For well over a year now we have all been subjected to social distancing, a phrase that prior to COVID didn’t even exist! But for obvious reasons, we have had it constantly drummed into us that we must keep 2 metres apart from our fellow human beings.
The result of this exercise in social conditioning is that you can be walking down the pavement and a person coming in the other direction will either crush themselves into the hedge in an attempt to keep away from you, or they will risk life and limb by stepping out into the middle of the road. All this despite the fact that we are told that actually it’s pretty unlikely that the disease can be transmitted outside.
Disregarding the therefore obvious stupidity of this type of evasive action, it just goes to show how, in relatively short order, our habits have been radically changed so that many people have become nervous of being near others. The way the public behaves in shops, trains, buses and in fact anywhere indoors, shows that as close up magicians we might be heading for a significant problem.
Strolling or table hopping magic plays on the fact that the magic happens very close to people. In our publicity we tend to emphasise the closeness, stressing that the magic will happen right under the noses of the spectators, or in the very palm of their hand. But is this still what people are going to want?
Suddenly, for a population ingrained with the necessity for social distancing, the idea of having a magician hovering in their life space or standing very close to the table where they are eating, might be seen as more of a risk than something desirable! Who knows what terrible diseases the performer may be secretly harbouring and poised to pass on to his unsuspecting audience because of his proximity.
And then what about when the magician wants spectators to shuffle his pack of cards, or examine one of his props? How many other people have also been handling the same items and leaving deadly deposits on them, a spectator of a nervous disposition might wonder?
Close up magicians love to borrow objects from their audiences too, as it often increases the impact of the magic when it is performed with an item taken from a spectator. But are lay people suddenly going to be reluctant to hand over their ring/watch/bank note in case the performer leaves strains of COVID on the object while performing with it?
The vaccination programme in the UK has so far been a big success, both in terms of the speed and efficiency with which it has been administered, and also with regard to the percentage of the population who have been treated already. Death and infection rates are very small now compared to only a few months ago, so there are reasons to hope that immunity will be high.
But other countries have seen second waves of further COVID strains sweeping through their populations, so even in Britain, we can still only be cautiously optimistic. As a result, I think close up magicians may well have difficulties interacting with their audiences in the foreseeable future, and we will have to adapt to the new performing ‘normal’.