Hi hope this review will help magicians who wanted to do stage magic (children), on planning your shows and get a feel of what to expect. :)

For the last weekend, i was very very busy with children's day shows, on Sunday, i got to rush from 1 place to another just the catch up with the timing.

SAT --> Boon Keng RC, Lantern Fest. Cum Children day event,

Show stars at 8pm, so i decided to reach 1 hour earlier for my preparation, 1st problem, audience covers most than 180 degree and the back of the stage is all filled with people snatching free pop corns and candy floss. by the way, the stage is like a shape of a triangle, kind of difficult to set up my tables.

Since this is my new act, it took me quite awhile trying to set up the props (around 45mins). I started off with a silent act of around 10 mins,

Parasols, angle was quite bad, but i tried my best to cover it up.

Linking rings, during my routine with 4 rings, my rings BROKE!!! OMG!!! anyway i was very much prepare for that as this is my second set of linknig rings and i broke my 1st set for 4 times, luckily i am prepare for such things to happen, so i could end off with a 2 single ring and key ring finale.

After my silent act, i did some audience participation effects, the kids were very "enthu" and it certainly helps when you are saying some lame jokes and having them to cooperation, but the kids start to get closer and closer, i mean really close, around 30cm away and they are still moving in, luckily i got to stop them by asking them to follow some instructions (some kids stuffs) and the show ended smoothly.



Sun afternoon Some funny RC, Lantern Fest. Cum Children day event,

This time round was worse off, they told me the wrong place, and i waited there for sometime because when i ask the receptionist if there is a performance which hire a magicians, she said "yes yes" almost make me die there, then i was being called up by the event coordinator and i got the rush down, only left with around 25 mins!!! to set up and change, anyway, since i already did it yesterday, so i am able to get it set up faster.

The "STAGE" is worse off this time round, it was is shape of a CIRCLE!!! omg and there is no concrete flooring, it is all grass!!! and the "stage" is like a mini hill, luckily my tables are able to stand firmly on the "hill". Angle was worse off!! is like almost 270!!! but i manage to pull through the show and i am able to do my full linking ring routine after taping up my rings!!!




SUN NIGHT, Grace assembly of God.

For this case i was given the wrong address agani, luckily i catch up with them few days ago i manage to get the confirm address,

was there at 6.15pm, since my show starts at 7.30pm, i thought i got the time of the world to prepare myself, for all you know, when i reach there, they told me that everything was push forward by 1 hour!!! and another coordinator actually said that i am late!!! omg, this time round is even mroe challenging, i was given 15mins!!! to change and prepare!!!

The worst thing about this is the stage, it is so small there it can barely fit me and my two tables, and cannot even place my parasol on the mini stage, OMG!!!

The sound systems is actually at around 50 m away in another room!!!
And they did not prepare any mic for me for my audience participation section. CRAZY MAN!!!

Anyway, i request for a mic and it arrived at 6.45pm, so luckily i came in on time for my show after my silent act. And luckily i got 3 stage crew with my to assist me so one of them, can actually station with the DJ. BY THE WAY, those stage crew are all my friends, not provided by them.




CONCLUSION,

Always be prepare to face all kinds of problems during a show, always stay cool on the outside even through you are going crazy in your mind.

Practise to set up your stage act before hand as this is very curious, you might miss out somethings if you do not have a check list.

Try to prepare a routine list and place it at the table or case, sometimes during a show like in my case a 30mins show, you might just go blank after a while, a list will help you organise your flow of your show.

Do call up the coordinators time to time to see if there is any changes of the events, sometimes you might forget to call you up to update. I called them just 2 days before the my shows, and still, there are alot of changes!!!

ALways get a helper along, i got 3!! haha

Sometimes you might need to alter your act due to the situation.


Hopefully i can get to upload my videos in youtube to share with everyone.

Cheers!!!
Benny.

Glad to know that your shows went on well! I've experience these problems before so here's what I always do nowadays when I have a confirmed engagement:

1st: Gather proper details of event from the organiser e.g.

Name and hp: who to contact when you reach there, sometimes they'll have different people to contact.

Address: location of performance with area code - can search online street directory to confirm with them the place.

Timing: once they confirm the timing tell them to let you know asap if there's any changes

Type of performance: mingling and stage performance are different, make sure they don't change. Some organisers like to engage mingling performance and end up telling them to performance on stage.

Payment: ask them when will you be issue the payment, also ask whether in cash or cheque

Any information not gathered the engagement are treated as not confirm.

2nd: Contact your client few days in advance to double check the information gathered to ensure no further changes are made.

3rd: If there's another job, allowed 2hrs break between events, this is due to some last min delay during event itself, it'll also give you some time to rest and travel and also in case of next event timing being push forward.

-Alan-

Guys,

How about rehearsals? What will be great to be done during those rehearsals that you might have for a performance? (Like a run in trial)

Larry

Hey thought I could contribute to this thread with another tip after my horrid weekend.

* Whenever possible, do go and recee the place first to see what kind of performance stage they have.

Last sat i prepared my winning act for a last minute stage show and reached there to find a CORNER to perform magic for a whole restaurant!!!

Oh yah.. and bring 'time wasters' just in case your planned routine has to be SCRAPPED.

Time wasters like snowstorm, prof's nightmare etc.

Somehow i managed to get through that stage gig with my wallet, a notepad and a marker. Thank god for mentalism!!!

i will meet the event I/C and will do go and recee the place look up for all lighting, angle to look after and electic stocket and to see any kind of performance stage they have.

but if it is a last minutes thing, i will do all that angle "safe".

please forgive me if i had speeling mistake, i do not had a pass grade for my english. thanks.

I do rehearse my stage act at home, to the extended that it becomes like kind of "muscle memory" thingy. Like a flourish, you dont even need to think of the steps if you do a particular often.

I will be good to have rehearsal and stuffs, but chances are it will not happen, as the event organiser dont even bother to do rehearsal, and for the case of my children day show, all the other performers were shock to see that the flooring is actually grass... :)

Maybe next time if such thing happens again you can say the following:

"Ladies and Gentlemen! I know this is a grass patch but the show still have to goes on..."

"Don't worry, I just clean the lawn this morning..."

"I've been promised a stage, you're standing on my stage..."

"Someone told me it's a stage performance, this stage is really huge..."

"Ok people...before I start, I~ma~gine there's a stage..."

"The organiser is so rich they book the whole field for my show..."

"My show is bigger than David copperfield's, cos my stage is bigger than his..."

"It's really wonderful to see so many people here, even with the support of the birds..."

"More birds more luck! I saw lots of crows flying across, I hope I don't screw myself..."

Have fun creating your one-liner when things like this happens! :P

-Alan-