Magician, actor or what?

[TommySteal]

You are right Marcos, this is interesting and there is certainly no set answer. All art including magic, I believe, is simply one expressing themselves which in turn is open to interpretation. In some respects I can see how magicians are perceived to be actors since many professionals/street entertainers use patter. As we all know, patter is a written and rehearsed dialogue the magicians use each time they perform that particular trick, much like an actor memorizing their lines.

On the other hand, an experienced magician may feel a completely impromtu performance of something to be more appropriate for a certain situation, leading him away from his rehearsed patter and act in a more similar manner explained by Mark earlier.

So yeah...it appears that sometimes we are sometimes not.

[Mark]

Originally Posted by TommySteal

In some respects I can see how magicians are perceived to be actors since many professionals/street entertainers use patter. As we all know, patter is a written and rehearsed dialogue the magicians use each time they perform that particular trick, much like an actor memorizing their lines.

That is a neat one. Do you think it's arguable whether comedians and all other artists who deal with patter could be seen as actors (apart from actual actors)?