Minimal Magic
Stuff!
I’ve been thinking about stuff lately. Quite literally, stuff. I have too much of it. I sit in my office surrounded by piles of crap. (not literally), and it’s beginning to piss me off. So I’m going to clear it all out. I’m not sure how but I’ll do my best. I’ve always pined for the minimal life style but with two kids and a job like mine it’s proved almost impossible. Not any more. I will be calm and f**king Zen like if it kills me! I’m even considering giving away magic books in a Leo Babauta fashion, but don’t call me, I haven’t got that far yet and may never get that far.
One of the strongest performances I ever did was at Monday Night Magic for John Lenahan. I had just, ( the day before), split up from my girlfriend and was not in a “happy place”. What happened in the show was that I cut away all the fat of my performance, I was direct and delivered lines without “hesitation, repetition or deviation”. I was so angry with my life situation that I had to literally bottle up all that energy and that was the driving force behind the act. The force was strong and the act was minimal.
When a good friend of mine started in Covent Garden he arrived with what he thought was the material he needed for a 40 minute slot. It amounted to about 8 tricks. After 2 weeks he got rid of loads of stuff and had it down to 3 tricks and what was eventually one of the strongest acts on the street at the time.
We’re all surrounded by stuff and it’s unnecessary and expensive. (Sometimes it’s just plain greedy and immoral, but that’s a different matter.) It blocks the way to finding what is really important, whether that’s in life or in our performances. Too many books, tricks, props, etc simply muddies the water. In our search for the one thing that’s going to make us famous, rich etc. we pile crap all over lives, we lose ourselves in the unnecessary and stop looking for what is going to make us better, happier etc. We are at the centre of our own self made storm of crap, and that’s where we need to focus our attention, the eye of the storm. That’s where the real magic is.
That set of your is defiantly in my list of top 10 favourite Monday Night Magic performances. I smile just thinking about it.
John L
I too have hundred of books, piles of DVDs and boxes full of tricks. However, if I had to take from this hoard all items from which I have taken tricks that I use in my regular repertoire I’m sure it was barely fill a shoe-box.
The arguement on the other side is that all these other resources may not have given me a trick, but possibly an idea or inspiration to apply elsewhere, or will do in the future.
But, to flip that idea on it’s head, surely I as a performer I should be responsible for creating my own unique interpretations and performances. This should be born out of experience and my imagination, not from a dusty book written 50 years ago, or from some “worker” on an L&L DVD.
However, after all is said an done, it all boils down to the simple fact that rows of hard-backed books with interesting titles makes you feel more intelligent when friends visit.