The Prestige…

Posted on April 11th, 2007.

The Pledge, The Turn, The Prestige….

As a magician people have been asking me about the description of the three acts which define a magic effect.

In the film, Cutter the illusion designer says:-

“Every magic trick consists of three parts, or acts.

The first part is called the Pledge.

The magician shows you something ordinary: a deck of cards or a bird or a man.”

“He shows you this object and pledges to you its utter normality. Perhaps he asks you to inspect it to see that it is indeed real, unaltered, normal. But of course it probably isn’t.”

“The second act is called the Turn”

“The magician takes the ordinary something - and makes it do something extraordinary.”

“Now you’re looking for the secret.

But you won’t find it. Because of course you’re not “really” looking. You don’t “really” want to know. You want to be fooled.”

“But you wouldn’t clap yet.

Making something disappear isn’t enough.
You have to bring it back.
That’s why every magic trick has a third act.

The hardest part the Prestige.”

Would that it was true…

As a professional magician I have never heard tricks described thusly… but the poetic licence of the film makers is to be celebrated.

Incidentally the in the book upon which the film is based we find it written like this…

First there is the setup, in which the nature of what might be attempted is hinted at, or suggested, or explained. The apparatus is seen. Volunteers from the audience sometimes participate in the preparation. As the trick is being set up, the magician makes every possible use of misdirection.

The performance is where the magician’s lifetime of practice, and his innate skill as a performer, conjoin to produce the magical display.

The third stage is sometimes called the effect, or the prestige, and this is the product of magic. If a rabbit is pulled from a hat, the rabbit, which apparently did not exist before the trick was performed, can be said to be the prestige of that trick.”

Maybe if magicians thought as carefully about ‘acts’ within their own performances we would see a real increase in the quality of magic and its promotion as an art!

Alan