Feeling Small Onstage

One of the things that I noticed in the pictures of me performing at the Oddities and Curiosities Expo was how small I looked on that stage!

hoop and cup juggling by louie foxx

I’m guessing the stage was 16 -20 feet wide by 8 feet deep. That isn’t that big, I’ve definitely worked on stages that size or bigger. However the pictures I’ve seen really remind me how much bigger props matter.

Yes, you can fill the stage with personality, but you if you’re presenting a magic show and they can’t see the magic, your personality will only carry it soo far. At some point you’ll stop being a magician and become a stand up comic or monologist.

-louie

Staging Challenges

One of the biggest challenges performing a magic show that’s not in a formal theater is being seen. These challenges range from pillars in the room, not being on a raised stage, or lighting. Sometimes you can fix these problems and sometimes you can’t and just have to deal with them. Last night my challenge … Continue reading “Staging Challenges”

One of the biggest challenges performing a magic show that’s not in a formal theater is being seen. These challenges range from pillars in the room, not being on a raised stage, or lighting. Sometimes you can fix these problems and sometimes you can’t and just have to deal with them.


Last night my challenge was lighting. I was performing at a comedy night at a bar. Look a the pic below, the stage is on the left side and you can see the two speakers on each side of the stage.

The stage is in the darkest spot of the room. There’s no light there. Unfortunately there’s not much you can do about it because of how the room is. I can’t move the bar of the booths, the stage is pretty much in the only place it can be.


The next option is bringing in some light trees, sure, but then that brings up a new set of challenges, like blocking sight lines, taping down cords and where to put them. Also I refuse to travel with light trees. If I’m performing in the dark, that’s 100% the venue’s issue and one that’s not easily solved by me.


My solution was to do my show on the floor in front of the stage. There was a lot more light there. It’s not the ideal situation for my show, but the best for the circumstances I was given.

Ballrooms Are The Worst…

Performing in hotel ballrooms is one of the worst situations for a comedy magician. The main problem is that they aren’t designed for a show, but for a wedding, or meetings. Here’s a panoramic picture of the ballroom I performed in last night. There are a few problems with this room. The first is that … Continue reading “Ballrooms Are The Worst…”

Performing in hotel ballrooms is one of the worst situations for a comedy magician. The main problem is that they aren’t designed for a show, but for a wedding, or meetings. Here’s a panoramic picture of the ballroom I performed in last night.

There are a few problems with this room. The first is that the DJ is set up on the stage, which makes it unusable by me. With the giant dance floor in front of the stage, it’s not a huge loss as I could lessen the distance between me and the audience by working on the floor.


The next problem that the darkest places in the room where the stage is and directly in front of it on the dance floor, where I’d be performing. I asked if there were lights (anything) that we could turn on and after going up the chain of command at the hotel, I finally found someone who could as was willing to turn them on for my show. These lights were the general lights, so the room was lit up as if there was a meeting in there. This is better than performing in the dark, where the audience is better lit than the stage.


The moral of the story is either get there super early and try to convince them to move the stage to one end of the room, or be assertive of your needs with the space how it currently is when you get there.