Why I do Magic

in order to help them develop their presence as a performer and to start moving towards a more interesting and rewarding creative space.

I find most magicians use magic in order to achieve certain goals, instead of perhaps being used by magic in order to achieve its goals.

Realistically, I suppose an ideal scenario would be a balance where both parties can realise some of its aims.

Why Magic?

The first question I have to ask when considering someone’s act is: why perform magic at all?

Surely the function of any art form is to express oneself through it, and next to music, photography, painting and literature, magic is one of the least convenient ways to do so.

A songwriter pouring the pain of a breakup into a song makes perfect sense and we can feel what they feel and empathise that the writing of the song – might serve as effective therapy.

A magician, who chooses to express the agony of his wife leaving him through a card trick, tends to only serve as an illustration as to perhaps why his wife left him in the first place.

Many of us magicians end up performing magic initially because we are excited by it, but later because we are financially supported by it. If this has become someones sole reason for doing it, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Perhaps their passion is for their family or dining at nice restaurants.

A large majority of people happily work jobs that they have very little interest in, and somewhere along the line we have mistakenly decided that how we earn our money defines us.

It doesn’t have to, nor does magic have to be anything more than a fun moment of distraction by someone who performs for his or her own enjoyment, or for financial reward.

But if they are, like me, harder to satisfy by simply replicating tricks already proven by previous performers to work: then they are probably driven by a need for self-expression; a desire to incorporate your particular view of the world, good or bad, into a creative art form.

Which brings me back to my initial question – why magic?

Working with other magicians has prompted me to revisit this question for myself, something that I have been asking for years, but can answer now with even more clarity.

• It’s an excuse for me to talk to people about things I am really interested in.

I tend to describe myself as a ‘Psychological Magician’. A style, which quite clearly owes its roots to Derren Brown, and that lack of originality – in itself – is always the source of some contention for me.

However, it very happily provides me with a context against which gives me justification to talk about all the things I love: psychology, philosophy, language, reading, creativity and sociology.

With any new trick I perform, I have to find an angle on it that allows me to discuss and raise points on something that I am passionate about. If not, I am fucking bored and nobody wins there.

Basically, I like to talk and I like to explore ideas. Magic gives me an excuse to do that.

• I am naturally introverted and performing magic forces me to develop into the person I wish to be.

If you meet me now, I won’t seem particularly introverted. But part of the appeal of being a professional magician, was that I would be forced not only to be social; but also step outside of my comfort zone regularly by having to approach groups and introduce myself at social events.

I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t partly motivated by the opportunity this would afford me to meet girls, but this incentive has long since passed, as I found that not only does it distract from focusing on good performances, but it’s actually not the most practical way to meet your future ex-wives; when you only have about 10 minutes with every group and have to perform 2 or 3 pesky miracles whilst trying to speed date.

I have developed my social skills considerably since becoming a professional magician, and although I still feel initial resistance to approaching strangers; I enjoy immense pleasure from the feeling of connecting with people who, moments before, were an unknown dangerous entity who could crush my skull with bricks at any time.

• I enjoy the cleverness and intelligence of magic.

Magic requires me to use my brain, a 39-year-old organ that I’ve still never managed to get fully going. As well as performing magic I also love talking about magic with my friends and coming up with subtle and devious solutions to tricks I might never even perform.

My flatmate found me watching a magic lecture the other day and was surprised that I had anything left to learn, I told him that when looking at magic in its entirety, I know almost nothing.

I love the idea of giving someone an experience of the seemingly impossible, simply because I have worked very hard to always be 5 steps ahead of them.

• Money

I am paid overly generous amounts of money to perform my little tricks and I have become very used to this.

I don’t know how long this will last, possibly just until the last of the looks fade and then some young, handsome little cunt will come in and steal my career, while I sit embittered in the magic circle club room; complaining that they are only in it for the money whilst remaining oblivious to the fact I stopped enjoying magic the very moment it stopped making me any.