Posted on 08, Aug. 2022

Abracadabra, here's everything you'll ever need to know about booking a magician, including the differences between close-up magicians, street magicians, comedy magicians, stage magicians and mind readers! Find out what to expect from their performances, how much space they'll need, how to spot a quality magician, how much they cost and what you need to do to hire a magician for your event.

What is a Magician and what will they do at my event?

Stage / close-up magicians (or illusionists as they’re also known) provide live entertainment for events by performing slight of hand tricks and illusions which appear to make the impossible possible, and the supernatural natural.

The most popular types of magic performed by Magicians for private events are:

• Close-up magic: any magic act where the magician is close to his/her audience, and not on a stage. Close-up magicians are sometimes referred to as Mix and Mingle entertainers as they get in amongst your guests, moving around a drinks reception or party performing directly to individual guests and small groups.

• Street magic: performed in a seemingly impromptu fashion in a public place, a street magician pulls in an audience of passers-by, often involving them in the magic trick or show. Although street magic is thousands of years old, American magician David Blaine took the concept to new heights in his hit TV series Street Magic in 1997. Street Magic is sometimes referred to as Guerrilla Magic, especially where a brief ‘hit and run’ trick is performed.

• Table magicians / table hopping / tableside magic: a close-up / mix and mingle magician who performs tricks for the guests seated at their tables as part of a sit down meal. Table magic is also confusingly the name given to traditional magic performed at a special table owned by the magician.

• Slight-of-hand magicians: similar to close-up magic, slight-of-hand magicians specialise in tricks performed without any special props such as cabinets, hats, tubes, etc. Instead they entertain with tricks involving everyday objects, or just coins, cards, watches, etc. Often their show includes 'pickpocketing' audience members.

• Micro-illusion / micro-magic: this is the ultimate close-up magic, tricks performed literally in the palm of the hand or in touching distance of the audience members(s) involved.

• Mind readers / Psychological entertainers: magicians who appear to be able to read the minds of their audience and 'predict' the outcome of random events. This is achieved through psychological techniques and auto-suggestion.

• Comedy-magicians: where stand-up comedy and magic meet! Comedy magicians make you laugh as well as gasp in amazement.

Stage show magicians: a magic show designed to be performed on a stage and watched by a large audience, often including large scale production elements and the addition of glamorous assistants, stage lights, music a wide array of props. Stage magic tricks cover escape, levitation, transformation, transportation, vanishing, producing something-from-nothing, making solid objects pass through each other and prediction. Our stage magicians have designed shows where they’ve made everything from rabbits to a full size Lear Jet aeroplane appear on stage!

If you’re planning an event where you’re going to have 20 or more guests standing around as part of a drinks reception or sitting before a meal, you can hire a magician to entertain them with astounding close-up magic. This is a fantastic way to break the ice and get conversation flowing. A single close-up magician working in a mix-and-mingle style is able to entertain around 125 people over a two hour period.

Original article: Everything You'll Ever Need To Know About Booking A Magician