One of the most beautiful things about magic performance is that it doesn’t end when the trick ends. You know this very well: if you became a magician, it’s because at some point you saw something wonderful that stuck with you so deeply it made you want to start doing it yourself—to share that feeling with others.
Likewise, it’s a lovely thought to imagine people leaving a magic show and, on their way home, talking to each other about the experience they’ve just had—trying to figure out the methods, pondering the message behind the performance.
The magician’s task, then, isn’t just to perform the routines in the moment. It also involves considering how we want people to remember the performance after it’s over. A particularly sneaky technique in this regard is the creation of false memories, which we've already explored on One Ahead.
But there’s also a fundamental and accessible element: the waiter theory. This principle was popularised by Gabi Pareras, one of the most influential card magicians of recent times. After his passing, the Cosas De Gabi project was created to preserve and share his contributions with the wider magic community. From that project, we take the definition of the waiter theory:
"This concept refers to the importance of taking care that a particular moment in the routine, typically in the climax, displays a clear image that sums up the experience by having the elements arranged in the scene in such way that a maximum information of the nature and the conditions of the effect that just took place is provided. It helps the magical effect to be more intelligible, memorable and overall enhances the quality of the experience."
And while it’s true that most of Pareras’ writings are difficult to access, we can still draw some original reflections from his theory to understand how it applies to the kind of magic we experience and perform every day.
