Magicians wanted for reality TV show.
I still regularly get emails of this kind.
I wrote an article two years ago about a current TV show which explains why I don't apply.
The Magicians (BBC1 1st January 2011) Magic seems to be hot property at the moment.
The new BBC series "The Magicians" set to run for five episodes, "Fooled Us", a new format staring Penn and Teller (Las Vegas superstars) on Channel 4 as well as a new special from Derren Brown (magic or psychology, you decide).
So is this good for magic? It is really hard to say; the viewing figures for "The Magicians" on Saturday night were nowhere near the heady figures which "Strictly...
" and the "X Factor" attracted.
Of course this is to be expected and the numbers may not have peaked yet, as many more people may be encouraged to tune in next week.
Is this really what magicians wanted when it comes to TV exposure? Will people be coaxed into watching because of the highly entertaining new format or because everyone likes to see a car crash once in a while? For those of you who didn't see this rather tired show, magicians were paired with celebrities to create a series of tricks.
The audience eventually voted and the pair with the lowest votes was made to perform a rather tame forfeit.
The idea that you can instantly create performances worthy of a prime time TV slot is misguided.
Employing celebrities who have no experience of this type of live television did not help.
We saw a valiant effort from a newscaster capable of reading an auto cue at a moment's notice but unfortunately did not have the skill set needed for interaction with a live studio audience.
Like many performers I have spent years trying to create a solid forty-minute cabaret.
It is hard work; it requires a lot of failure and sometimes the mountain that must be climbed feels like a molehill and other times like K2.
Something that worked so well yesterday suddenly doesn't seem so vibrant.
In short it takes many years to create a solid, workable, cabaret set.
I found myself watching Barry and Stuart a pair of highly inventive and amusing magicians who sell out shows in Edinburgh every summer wondering why they looked so poor and unfocused.
Clearly the magicians wanted to entertain but their normal timing and precision was inevitably lost due to the inclusion of a third person.
Although it was charming to watch their attempts to include their celebrity guest they were unable to gain a rapport in such a short time.
It's not that reality TV is dead, far from it but reality TV feeds off the praise and humiliation of those who think, rightly or wrongly, that they have what it takes.
There was no edge to The Magicians.
One of the main faults of the show was the performances were neither excellent nor awful and either would have been preferable to the lukewarm, slow paced, middle of the road, presentations which we had to endure.
Even Lenny Henry, the host, appeared to have little of value to say.
Due to the lack of any in built drama, integral in the X Factor and the like, Lenny Henry seemed to be attempting to build the hype by continually feigning utter disbelief but it was hardly convincing or effective.
This can hardly be what the magicians wanted or conceived.
I think we forget the reason that Matt Cardell could survive the three month X Factor run to become the 2010 winner, was as much down to the ten years leading up to his lucky break as to what happened during the live shows.
Perhaps producers believe the reality TV hype a little too much; perhaps they think that these singers sit at home with their innate talent waiting for Simon Cowell and his magic wand.
A few days' rehearsals will be enough if you wish hard enough.
You might as well put an ad in a newspaper saying magicians wanted to make instant singer out of the tone deaf.
For someone like myself, who genuinely appreciates, as many do, the art of magic performed well, this seemed like a missed opportunity.
Perhaps it's to be expected; maybe it has all become a bit lazy? Shows are now thrown together to make television as cheaply and quickly as possible.
There is little attempt at originality, keep the format but change the skill set.
If this was a magic forum, magicians would be talking about tricks, this wasn't strong that wasn't right, a camera angle here and an edit there.
How did we know that the coal's were hot was one criticism raised by an astute magician on one forum.
How indeed but ultimately it is not the tricks that count.
Magic has never been about tricks, singing has never been about songs and comedy has little to do with jokes.
They are all vehicles for performers to show us who they really are, to communicate with us, to make us feel empathy.
In many ways it was a valiant attempt under impossible conditions and having met some of the performers and advisors and knowing their passion for the art, I felt for them.
But if we remember the trick and not the magician then something is wrong! In this case I worry that the public will remember neither.
Performing regularly as a close up and cabaret magician I know the excitement and entertainment that can be generated by this wonderful art form.
This show doesn't demonstrate the power of magic, which is a real shame for all professionals.
Try as they might, this rather messy format really doesn't work! Maybe magic just isn't relevant to a modern television watching audience.
Here's an idea, if you put out an advert "magicians wanted for TV Show, you could list ten magicians able to provide solid ten-minute performances worthy of a prime time television slot.
Choose any five, get a decent presenter in to link it together and I think you would have a great night's entertainment.
But we can't do that! What about the audience vote? Where would the celebrities go? Anyway we tried that twenty years ago and it didn't work...
or did it?