LESSON 1: Act or Show

In this first lesson, we explore an important decision that you have to make. This decision will impact how you design and build your illusion act/ show and determine your potential career path based on the markets you want to enter or the markets that are available to you.

As an illusionist, you must be aware that there is a difference between an act and a show. It is important to determine if a show or an act is better for the niche market that you have targeted.

An act is a short specialty act that generally is between 6 – 12 minutes long. It is highly specialized and features one or two routines/ genres of your art. It features multiple effects or “tricks” in a self-contained “story” that is told within the performance of the act.

A show is a longer performance made up of different acts or routines. The different acts or routines may or may not be related to each other. Generally, for variety, the individual acts or routines that make up a show are different from each other in effect/ “tricks”, texture and presentation. A show can run anywhere from 20 minutes to 90 minutes.

Most entertainers start their careers on either path. An entertainer either first creates an act or a show but as his/ her career evolves, he/ she either builds more acts to create a show or takes the best act/ routine in a show and make it as a featured act.

The initial path you take is typically determined by your market, city or country especially at the start of your career.

For example, traditionally, European countries and North Asia tend to produce more entertainers with acts than shows. This is due to the strong presence of circuses, varieties, theatres and cabarets in these markets. But, it is the opposite for countries like the US, Australia and South East Asia where full shows and not short acts are commercially favoured.

In Singapore, when I got into the business, the seemingly only choice for a commercial entertainer was to perform at events. We had literally no showrooms or theatre-style venues for magicians. So, it seemed the only route was to develop a 30-minute show, which was the industry standard.

However, in years to come, more opportunities presented themselves as my product became more differentiated and better. In fact, I headlined a venue in the country’s first permanent magic & illusion show for 13 months. Currently, I have both a show and an act available. I can do a full illusion show up to 75 minutes long but I also have an original act that is 6.5 minutes long that can be performed with as part of a 30-minute stage show.

Having said the above, I think the binding effect of your specific market and geographical location is not as strong as before. In 2016, the world is so connected with the Internet and the ease of global travel.

10 – 15 years ago, I would have told new entertainers to develop a show as I believed a show offers more opportunities and has more value than an act. However, in 2019, I would recommend new entertainers to try to develop a unique act but build a show around it at the same time.

This approach allows you to get a variety of work. This means you get experience and exposure in different markets that allow you to identify niches that you can then specialize in.

Types of Acts

There are two types of acts that you can develop. One is a theatrical act that has a storyline or narrative that holds the entire act together.

Examples of theatrical illusion acts include:

The other type of act are where several effects or illusions are performed in succession to create an act. Examples of these type of acts include:

Types of Shows

Many shows started as acts that developed into full shows such as David Copperfield, Lance Burton, Siegfried & Roy, The Pendragons and Hans Klok, to name a few.

Many illusionists who work markets like corporate & special events, fairs, amusement parks and cruises started by working on a full show (30min – 45min) without starting out as acts.

Here is a full video of Hans Klok’s full show (It is a 30-minute show but the video includes a repeat of the same video for some reason. This is a great example of different illusion acts/ segments that are put together to form a show. However, each segment can be performed as an act separately or as a stand-alone.

(Video link is not broken, just press play)

Here is another example from Kevin James. He has multiple acts that can each work as a stand-alone but also put together as a whole show. This is a full show broken you into 3 videos.

PROS & CONS

Here is a look at the advantages and disadvantages of an act and a show.

Note: This may not apply to all acts/ shows because some acts/ shows have specific technical requirements that negate the advantages or disadvantages.

Advantages of an Act

An act is generally self-contained, making it easy for it to fit into variety shows, circuses, production shows and TV appearances.
An act has more opportunity to work in highly specialized venues.
It is cheaper to produce an act than a full show.
It is easier & less expensive to transport.
It is easier for an entertainer to stand out if he/ she performs a truly unique act

Disadvantages of an Act

The biggest disadvantage of an act is that an act has less ability to scale and increase in value/ performance fee due to nature of an act and its duration.
An act can be a victim of its own success as often an entertainer is recognized for only a single act and finds difficulty growing beyond the successful act.

Advantages of a Show

The biggest advantage that a show has over an act is that it is generally viewed as higher value with more ability to scale and increase in value/ performance fee.
A show’s format allows it to be more flexible to adapt to a variety of show programs and entertainment venues.
There are more opportunities for a show to work in general markets.

Disadvantages of a Show

Full shows are expensive to produce and takes much longer to produce than an act.
It is much harder to have a consistent high quality of an entire show. As such, it can take an entertainer much longer to break out and be successful as a show than as an act.
A show is also harder and more expensive to transport.

REFERENCE

To get you started on learning about illusions, familiarize yourself with Basic Illusion Utilities on page 19 of “How to Be an Illusionist”.