The following are loose guidelines rather than rules. Read through once, adapt what seems sensible and ignore the rest.

General

  • The audience are mainly laypeople. There might also be a few magicians in the audience, but they are to be treated like laypeople too.
  • There’s no conferencier or presenter.
  • We play the show straight through – two acts á 40 minutes with an intermission – as if it was a theatre play.
  • We tend to have a lovely and encouraging audience. There is no need for “warm-ups”, to ‘win them over’ or catch their attention the way you need in busking or at corporate events.
    You can begin with a quiet, subtle and introverted routine, should you wish too. You will still have 100% focus and attention.
  • Skip all introductions and welcoming phrases as they are redundant and break the flow of the show. Go straight into your material. The audience have been poring over the webpage and are fully aware of who you are.
  • Each show have a title. Don’t take that too literal.
    But if you need to choose between two routines, pick the one that is most related to the show title.
  • We don’t fish for applause. We let the audience decide when and if to applaud.
  • It is possible make use of the other performers – to carry on a prop for you, or to peer in from the wings, or…
  • If possible, make your entrance before the previous performer exits, and get eye-contact as you pass each other. That strengthens the feeling of collaboration.
  • Whenever possible, try to make callbacks (in action, or verbally) to previous incidents in the show, and/or make subtle foreshadowings of things to come.
  • If you need to choose between a more funny routine and a routine with strong magic, always go for the strong magic.
  • Close-up, parlour and stage routines are all possible. A mix of is welcome.
  • Photos of the theater can be seen here. The room is pretty airy. We’ll aim for 100 spectators.
    The angles are pretty good. There’s a walkway with a stair going right through the center of the audience, dividing it in two groups – makes it very easy to go out to find audience assistants.
    The sloped seating makes it so even “flat” tabletop tricks like Matrix can be seen, provided that the table isn’t too close to the first row.
  • It is possible to do other table level routines (Cups & Balls, cylinder & coins…), the spectators at the very back might need to crane their necks.
    If possible, try to mix the tabletop routines with material that are 3 dimensional or up in the air.
  • Unless it is very well crafted, or used for a very specific purpose, try to limit stock lines, self-deprecating jokes, disparaging comments about magic, bathos (A), (B), (C), double entendres, “blue” & “dirty” material, sexism, and heteronormative attitudes & assumptions. Those things tend to fall flat in our venue.
  • We can play music with simple cues.
    The stage lights are fairly good, and we can do simple cues.

Guest performer

  • Usually, we ask the guest performer to perform about 21-29 minutes, split into three spots as follows
    • Act 1
      • Spot 1: A short spot, around 3 minutes. Max 5 minutes. Think “one routine”.
    • Act 2
      • Spot 2: About 6-10 minutes.
      • Spot 3: About 10-12 minutes.
  • Whenever possible, we try to find amusing or intriguing transitions between the performers.
    As a guest performer, you might get suggestions and ideas on transitions, and if they seem fun to you, we encourage you to experiment.
  • You, as the guest performer, are welcome to suggest your own ideas on how to increase the theatrical atmosphere.
    The final arbitrator on what’s in or out is the group’s director Leif Olberius (leif@olberius.com).
  • The guest performer also participates in the curtain call and takes a mutual final bow with the rest of the ensemble.
  • We need 2-3 highres photos of the guest performer as soon as possible after the booking is confirmed. Preferably with a few suggestions on what the presentation on the web page should mention. Doesn’t have to be much. One single sentence within 2 days is far better than a 2 page essay three weeks later.
  • The guest performer’s music should be emailed/dropboxed/transfered at least 2 days ahead of the show, together with the simple cues for in and out.