Paul Kieve Q&A – HEY
From the Swiss Children’s magazine HEY following the publication of Hocus Pocus.
Do you have any advice on how to become a good magician?
Firstly you have to be interested in becoming good – it’s not very easy – it’s like learning to play an instrument! So patience is important. But you can quickly get a lot of enjoyment from it, and there are some quite impressive tricks which I describe in ‘Hokus Pokus’ which are easy to learn and will amaze your audience! But being a good magician isn’t only about the tricks, it’s about communicating those tricks with your audience, even if your audience is a couple of friends! .
I’d recommend you go and see as many magicians as you can live – and also look at other magicians work (there are lots on the website ‘Youtube’ now!) This isn’t to copy ideas – just to see how different performers present their magic.
What is your favourite legerdemain? And who was the conjurer?
I think the most amazing illusion I ever saw in a theatre was Harry Blackstone from America making a lit light bulb float right over the heads of the audience in a theatre even though he’d passed a hoop over the bulb to show there were no wires. He presented it very gracefully and when the bulb floated right over my head it was a real magical surprise! I will also never forget seeing the German illusionists Siegfried and Roy changing their assistant into a tiger in a glass box suspended over the audience – I happened quick as a flash and right in front of me! I was speechless.
What does the audience learn in “Hokuspokus?
The idea of ‘Hokus Pokus’ came from my lessons teaching Daniel Radcliffe how to do magic. I wanted to really inspire him to be interested in everything about magic – not just the tricks – about the stories of the great magicians, and how to be a really good magician. Some of the stories are really scary and weird – you couldn’t invent them! It worked – Daniel took up magic very seriously and still performs magic even now from time to time. So I hope the book does the same for the readers – it will teach you all about the amazing world of magic, and teach you to do lots of tricks in a really fun way.
