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Hiring a magician in Dubai, answered

The questions event planners, couples and PAs actually ask, answered plainly and without a sales pitch.

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Start here

Three answers cover most first enquiries, so they are at the top rather than buried.

A stage show runs 20 to 45 minutes and holds a seated room of up to 300 and over. Walk-around magic runs 60 to 90 minutes and properly reaches about 120 to 150 standing guests. Most bookings take both, which covers a full evening from one performer. Everything else on this page is detail on top of those three numbers. If you already know your date, your venue and roughly how many people are coming, James can recommend a format without a meeting.

About the shows

What is a magic show?
A magic show is a live performance where a magician creates effects an audience cannot explain. James's version combines stage mentalism, which is mind reading, with visual magic. It runs as one theatrical arc of 20 to 45 minutes rather than a string of separate tricks, and the content is built for the room it is performed in.
What happens at a magic show?
Guests stay seated, the room lights stay up enough for people to see each other, and James works with volunteers from the audience. Objects change, freely made choices are predicted, and personal details nobody said out loud are revealed. Nothing is planted, nobody is embarrassed, and everyone can see everything.
How long is a magic show?
The stage show runs 20 to 45 minutes, set to your running order. Walk-around magic covers a full drinks reception, usually 60 to 90 minutes. Most events take both, which gives roughly two and a half hours of covered time from a single booking and one arrival.
What is stage magic?
Stage magic is performed to a seated audience from one focal point rather than table to table. It is built for scale and sightlines. James performs it with mentalism woven through, so the room follows a story rather than watching a sequence of unrelated effects.
What is a mentalism show?
A theatrical set performed to a seated audience, usually 20 to 45 minutes, where thoughts are read and predictions sealed beforehand are opened live. It suits the slot after the main course or straight after an awards presentation. Full detail sits on the mentalism page.
What is an illusion show?
An illusion show usually means large stage illusions with boxes, cabinets and assistants. James does not perform that. He uses no large props, which is why the show fits a private dining room, and he relies on close visual magic and mind reading instead of engineering.
What is close-up magic?
Close-up magic happens in your guests' hands rather than on a stage. The magician moves table to table using cards, coins and borrowed objects at arm's length. James adds mentalism to it, so thoughts are read as well as objects vanished, which is unusual for the format.
What is table magic?
Table magic is close-up magic performed for seated guests, usually between courses or during a long service gap. Each table gets five to ten minutes. Same craft as a standing reception set, but the routines are built for people sitting down.

About booking

How much does a magic show cost?
Every event is quoted individually. The figure depends on how long James performs, whether it is walk-around, a stage show or both, guest numbers, the venue and travel. It includes the consultation and any custom content. Send your date and rough numbers for a price rather than a range.
How do you hire a magician?
Send the date, the venue and rough guest numbers. Any performer worth booking replies with a recommended format rather than a price list, because the right act depends on whether your guests are seated or standing and how many there are. James answers within a working day.
How do you book a magician?
A short call, then a written proposal with the format, timings and a price. Contract and public liability follow, and a final call the week before confirms timings. James holds your date through internal sign-off rather than asking for a deposit first.
How far in advance should I book?
Peak season in Dubai runs October to March and weekends go first, so a few months of notice is safest for a gala. Four to six weeks is usually enough for a smaller dinner or a wedding reception. Ask anyway, because dates do come free.
How many guests can one performer cover?
Around 120 to 150 in 90 minutes of walk-around, working in groups of six to ten. A stage show covers a room of 300 at once. Above 150 standing guests take both, because a guest who watched other tables get the magic feels worse than one who never knew.
What does James need from our venue?
For walk-around, nothing at all. For a stage set, a microphone, a clear area of roughly three metres by two, and lighting that keeps the audience visible. No stage build, no backdrop and no technical rehearsal, so it can follow a dinner service without a room turn.

About the act

How does a mentalist work?
Through psychology, suggestion, close observation and a great deal of rehearsal. Nothing is planted and no guest is a stooge. Volunteers are chosen freely and their choices are genuinely their own, which is the only reason the reveals mean anything to the people watching.
How do mentalists guess numbers?
Not by guessing. A number reveal is built from technique, timing and how people behave when asked to think of something, and the methods differ from effect to effect. James will not explain which, because Magic Circle members can be expelled for exposing methods.
What is corporate entertainment?
A performance booked for a business event rather than a public one, covering galas, conferences, awards nights, brand activations and client hospitality. James provides it as a stage show plus walk-around magic, so one booking covers a whole evening rather than three acts.
Are magicians worth it at a corporate event?
Yes, when the act suits the room. A band fills the air and a comedian needs a shared language, but a magician holds a seated international audience and gives them a story to tell on Monday. FTI Consulting have booked James five years running.
Will it work for an international audience?
Yes, and it is what the act is built for. Mentalism needs no shared first language because the effect happens inside a guest's own head. Nothing in the material is religious or political, and nobody is embarrassed in front of colleagues.
Is mentalism real?
No, and James says so on stage. It is misdirection, psychology, suggestion and eight years of practice, performed honestly as entertainment. That honesty is what makes the impossible moments land harder. The mentalism page covers how the show is built.

Choosing between the six formats

Guest numbers and your running order settle this faster than budget does.

Up to 50 guests seated for dinner, the Platinum Show is built for exactly that room and everyone is close enough to take part. Between 50 and 300 with a stage and a speech slot, stage mentalism is the headline act. A standing reception of any size wants walk-around magic. A wedding usually wants walk-around across the photograph hour and the service gaps. A remote or split audience wants the virtual show, which reaches every office at once with no travel. James will tell you which fits on the call rather than sell you the largest one, and he will say plainly when your numbers mean you need two formats rather than one.

Where entertainment goes in a running order

The slot matters as much as the act, and most events put it in the wrong one.

Walk-around belongs in the first 45 minutes of a reception, while guests are still standing in the groups they arrived in. A stage set lands hardest after the main course and before dessert, when the room is fed and still sharp, or straight after an awards presentation when the energy is already up. Avoid the slot immediately after a long speech, when attention is spent, and avoid running it against a late bar. Send James your schedule and he will say where it should sit.

How to check any performer before you book

Three questions, and anyone who cannot answer all three is a risk.

01
Who booked you twice
One repeat client who will speak to you is worth more than a wall of logos. James has FTI Consulting across five years and two regions.
02
Which body admitted you, and how
A society that admits by examination means something. One you join by paying does not. The Magic Circle is the former.
03
Footage from a room like mine
Not a montage of reaction shots with music over it. A corporate gala and a wedding reception are two different bookings.

Still deciding

Send James your date, venue and rough guest numbers. He will reply within a working day with the format that fits your room, the showreels that match it, and an honest answer about whether your numbers need a stage set as well as walk-around.

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James Fabulous
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