How to go
What: Craig Karges presents: Experience the Extraordinary!
Where: Fitton Center for the Arts, 101 S. Monument Ave., Hamilton
When: 8 p.m. Saturday
Cost: $15-$20
More info: (513) 883-8873 or www.craigkarges.com
Craig Karges calls himself an “extraordinarist,” due to a unique performance style he’ll be bringing to the Fitton Center this weekend. Combining conventional magic tricks and intuition, Karges will read your mind and guess the object in your hand while wearing a blindfold consisting of five strips of tape so tightly pressed that removing them regularly risks his eyebrows.
“My (style of performance) just reflects my interests,” Karges said. “I started doing magic when I was 12. My uncle was a psychic counselor and he taught me the intuitive aspects, and in college I just continued to study communications and psychology.”
When Karges picks a member of the audience to hold a thought or bring an object up to the stage, he’ll make predictions about the thought or object, affirming them with yes-or-no questions until he discovers the answer. Of course, Karges won’t reveal how he does it, but he is willing to vaguely describe the methodology, which owes nothing to the supernatural.
“It’s about reading people,” he said. “And giving people choices and knowing what people will choose based on the structure I give them. There are all kinds of subtle cues. I’ll read audience members’ reactions to see who will be good for certain scenes. A lot of it is done on the fly, which is what makes it interesting. I never know who I’m going to work with.”
Indeed, it is precisely due to the spontaneity of the act that occasional glitches occur, such as getting a “no” response when he was expecting a “yes” while deciphering an object. The effect is similar to a stand-up comedian who bombs a joke, though Karges said it can work to his advantage.
“Sometimes, it pulls people back in,” he said. “Everything is working until, all of a sudden, something isn’t. It’s like a circus act, where wire walkers fall deliberately to grab the audience’s attention.” He added with a chuckle. “I don’t fail on purpose because I don’t have to.”
Of course, due to the nature of Karges’ act, a natural suspicion is that he uses “plants” in the audience. From the beginning of his career, Karges has made a standing offer of $100,000 to anyone who can prove that he does so. To date, he has never had to pay up.
“It’s such an easy way to explain what I do that I had to make that offer just to get it out of the way,” he said. “I think the Fitton Center is a 150-seat venue, and I’ll use maybe 40 audience members, which is one-fourth of the audience. By the time I’m done, I’ll have probably used someone you know.”
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