Magic Vs Mentalism - My New Stage Show

[MrLukeCarroll]

Hey Guys, you may have noticed my lack of presence around the boards lately which is due to a few exciting projects I'm working on. One of them happens to be ideas for my new stage show, pondering the ideas got me thinking about what style of show I wanted to do this time around. Last time my show was about 90% magic and a small part of it was Mentalism (Outcomes prediction locked in box since start of show).

Was just wondering what you guys prefer in a show from a magician - Purely magic, an even amount of each or like my last show a small amount of Mentalism but mostly Magic.

The reason for asking is that I've recently got my hands on a copy of the book about David Berglas and have come across some really nice ideas for Mentalism tricks which I can come up with some nice original presentations for. I recommend this book to anyone interested in such Mentalism. (Derren Brown gets some of his best stage show material from this book).

I look forward to hearing your responses

[NathanCanadas]

I think mixing it up is fun. As we say in French, "ça varie les plaisirs". Idk how to translate it. Since I'm better at and know more about magic than mentalism, I would do mostly magic and a bit of mentalism. It changes things up a bit. JMHO

[Aaron]

I mostly do magic, but i have been doing some mentalism lately. I think GOOD mentalism hits harder then an average magic trick, but magic is good sometimes too. Depends on the audience, obviously you dont want to do in depth mentalism for kids, and you dont do kids magic for seniors. But if you find a good balance of all types of tricks, that makes your show better.

[Don Boyer]

I think mixing it up is fun. As we say in French, [bold]"ça varie les plaisirs". Idk how to translate it.[/bold] Since I'm better at and know more about magic than mentalism, I would do mostly magic and a bit of mentalism. It changes things up a bit. JMHO

You translate it the way I did.  Google Translate.  "It varies the pleasures" is the literal translation.


Personally, I fail to see a difference.  I mean, yes, I know what mentalism is and all that, but thinking from the spectator's perspective, it's ALL magic!  Why create a distinction?

[MrLukeCarroll]

Personally, I fail to see a difference.  I mean, yes, I know what mentalism is and all that, but thinking from the spectator's perspective, it's ALL magic!  Why create a distinction?

I don't think spectators see them as exactly the same. Most spectators know that magic isn't real but are willing to suspend disbelief for the duration of the show, where as there are many more people that would believe in the ideas of intuition, prediction etc. Also the distinction is necessary when writing a show like I am

Thanks for all the responses so far guys

[Don Boyer]

Personally, I fail to see a difference.  I mean, yes, I know what mentalism is and all that, but thinking from the spectator's perspective, it's ALL magic!  Why create a distinction?

I don't think spectators see them as exactly the same. Most spectators know that magic isn't real but are willing to suspend disbelief for the duration of the show, where as there are many more people that would believe in the ideas of intuition, prediction etc. Also the distinction is necessary when writing a show like I am

Thanks for all the responses so far guys

I do a few card tricks that would qualify as mentalism, sort of, involving prediction - they blow the audiences out of the water just as swiftly as the other stuff.  The people I often deal with aren't always so sure about whether magic is real or not, honestly.  They trust what they see (I daresay too much), and when what they see looks like magic to them, they think they saw magic.

[saurabh]

Do you feel naturally drawn to mentalism? If not, then don't do it.

I'd say choose a path and stick to it. Either magic or mentalism.

[MrLukeCarroll]

I do a few card tricks that would qualify as mentalism, sort of, involving prediction - they blow the audiences out of the water just as swiftly as the other stuff.  The people I often deal with aren't always so sure about whether magic is real or not, honestly.  They trust what they see (I daresay too much), and when what they see looks like magic to them, they think they saw magic.

I think that is you get the spectators to think through the patter that mentalism is real (Trust me its not to hard, people believe psychic hotlines are real) you have an impressive trick in a different way to an impressive magic trick. At least in stage magic and mentalism people understand that its not physically possible to cut a lady into 20 parts and put her back together as good as new, and they accept that because they are there to be entertained however I believe that same audience would be more likely to believe mind reading is real rather then a Zig-Zag lady is real for example.

Do you feel naturally drawn to mentalism? If not, then don't do it.

I'd say choose a path and stick to it. Either magic or mentalism.

I feel a draw to both really and feel comfortable with both (Though a full length Mentalism show seems like it would be harder to pull off), was just wondering what everyone else's opinions of the matter were. So thanks for sharing yours

[saurabh]

I do not wish to sound like an ass when I say this, but don't mix it up. On the long term, it will only hurt your show. Putting a prediction effect or a 'Guess the card' effect is fine, but don't give it the mind reader vibe.

It all depends on how you want to present your show. If you're a mind reader, if you want to portray yourself as a real mind reader, there's no reason why you should be doing card tricks. Focus only on reading minds. Be it cards, billets or thought of effects.

If you are not a mind reader, rather a magician or a sleight of hand artist, then stick to that persona. Maybe throw in a card prediction effect. But do not, for once state that you are a mind reader.

Like you said with your Zig Zag lady example, Mind Reading is the serious stuff and no matter what patter you use, it gets very real and believable very fast. So if you do that stuff along with magic, which is entertaining but obviously no real, it plays down on the whole show as an experience.

Hope this made sense.

[Lara Krystle "Lane"]

I prefer a small amount of metalism effects because at times I'm just really slow with these kinds of things. I am a very visually stimulated person. I appreciate beautiful magic. But sometimes when I'm in the mood (which is not very often) I like my brains to be blown away by awesome mentalism effect. but just not too much because I might end up getting brain damaged hahahaha!