One of the fun things we sometimes do at our
regular monthly meetings is "Magic Sports." It's a
lot of fun, promotes creativity and helps us stay on
our toes as entertainers.
"WHAT IS MAGIC SPORTS?" you ask? Magic Sports is
best explained by the brother who invented it, Tim
Ellis:
"How can you develop your creativity in an art
form with as many rules as magic? Break them!
Remember the old saying: "If an accountant makes
a mistake, he calls it a "computer error." If a
plumber makes a mistake, he charges you more. If a
doctor makes a mistake, he buries it. But if
a magician makes a mistake, he's a bad magician."
Does it really have to be so?
Many great new effects have been created when
magicians have made mistakes and dealt with them on
the spot. Improvising. One way actors improve and
develop their improvisational skills is in a show
called 'TheatreSports'™, invented by Keith Johnstone.
Theatresports™ is an improv show based on two teams
challenging each other to games and scenes.
So in 1991 Tim Ellis developed a series of games
for magicians called--you guessed it--MagicSports.
Many of the games are based on mistakes which have
occurred in real life situations which put the
participants under pressure and push their
creativity to new limits, other games are based on
those developed by Theatresports™. "
