trick that you can perform for yourself.
The Danish Elephant Trick
- Start by asking your spectator to think of a number between 1 and 10.
- Have her multiply it by 9, i.e., they pick 8. Therefore 8 x 9 = 72
- Get them to add the numbers together. 7+2 = 9, then subtract 5. 9-5 = 4
- Explain to your spectator that they need to turn that number into a letter by matching it to the alphabet. You can say that 1 = A, 2 = B, 3 = C, and so forth. So, our number 4 becomes a D.
- Ask them to think of a country beginning with the letter D. Hopefully, they pick Denmark. Can you think of any within a few seconds? Maybe Dominican Republic. Write this on a piece of card and keep it in your pocket as a backup!
- Once they confirm that they have a country in mind, ask them to focus on the second letter in its name, and then pick an animal beginning with that letter. It should be E, and of course, Elephant comes first to mind.
- Get them to think of the colour of the animal.
- We should have a grey elephant from Denmark. Ham it up a little before revealing what they thought of!
Bonus – You can alter this to have an orange kangaroo from Denmark. The same maths gives us again Denmark, but use the last letter to get the animal, Kangaroo. The last letter names a fruit–An orange if all goes to plan
18. Extra-Sensory Perception–Perception other than through mental communication. Common props used are the ESP cards, known as Zener cards created by Karl Zener that comprise 5 shapes: Star, Cross, Wavy lines, Square, and Circle.
A magician may deal the cards face down out on a pile and the spectator shouts STOP. They name the selected card without them even seeing it.
That’s them all!
That’s the 18 types of magic trick that Fitzkee named. Of course, there may be more, but this covers a vast range. Sometimes more than one will be used per trick. Different props can be used and the tricks could be grand illusions or small card tricks, but they all use these principles.
I hope this has been interesting, or if not slightly informative, or if not well.. never mind! To find out how to get into magic yourself you can read about it in this post.
Until next time, Adrian
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When someone thinks of a stage magician, they usually expect a man with fan-blown hair and sequins performing grand illusions with a glamorous assistant, such as David Copperfield and Lance Burton, but stage magic could also be a stand-up show performed to large audiences, such as a local theatre, or on a platform to a few hundred spectators. Acts seen on stage include the mentioned illusions, but they also include manipulation acts to music, mentalist shows or comedy magic which combines both stand-up comedy and magic. A well-known magician with a great manipulation act is Jeff McBride’s mask routine. which you can check out here.
Cards may be selected, objects may be borrowed, and volunteers may be asked to assist in the trick. This level of engagement not only enhances the overall experience but also adds an element of unpredictability to the performance. Close up magic performances are flexible in their setting and can be performed in a variety of venues, such as restaurants, bars, private parties, and corporate events. The small-scale nature of these performances allows for greater accessibility and enables the magician to connect with the audience on a more personal level. In conclusion, close up magic performances in close proximity offer a unique and captivating form of entertainment. The combination of surprise, interactivity, and personal connection creates a memorable experience for both the audience and the magician. Whether performed in a casual setting or a formal event, close up magic is sure to leave spectators spellbound..
Reviews for "Close-Up Magic Revealed: Behind the Scenes of a Thrilling Experience"
- John Smith - 1 star
I did not enjoy the close up magic performances in close proximity at all. I found the whole experience to be underwhelming and quite invasive. The magician was constantly invading my personal space, and I felt uncomfortable throughout the whole performance. I would not recommend this to anyone who values their personal space.
- Jane Doe - 2 stars
I was not impressed with the close up magic performances in close proximity. While the magician was skilled, the effect was lost due to the lack of space and visibility. I couldn't fully appreciate the tricks because I was too close to the magician and could see everything happening right in front of me. It took away from the surprise and awe that I was expecting. I would have preferred a stage performance where I could see the magic from a distance.
- David Johnson - 1 star
The close up magic performances in close proximity were a complete disappointment. The magician's constant touching and intrusion into my personal space made me feel extremely uncomfortable. Instead of enjoying the tricks, I was just hoping for it to end as soon as possible. It was not a pleasant experience, and I would not recommend it to anyone who values their personal boundaries.
- Amanda Thompson - 2 stars
I was not a fan of the close up magic performances in close proximity. It felt intrusive and claustrophobic to have the magician constantly in my personal space. The tricks themselves were not mind-blowing either, and I felt underwhelmed by the whole experience. I would have preferred a different type of magic performance that allowed for more distance and spectacle.