Slydini was forceful yet gentle. Directive but polite. Accusatory and forgiving. Ultimately people enjoyed him and his performances because he was an artist of rare ability. At the end of the performance they understood they had seen an extraordinary magician. Further; they understood he was a gentlemen whose sole objective was to entertain them.
For you to earn this level of respect and appreciation from your audience you must begin with impeccable mechanics. You must master the necessary mechanics of a routine before you can move on to the presentation of that routine and within that presentation you must incorporate all the required elements of Slydini’s System of Misdirection and these elements must be incorporated within your own unique personality.
In general; two relationships exist, one between you and your impromptu assistant, and the second, between you and your audience at large. Within these two general relationships there are specific relationships. The first is physical. You must understand where you are (at the Close Up Table) in physical relation to your impromptu assistant and to your audience at large. Simply put, your must understand angles and lines of sight. What goes unseen at one angle is visible at another.
You must know what to perform and what not to perform given your physical relationship to your impromptu assistant and the audience in general. You must know how to position and/or reposition yourself to create the required lines of sight, on a routine by routine basis.
The second relationship is attitudinal. When you invite someone to sit at your Close Up Table, you must manage the interaction in every aspect. How you manage that interaction, how you treat your impromptu assistant, will be a major factor of your audience at large; enjoying your show or not. Slydini ‘kidded’ his assistant’s with statements like: “Oh … now I know why you didn’t see the coins go through the table. Yes … I know. Would you like to know? Because you don’t watch!” This statement was delivered with the proper tone of voice and at its conclusion, a gentle smile appeared on Slydini’s face. People laughed, they enjoyed themselves, the statement and more importantly the ‘presentation’ of the statement enhanced the routine. Slydini would never say any derogatory to or about his impromptu assistant. This is a critical point.
The statements you make, the questions you ask, your responses, be they verbal or non verbal, are carefully, thoughtfully placed within the presentation. You can not allow your impromptu assistant to dictate pace or the timing of your presentation; therefore you must be directive, forceful, and purposeful. You must not be rude, condescending, or employ humor at the expense of the impromptu assistant.
Yes, you do place him in a ‘public predicament’ within the context of your presentation and a great deal of the enjoyment, for the audience at large, is watching your impromptu assistants’ reactions to that predicament. Further, given that all of your attention and focus is directed towards your impromptu assistant, your audience at large is able to relax and enjoy the performance because they know they are not going to be called upon. They are not the ones caught in your ‘web’. They are witnesses to your ‘spinning’ of that web.
This is also the ‘secret reason’ that enables you to relax while performing before a group of people. You do not have to concern yourself with the audience. They will be misdirected. Your entire focus is on your impromptu assistant.
Life is difficult. Provide your audience with a brief escape from those difficulties, take your audience on a voyage from reality to fantasy. Believe so strongly in what you are saying and doing that your audience believes it too. You must see what is not there to see, hear what can’t be heard. You must compel your audience to surrender and simply enjoy the moment. People loved Slydini and his magic because Slydini loved people and his magic.
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