Ed Sumner
15 Years Experience
Staffordshire, UK
Male, 28
I perform close up magic and stand up magic. I also run a children's magic company called Ready Steady Magic. You can find out more about me on YouTube! =P
As a professional magician and Member of the Magic Circle, I work hard to create incredible events.
Feel free to ask me whatever you wish and let me reveal the secrets of what I do (but not those secrets!)
Maybe that we’re all just big magic geeks. Oh wait, you said mis-conception! One that I hear often is, do you do children’s shows? A lot of people think magic is just a kids thing. I do perform children’s magic as well as close up magic, and I love both for different reasons, however I know that some close up magicians get a bit annoyed by being seen as ‘just for the children.' My advice, lighten up! Magic is not just for children, it’s only for children - it’s for the child in all of us. The misconception that really annoys me is that magic is easy. My prices reflect a lot of time practicing and perfecting my routines into a performance of magic, not just doing a trick. I also have a lot of experience and know how to interact with groups and how to work a crowd so that everyone gets the maximum enjoyment from my show. Some people hear my price and think it’s not worth it. They may choose to hire a cheaper magician, however unfortunately for them, cheaper doesn’t mean better value, and a lack of experience in performance art shows. I’m regularly told that my shows are worth every penny. By the way to find out more about me, or to book me, check out www.edsumner.com The other thing that happens sometimes is people think they can do my job. Again, not true. Magic is performance. It’s about the personality of the performer and how he or she interacts with their audience. Just doing a trick, as it says on the instructions is the worst thing you can do. That’s what you get when you book a magician cheap. You get someone who has been interested in magic for two weeks, is already calling themselves a magician, has a website and business cards, and is looking for paid gigs. It’s ridiculous. Yes, magicians only get better by performing, but beginners need to find the level for a beginner, instead of trying to run before they can walk. Swayed a bit off topic there, sorry!
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Absolutely it is. Magic rides on the wave of technology. The idea is to find some new technology that isn’t so mainstream and use that in a routine, before it become common knowledge. I’ve seen routines that use augmented reality, and they look great, but when / if that becomes common place, it won’t seem so magical. Magic evolves with time. Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin, who is commonly known as the father of modern magic, used to release ether into the theatre during his levitation routine. At the time ether was starting to become known about, but the properties were not fully understood. He claimed that he could float his son, by giving him a sniff of the ether. Of course, that’s not how he really did it. Sometimes magicians ask if magic will die out with technology, and the answer I always give is no. Magic seems to go through times when it’s very popular and not so popular but as long as people like live entertainment, they will like magic, and I can’t you see live entertainment dying out? Can you?
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I could write on this topic for a long time, and I may do when I have the time. In short, it’s important to remember that when someone sees a bad magician, it sticks with them, as there are fewer magicians around, so we all get grouped together. Unfortunately some magicians let us all down. Bad magic traits that some magicians have include, concentrating too much on fooling people and forgetting to entertain, challenging audiences, being arrogant, being cocky, embarrassing spectators and being rude, using sexual innuendo, being unoriginal, stealing material from other magicians and passing it off as their own, using corny lines that are as dead as Ken Dodd’s dad’s dog, need I go on, ok... trying too hard to be funny, being cliched, wearing playing card ties, treating adults like children, treating children like babies, having no sense of structure in a magic routine. For me everything is structure and performance. You can make a really simple trick, into a masterpiece if presented the correct way. Arghhh... Trust me I hate bad magic. I think as magicians we should be doing more to tell people who are rubbish, that they are indeed rubbish. Never mind about their hurt feelings, they are hurting my livelihood.
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Firstly let me say that some of my favourite magicians are female and some of my good friends in magic are female. They have a different slant on the art and it’s refreshing to see new ideas and different styles of performing. I wish there were more female magicians, and I think the magic community could be doing more to encourage girls to take an interest in magic. To start with magic is male dominated which doesn’t help to invite females in, and doesn’t provide many positive female role models. The reason I believe for that being the case is that really magic is about power. It’s a case of ‘I know something you don’t'. Magic tends to draw in a lot of boys who are shy, reclusive, solitary types, who obsess over the secrets, learning and studying, and figuring out things which other people don’t have access to. When they finally get to perform, the magic allows them not only to show off, but also gives them something to hide behind. To start with at least, magic is performed from a very tight script. Girls are very sociable. They want to be with their friends, they want to be in groups and fit in. If the other girls aren’t interested in magic, then they are unlikely to be the odd one out. Remember that at the start, it’s a secretive art of studying by yourself. Of course some girls are different and enjoy the study and the secrets, however many female magicians who I’ve spoken too have found magic later in life, perhaps through dance, through circus, through theatre, or perhaps by meeting a magician when they were older and less inclined to follow the path of their friends.
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I try not to. There is this joke between professional magicians, that we don’t perform outside of work, because we get bored of performing the same routines all the same. It’s partly true. It can get quite annoying when everyone says, ‘show us a trick.’ I do have some routines that work well when I’m not at a gig, but it’s a different situation when everyone knows you’re a magician, and they sort of expect it. If pushed I might perform one or two quick things. Usually I try out something new, as my working repertoire only extends so far. Generally though, when I’m with friends, I prefer people to get to know me as a person. When I’m at a paid gig, it’s my personality of course, but it’s different. You have to get in the zone. I’m not sure if that makes sense? I hope so, but it’s difficult to explain.
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Quite a few have fooled me. Often when I watch magic, I try to watch the performance, but if I want to I can work out how it's done, if I think about it later. I don’t know a lot about stage illusions, but I’m hoping to learn about them. They can fool me pretty well. One close up effect that sticks in my mind was pretty simple. A collection of pens are placed carefully on a table so they are standing up. The magician stands about two metres away from the table and says ‘fall’. The pens fall down one by one. He can also make an individual pen fall down, i.e. the one in the middle, or the one furthest away. I remember buying the secret to the trick on a DVD and for weeks I just didn’t want to watch it. When I finally did, I was like, ‘that’s amazing, I love it!’ I still haven’t performed it in public yet, but I will do one day. It’s a simple idea, but the best things are. Easy to understand and beautifully done!
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Great question! One other thing to think about is, not only does the trick fool someone, but how is the trick structured? Too many magicians buy a trick, and perform it as it is sold, without any thought about how they can improve the presentation to make the key moments stand out more, to make them more magical. The thing to remember is that if everyone just buys the tricks, and performs them as sold, then all you have is a group of performers no better than karaoke singers. The better magicians, place some of their personality in to their performances. Not only does this offer them a unique presentation that only they do, it makes the trick more real to them. They connect more with what they are performing, rather than just repeating it word for word, the same as everyone else. I think creativity in any art form is more than important, it’s vital, and I wish that magicians understood this, instead of stealing from each other, and copying bland, too often repeated, standard routines. In answer to the ratio, there are some awful magic tricks, that wouldn’t fool anyone, but there are also a lot of overlooked effects that given the right structuring and the right routining can be masterpieces. I use an effect that is so simple, and a lot of non-magicians know it too. I’ve added two tiny little things, and written my own script, and it’s one of my favourite things to do, because it’s very powerful, plus I’m proud that I came up with those additions. For me the for trick : personality importance ratio should be 5% : 95% Anyone can learn to do the trick, but the successful magician, can make it interesting, engaging and entertaining too.
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