Now you see it … magicians made to work as Zoom betrays secrets

IT DOES not matter if it is a card game, a disappearing act or a rabbit being pulled out of a hat – a magician never reveals his tricks.

But a tech-savvy audience member recording a live Zoom show just might be able to figure it out for themselves.

Magicians, who have turned to online shows during the pandemic, have said they are having to work harder to conceal their tricks as eagle-eyed viewers are recording and rewinding shows in a bid to learn how the magic happens.

Experienced magicians Jamie Docherty and Lewis Joss, known as Jay & Joss, were performing across the world at hundreds of events, including cruises, when they were furloughed.

They, like many in the arts, went on to launch a virtual show – which has since been awarded the highest degree in the Magic Circle through examination. But the professionals from Northamptonshire said they had to be extra-cautious when doing their tricks online, as people started “recording the screen and trying to figure out how we did it”.

“Everyone is capable of getting their phones out or doing a screen recording so we had to change the magic in a way that if they were to watch it a second time, that hopefully they would still be quite mesmerised,” said Joss. Celebrity magician Guy Parker, who has previously performed magic to Tom Hardy and Pharrell Williams, said people are constantly trying to decipher the clues online.

“I had people actually record it – and they even let me know. They’ll say, ‘by the way, I did record the performance, we’ve gone back and watched it 10 or 15 times and still can’t see how you do it’,” he told The Sunday Telegraph.

Parker explained that the trick to Zoom performing is to ensure your angles are “watertight” by practising in a mirror.

“It’s just down to knowing what trick you’re doing with audiences, watching how you’re going to perform it.”