One common mistake performers (new and seasoned) have is the amount 'Dead Time' they have in their acts/ shows.

‘Dead Time’ (DT) is the lapse of time in a performance when nothing in particular is happening. This is what causes a show to seem draggy, slow-paced and just not 'tight'. The audience loses interest and the show never builds momentum.

The worst kind of dead time is the sort in the middle of a routine especially if it is just before the climax of the routine. The DT not only affects the attention of your audiences but also the rhythm and tempo of your act.

As a general rule, the bigger the show and audience the more obvious DT is.

The following are all examples of DT:

- The time waiting for a volunteer to walk up onto stage

- The disposing of props and looking for the next prop between routines
Having items examined by the audience

- Constantly going back to a table/ box to retrieve or dump items between effects. This very common in manipulation style acts if not structured well. It creates a very 'magic dealer demonstration' feel to a performance where the magician seems to be literally picking up on prop, deomstrating it and then putting it back down to pick up anothe prop.

- Adjusting the microphone, chair, table or other stage props during performance

- Pauses between the playing of music and the actual performance of the act.

Your job and duty as a performer is to ensure that DT is made non-existence or at least minimized as far as possible. The only way around it is to identify and be merciless with it.

You will be surprised of the amount of DT that you might have in your current act. It is almost impossible for an oblivious performer to identify the DT by himself when he is on stage. It has to be pointed out by someone experienced or viewed by a video recording of your act.


Here are a few tips to manage DT in your show:

- Look at other people’s act and identify their periods of DT. After that, reflect upon your own act and see if you commit the same mistakes.

Make sure you know where all your props are before your performance. E.g. knowing exactly where your gimmicked coin is or remembering which bag contains your right props. This eliminates any excessive DT for looking for the prop.

- Try to have the stage ‘set-up’ and ready for you before your performance. If you are on a platform or stage, try to have your magic table in place already and the microphone stand adjusted to your height.

- Cover any DT with either some patter, gag, visual humour etc. If you ask someone to shuffle the cards, you might kill the DT by commenting that he shuffles like a ‘professional gambler from Las Vegas’. Or you can take out another prop and introduce it so that attention is directed away from the ‘card shuffler’ so as to eliminate DT once again.

- Do not do anything that is unnecessary. Don’t have items examined if there is no necessity to. If signing the card or borrowing the coin from the audience is not critical to the effect, don’t do it.

- Structure your act so that it is tight. Film your act and measure the ration of how much magic and entertainment there is to DT. If your show consists of more than 10% of DT, you need to do something about it.


Try to bear all this in mind and soon it will be in your sub-conscious whenever you routine an act.

Remember, KILL THE DEAD TIME! And your act will be a more pleasant experience for your audience.


Best,

J C Sum

I don't perform stage magic, so from an audience view and as a magician, I find the "Constantly going back to a table/ box to retrieve or dump items between effects" thing common and horribly annoying. Glad that you address such issues on the forum.

Wow... nice article! Yeah, I totally agree and think that it's really true when you allow dead time to happen in your show, it kills momentum and your audience's concentration on you/ what you're doing.

^_^ Uncle Bob (Bob Chua) is a veteran with his stage magic shows for family & kids ,and he minimises DT well with his unique brand of humor, gags and patter when he does magic or balloons so there's none of that jarring 'magic dealer demonstration' feel to his performances :) You should check out his patter to the kids when he asks them what animal they want for their balloon sculptures!

When they say 'anything', he replies...

"OK, here's a worm!" ...and thrusts them a flaccid 260Q balloon :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: He's the best!!!! LOL...

hey JC. Kyle Ravin here with my first ever post in SMC. I must say, you're such an inspiration to magicians like myself. About your post, i totally agree. In fact, I started realizing these things after attendin ur previous lecture after your theatre show. Keep it going man! Hoping to work with you soon. Cheers

Kyle Ravin

Hi Kylie,

Thanks for the kind words!

Congrats on your recent success and wishing you all the best for the future!

You are doing a great job in contributing to raise the art on the local level.

Keep it up!

Best,

J C

Appreciate your encouragement as well JC. Jus a note...Its Kyle bro...haha not Kylie. Cheers!

hey JC.

Nice one though I admit im not very time conscious during my performance there was one occasion when my close up routine lasted an hour or so but the pictures my dad took showed a sense of wonder in their faces so Im not really sure if DT was an issue but ill try video shooting my routine to check it out. Thanks for the tips.

CSJ