Close-Up Magician for Tables, Receptions & Strolling

What close-up magic actually is

Close-up magic, also called table magic or strolling magic, is performed for small groups at conversational distance. A card is signed and found somewhere impossible. A borrowed ring vanishes and comes back. A coin bends in someone's hand. A champagne bottle passes through a table.

Because it happens in the guests' own hands rather than on a stage, there is nowhere to hide and nothing to take on trust. That is exactly why the reactions are so strong.

Why it fits around your event

Close-up magic is the least demanding entertainment you can book. It needs no stage, no power, no sound and no changes to your running order. James moves between groups, performs for five or ten minutes, and moves on.

That makes it ideal for the awkward gaps in an event: the drinks reception while photographs are being taken, the wait between courses, or the half hour before the band starts. It fills those moments instead of competing with the parts of the evening you have already planned.

The repertoire

James performs card magic, coin magic, mentalism, fire effects, cups and balls, rubber band magic and routines built around borrowed objects and mobile phones. He mixes magic with mind-reading, so a set has both the astonishment of sleight of hand and the strangeness of someone knowing what you are thinking.

Routines are adapted to the group in front of him. A table of senior executives at a gala dinner gets a different set to a group of teenagers at a prom.

Larger events and multiple magicians

For very large events, James works with a small number of hand-picked close-up magicians so every guest is covered within the time available. The standard stays consistent because he knows and has worked with each of them.