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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 December 2021
In many respects the stage magician is an initiate in some of the subtlest, most sophisticated challenges ever to face a performing artist. Where he succeeds, his success is due to his unique solutions to problems that are by no means peculiar to his craft. They are problems of the deepest concern to many actors as well. The following observations compare the art of the actor with that of the magician. An effort is made to identify an area of both practical and theoretical concern that bridges theatre and the neighboring field of popular entertainment.
Most art conceals the complexity of its manufacture. In the performing arts, the problem of concealment is compounded because we do not see the product separate from its maker—nor do we even necessarily see it at the completion of its manufacture. The performing artist demonstrates the process of manufacture, and a large portion of our appreciation stems from his continual affirmation of its simplicity in the face of our knowledge of its inherent complexity.
The title photo is of the Great Cardini and is reproduced here courtesy of Milbourne Christopher.
The chart on the facing page takes the card effect in an act such as the one just described and examines it from three perspectives: what the audience sees (visible action), what is really occurring (actual action), and the method by which the magician insures the separation of the two (misdirection). It should be noted that this chart takes a hypothetical (and somewhat simplified) approach to the effect and is not intended as an explication of Cardini's actual working methods.
* The audience's ambivalence usually takes the form of skepticism, ranging from the noisome “how did you do that” attitude to outright hostility. The popular account of Houdini's death at the hands of a skeptic, while reflecting a rather extreme case, is not difficult to imagine. History reminds us that except in cases such as where magic is a culturally accepted phenomenon, practitioners of the art (whether through divine or satanic inspiration) have been traditionally regarded as anathemas and have been persecuted.