Theatrical magic is the art of pretending to perform supernatural magic and, thus, is a form of theatre. The performer is not showing a simple demonstration of supernatural powers, but a theatrical interpretation of what a real magician could be like.

Magic has a fairly low status compared to other forms of theatre. Jerry Seinfeld expressed it in his usual observant manner in his book Seinlanguage: “What is the point of the magician? He comes on, he fools you, you feel stupid, show’s over. You never know what’s actually happened. It’s like, Here’s a quarter. Now it’s gone. You’re a jerk.” Unfortunately Seinfeld is right for the majority of magic performances.

The issue of magic as an art form is often discussed by magicians, but not so much in the literature on performance arts. Magic is mostly seen as a second-rate type of performance art with nothing much to offer beyond frivolous entertainment.

The third chapter of Perspectives on Magic discusses some of the views about theatrical magic expressed by academics in the field of performance studies. On thing that magic has in common with almost all other art forms is deception. A ballet dancer deceives by pretending the jumps and twirls are easy; actors are deceiving the audience by pretending to be somebody they are not; and so-called realistic paintings are deceiving in that they portray three-dimensional worlds on a two-dimensional canvas. The main difference is that the deception in magic is mostly not used to tell a story, but to amaze the audience. In other art forms the deception is often not hidden and not a secret and its main purpose is to tell a story, not to amaze.

If you are interested in reading more about the art of magic, go to the bibliography or buy Perspectives on Magic and other books from the bookshop.