John Derris Lecture

6 December 2005

The lecture opened with an interesting look into John's working history. We learnt about how he used to work in both theatre and advertising and how crucial a part they started to play once he began performing magic. John incorporated a lot of magic theory into his lecture that linked back to his
work in theatre and advertising.

He reminded us of the importance of PERFORMANCE, and that great, golden rule K.I.S.S (keep it simple stupid). The theory being that once you have your routines polished, the idea is to work on the PERFORMANCE side until the moves become just a part of the way you move throughout the routine. Once you forget the moves you can relax and really build your own personality and performance. He used a good quote that "magic is about PERFORMANCES not SECRETS" and built on the knowledge that knowing how to perform well and 'sell' yourself, will greatly benefit any magician.

John then moved on to present some of his routines, all of which were very strong and visual. The first of which was the folding note. It looked very natural and magical. He then proceeded to pull a coat hanger from a small purse, before opening up an ordinary wallet and have it set on fire! The emphasis of these effects is that they are quick and very visual, great for grabbing attention and sparking an initial interest in the spectators. He then taught how to build on that initial interest with something a little more engaging and intriguing, all the while delivered with his wit and charm. He taught us that comedy was also a great tool for misdirection, and a simple gag can create a great 'offbeat' moment for sleights to be performed.

Other tricks demonstrated were the ring on the rope and the pen through mirror. And make no mistake, both these effects had some inspirational work done on them to improve the props as well as the presentation, turning them into two great visual magical performances. Other tricks included the
skeleton card, which was humorous and visual, and a routine with a coin box which again had been worked on to improve its presentation.

All the performances featured simple but very strong and visual effects so that the PERFORMANCE could be demonstrated, rather than the actual tricks. This all related back to the first part of the lecture (KISS) about keeping it simple and really working on your performance and selling yourself. "If you like someone, you will like their magic". He also had some good pointers to help out with practising the moves. He said to do them where ever and whenever you could in as many different situations as possible so that when it comes to performing, you can adapt well to any situation and fully concentrate on performance.

All in all it was a very interesting and insightful lecture with a lot of thought provoking theory, and of course plenty of great visual magic. There was enough information for everyone to really learn something about our art, rather than just learning a cool new 'trick'. Magic theory should be the core of any great lecture, and that is exactly what it was.

Many thanks to John Derris for a great evening.
Leon Simmmonds

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