Tapestry

(This article was originally written in 2002 for a column about "Bizarre Magic.")

Have you ever looked at a Tapestry?

They are often very beautiful. Large geometric designs, or complex scenes.

My favorite kind are the ones that have a large central figure surrounded by scenes depicting important events in the life of that central figure.

“Yeah, but what does that have to do with Bizarre Magic?” I can hear you ask.

Hang in there and I’ll tell you.

When most magicians hear the term ‘Bizarre Magic’, they automatically think about those weird guys doing the ‘blood and guts’ type of stuff. That might be what they see on the surface, but there is something far more profound going on there.

You see, Bizarre Magic is not about ‘blood and guts’. It’s about stories. It’s about telling really good stories.

What kind of stories do you tell?

Do you use the ‘patter’ that came with the trick?

Do you make up stories that have nothing to do with anything except the prop?

Or, do you make up a stories that have something more in them?

These are tough questions. They should be.

You see, the Bizarre Magician is telling stories that have something more to them. Very often the stories are scary, but they don’t have to be. They just have to be good stories. The Bizarre Magician understands that good stories help to suspend the audiences disbelief. Good stories help to put the audience in the right mood and make it possible to get away with some amazing effects.

So, okay, your ready to start writing stories for your ‘Hippity Hop Rabbits’, but what kind of stories are there to tell?

That’s where the tapestry comes in.

‘Ah Ha! Now he’s getting to a point!’

Take a look at the tapestry. What do you see?

As I said, I like the ones with the large central figure and all the stuff around them. Who is in the center of that tapestry?

Nope, not you, but your close.

Your character.

Remember that guy, Jean Eugene Robert Houdin? The one who told us all that a magician is an actor playing the part of a magician. Yeah, that guy. He had a point and the best magicians get it.

That tapestry isn’t about Fred the Barber. Nobody cares about Fred the Barber. At least not enough to watch him perform magic.

That tapestry is about Sir Lancelot, Joan of Arc, Albert Einstien or Merlin. Someone who is Heroic, Tragic or Mysterious. In other words, someone interesting.

That’s what the Bizarre Magician knows. The audience doesn’t care about Fred the Barber. They care about The Mysterious Zoltar.

So the first story a good Bizarre Magician writes is the story of him/herself.

What else is on that tapestry?

All the scenes around the central figure of course. In other words, all the bits of background, history, story, heroism, tragedy and mystery that make the central figure interesting to the audience.

Do you have to tell all this to your audience?

Heck no, but think about the vast advantage you would have knowing it all? Suddenly your thrust into a position where you now know more then how to find a missing card. You know why you would want to. You know why you would even have a deck of cards in the first place.

Have you ever been in someplace and found the greatest little knick-knack that you just knew would make a great magic prop, but you didn’t know what you would do with it? If you have spent the time creating your tapestry, you would have a better idea.

That’s what Bizarre Magic is about. Characters and stories.

Now here is the best part.

Every time you perform you get one more scene to add to your tapestry. One more event that adds to the overall image your creating with your magic.

What makes the best magicians memorable? Doing something worth remembering. You can do that with your character and your stories. Magic becomes that much more amazing when the story makes sense and is in context.

Create a whole world that you are the center of.

Create a tapestry about you and with it you will create a whole new level of interest, not just for yourself, but for your audience as well.

Create a tapestry.

Create stories.

Create Magic.

Santiago
Enter a World of Elegant Magic
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