Holiday parks, theatres and entertainment venues have started to reopen, outdoor shows are now allowed, and it looks like it won’t be long until indoor shows are back on so here’s how I intend to keep my shows safe for my audiences and myself when I get back to performing in-person.
Close-Up Magic
This is probably going to be the trickiest situation to keep safe but the main way I’ll achieve this is by keeping my distance, which sounds contradictory for close-up magic I know, but I will stick to effects that can be enjoyed (or endured) from 2 metres away. This will be facilitated by ensuring the venue or organiser sticks to the current rules regarding loud music and limiting the number of people at the event so it doesn’t get too noisy – this means I won’t have to get close for people to hear my terrible jokes! I have a variety of tricks that I can do from a distance and the routines that require picking a card or borrowing an object have been adapted so that they can be done with a card that is simply named rather than physically chosen and I will supply the object I would usually borrow. The only downside is that the audience won’t be able to examine my props so they will just have to take my word that they aren’t trick props but this has been working just fine in the online shows that I have been doing for the past few months and it’s worked fine for pretty much every TV magician ever! The final measure I will take will be using hand sanitiser between each group and ensuring that hand sanitiser is also available for the audience.
Stage Show
My stage show is going to be much easier to keep safe as I’m already socially distant from the audience however I have adapted my performance so that I will no longer be inviting members of the audience onto the stage. There will still be plenty of audience interaction but they will do it from the safety of their own seats and I won’t be doing my usual meet and greet after the show. I will also ensure venues and events organisers arrange seating so that audiences are socially distant from each other so they can cheer and laugh without fear of spreading the virus via droplets. There will also be an abundance of hand sanitiser (I really wish I’d bought shares in Purell!).
Would you feel safe having a magician who stuck to the above measures? Can you think of anything else that would help make my shows safe? Let me know any, some or all of your thoughts in the comments. Also if you are looking for live magical entertainment before real-life indoor performances are allowed I have online shows available for private bookings and I can perform outdoors – get in touch for more details. As always please like and share this blog and if you need picking up when you’re at your lowest low remember the advice an ancient Persian king had inscribed on his finger ring: “this too shall pass” – it might pass like a kidney stone but it’ll pass!