INTERVIEW: Diving deep into the secrets of the Geffen’s hit magic show ‘The Present’
Photo: Helder Guimarães is the writer and performer of The Present, a virtual magic show courtesy of the Geffen Playhouse. Photo courtesy of Jeff Lorch / Provided by press site with permission.
The Geffen Playhouse, one of the most important cultural institutions in Los Angeles and the United States, has decided to make theatrical lemonade out of the pandemic lemons they were given. Although the coronavirus disrupted the end of their 2019-2020 season, the creatives at the company, which is located by UCLA, decided to turn toward one of their most celebrated collaborators for assistance: magician Helder Guimarães.
The Portuguese-born illusionist has been at the Geffen twice before — with Nothing to Hide, a show that was such a sold-out success it eventually transferred to New York City, and Invisible Tango, which hopes one day to transfer as well.
His unique form of magic is a clever combination of storytelling, sleight-of-hand and profound artistry. Audience members — whether at his Geffen shows or other projects like Verso and Borrowed Time — walk away amazed at the seeming supernatural ability of Guimarães to conjure cards in front of their eyes, and doubly amazed by how much emotion and pathos imbue the monologues that are interwoven with the illusions.
For these pandemic times, Guimarães and the Geffen have crafted a new virtual show called The Present, a unique at-home theatrical experience directed by Frank Marshall and delivered via the Zoom platform. Audience members purchase a ticket (note: performances are sold out through Aug. 16) and then receive a mysterious package in the mail. Instructions clearly tell the audience members not to open the box until the time of their Zoom performance. Then, for one hour of virtual artistry, Guimarães impresses with new, boundary-defying illusions and a heartfelt story about the value of presents and the wisdom of a grandfather.
“I’ve had the idea for a long time, maybe four years, of doing something like this where the magic would happen in the people’s hands and at their houses, with me interacting with them,” Guimarães said in a recent phone interview. “And when all of a sudden we were faced with this situation, I thought it was the perfect moment to do that idea because it gained a new meaning. It gained this other level of connectivity with people. … The magic that I love is done live with people. That’s [what] I’m really passionate about, but right now with the situation we’re in, we can’t do that. So it was my way to keep doing what I love to do, which is give magic to people.”
Guimarães became interested in magic at the age of 4 when he was growing up in Portugal. Although his grandfather factors heavily in his upbringing, this influence in his life wasn’t a real big fan of magic.
“My grandfather had zero influence in me being a magician because he didn’t even like magic that much, but if you ask me if he has something to do with the way I approach magic, yes, to the way I look at the world, or the things that interested me for all my teenage years and early adulthood, yes,” he said.
Participants in The Present learn more about this grandfather and Guimarães’ formative years, and the story is told virtually with the magician broadcasting live from a room somewhere in his home. There’s a smart-looking set with a few curios and magic posters on the wall. Audience members are in their own homes, and their appearances are broadcast on Zoom as well. And then, once everyone is set up and all technical tests are completed, there is an odd, but authentic sense of collective collaboration achieved. Everyone is together, yet apart.
“It was a huge challenge to do that,” Guimarães said. “The rehearsal process was much more technical than usually it is in a theater because in a theater everyone is taking care of their own side of it, and then we all come together to start creating together. … But in this case, all the areas needed to come together, and also understand the platform, and understand how we could use the platform in a more efficient way and better way to create what we think is a theatrical experience that can be experienced on camera. But that took a long time, and I would say that more than half of the time we spent on rehearsal was having friends and having people join us so that we could test that side of things.”
There have been a few technical hiccups throughout The Present’s run, which began May 7, but none of them have detracted from the show. Perhaps some of them were even unnoticeable to the 25 participants on the Zoom video chat.
“There are always moments, but that happens in a live show, too,” the magician said. “There are some moments where we have a slight feedback coming from someone’s house; [they] are probably connected to the TV. … But we try to tackle that as quickly as possible so that we all have a more enjoyable experience. Sometimes people have poor internet connections, so there is some delay on their end. So when I ask them some questions, you have a slight delay, but I think everyone understands that we are playing in this world, and we are at the mercy of the internet. I think everyone is very forgiving about those moments.”
The Geffen Playhouse has led the nation’s theaters in welcoming magic and illusion into their seasons of entertainment. They broke ground with Nothing to Hide several years ago and continue to champion the art form, and audiences have responded in kind. Of their many theatrical offerings, the Geffen’s magic shows routinely sell out, are extended and even transfer for commercial runs.
“The Geffen has always been amazing to me,” Guimarães said. “Almost a year after I moved to L.A., I had my first show at the Geffen. Last year I did my second live show. This year we are doing this, so there is a very good rapport between me and them in terms of what my personal and artistic goal is and how that fits their world. But I love going there. Even if I’m not performing, I go there, and I see shows. I love the people. They are really professional on every level. From the inside and from working with them, I can’t say enough great things about them, and I think they have a really good vision to what they want to do in L.A. with live performance. It’s very refreshing to see them using the theater space to welcome other areas that are not necessarily what people consider common theater — for example, magic or storytelling, which are my two main things. I love that they are open about that, and I think they are an example on that end.”
Guimarães is not new to presenting his magic beneath a proscenium. He actually studied theater for four years at university, so he always knew he wanted to combine storytelling with illusion for a one-of-a-kind experience.
“Once they understand what you’re doing, then they are open, but there is a stereotypical notion of what magic is or what it looks like,” he said. “And [these critics] are not judging you by your work. They are judging you by what they think magic is, and that has been probably my biggest fight over my career is people understanding exactly what I do and the type of performance and the type of magic I’m interested in. And once they do, then they open the doors, and they let me create my own projects. And that’s part of what I love about the Geffen … because they are definitely open to those things.”
At that tender of age of 4, when Guimarães became interested in magic, he started to head down this magical pathway with his father and learn all there was to learn about the history and practice of illusion. At first, he performed magic as a hobby, but then the nearby country of Spain inspired him to develop his hobby into an art form.
“There is a strong scene of magic in Spain, and so from a very early age, from 7-8 years old, I started to see all these Spanish magicians and even traveling with my dad to see some shows over there,” he said. “And over the years, I kept going back and back, and making friends, and learning more and doing it on my own. Of course, there was magic in Portugal, and there were magicians in Portugal. But my big inspirations actually came from Spain, and I was very lucky to be near Spain during that period of time. I learned a lot, and that’s where my biggest magic influence comes from.”
Once the world goes back to a workable normal, Guimarães will be faced with a few potential directions for his creativity. The Present is continuing throughout the summer and perhaps beyond, no doubt giving audience members a welcome respite from the difficult-to-digest headlines and quarantine orders. When these same audience members feel comfortable meeting in person, the magician will start to plan his next step.
“We wanted to travel with Invisible Tango, and we were planning on that before all this started,” Guimarães said. “So now all those conversations are stopped for the moment being until we understand exactly what’s going to happen. … If tomorrow the world goes back to normal and people can actually go to theaters and they are comfortable going to theaters, because I think that’s for me the biggest issue — I don’t think people will be able to go to theaters in the near future until they feel comfortable about being there. But once they are, then we probably go back to Invisible Tango and travel with that show. That is one of the answers. The other answer is I think this form that we’ve created — and it’s so unique — I think there is also a future for that independent of Invisible Tango. It’s something that I’ll definitely look to keep doing and explore more in the future as well.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
The Present, written and performed by Helder Guimarães, is currently running virtually through Aug. 16, courtesy of the Geffen Playhouse. Frank Marshall directs. Click here for more information and tickets.
