A stage illusion is a large-scale magic trick. As the name implies, stage illusions are distinct from other types of magic in that they are performed a considerable distance away from the audience, usually on a stage, in order to maintain the

illusion An illusion is a distortion of the senses, which can reveal how the mind normally organizes and interprets sensory stimulation. Although illusions distort the human perception of reality, they are generally shared by most people. Illusions may ...

. Stage illusions usually use large props and may involve the use of assistants or large animals.Wilson, Mark. Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic. Running Press Kids. 2003. Examples of stage illusions include sawing a woman in half and

levitation Levitation, Levitate, or Levitating may refer to: Concepts *Levitation (illusion), an illusion where a magician appears to levitate a person or object *Levitation (paranormal), the claimed paranormal phenomenon of levitation, occurring without an ...

. Stage illusion also refers to the field or career of performing stage illusions.

Stage illusions

* Aquarian Illusion * Asrah levitation * Assistant's Revenge * Aztec Lady * Balducci levitation * Battle of the Barrels * Bullet catch * Cabinet escape * David Copperfield's laser illusion * Devil's torture chamber *

Guillotine A guillotine ( ) is an apparatus designed for effectively carrying out executions by Decapitation, beheading. The device consists of a tall, upright frame with a weighted and angled blade suspended at the top. The condemned person is secur ...

Impalement Impalement, as a method of torture and execution, is the penetrating trauma, penetration of a human by an object such as a stake, pole, spear, or hook, often by the complete or partial perforation of the torso. It was particularly used in respon ...

* Indian rope trick *

Levitation Levitation, Levitate, or Levitating may refer to: Concepts *Levitation (illusion), an illusion where a magician appears to levitate a person or object *Levitation (paranormal), the claimed paranormal phenomenon of levitation, occurring without an ...

Metamorphosis Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops including birth transformation or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's body structure through cell growth and different ...

* Mismade Girl *

Origami ) is the Japanese art of paper folding. In modern usage, the word "origami" is often used as an inclusive term for all folding practices, regardless of their culture of origin. The goal is to transform a flat square sheet of paper into a ...

* Predicament escape * Radium Girl * Sawing a woman in half * Squeeze Box Illusion * Table of death * Wringer * Zig Zag Girl

Famous stage illusionists

* Percy Abbott (1886–1960), Australian performer and stage magic dealer, co-founder of the Blackstone Magic Company with Harry Blackstone Sr. in 1927, co-founder of the Abbott Magic Company in 1934 (both established in Colon, Michigan, "the magic capital of the world") * John Henry Anderson (1814–1874), Scottish magician known for introducing magic to large theatrical performances and especially for bullet catch performances *

Criss Angel Christopher Nicholas Sarantakos (; born December 19, 1967), known professionally as Criss Angel, is an American magician, Magic (illusion), illusionist and musician. He is often referred to as one of the world's most successful illusionists, g ...

(born 1967), American "post-modern illusionist" who performs in casual attire, Las Vegas headliner 2005–present, debunker of

mediumship Mediumship is the practice of purportedly mediating communication between familiar spirits or ghost, spirits of the dead and living human beings. Practitioners are known as "mediums" or "spirit mediums". There are different types of mediumship or ...

* Harry Blackstone Sr. (1885–1965), American illusionist who performed in formal attire, known for levitation, impalement, sawing a woman in half, vanishing a bird cage, producing bouquets of flowers, and levitating a glowing light bulb, resided on an island near Colon, Michigan * Harry Blackstone Jr. (1934–1997), American son of Harry Blackstone Sr., performed classic magic acts similar to his father's, wrote books and produced best-selling magic trick sets *

David Blaine David Blaine (born David Blaine White; April 4, 1973) is an American magician, mentalist, and Endurance art, endurance performer. Born in New York City, Blaine became interested in magic at a very young age. He gained prominence in 1997, when h ...

(David Blaine White, born 1973), American performer known especially for endurance stunts, active 1997–present * Lance Burton (born 1960), American stage magician who rose to fame as a teenager in 1977 and was a headline performer in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

from 1981 to 2010 * Leslie George Cole (a.k.a. Les Levante, 1892–1978), Australian performer known for invention of an impalement illusion *

David Copperfield ''David Copperfield''Dickens invented over 14 variations of the title for this work; see is a novel by English author Charles Dickens, narrated by the eponymous David Copperfield, detailing his adventures in his journey from infancy to matur ...

(David Kotkin, born 1956), American performer described by ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'' as the most commercially successful magician in history, headliner in numerous television specials and Las Vegas performances since 1977, recognized by 21

Emmy Awards The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

, known for very large-scale illusions * Paul Daniels (1938–2016), English star of the

BBC television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1 January 1927. It p ...

series '' The Paul Daniels Magic Show'' 1979–1994, combined magic with comedy * Dante the Great (Oscar Eliason, 1869–1899), American performer from a Mormon pioneer family in Utah who later performed in Australasia, debunker of spiritualism * Dante the Magician (Harry August Jansen, 1883–1955), Danish-born American vaudeville and early film and television performer, named himself after Dante the Great * David Devant (David Wighton, 1868–1941), English performer known for suave and witty presentation of stage illusions, early film performer * Fakir of Ava (Isaiah Hughes, 1813–1891), English-American teacher of Harry Kellar * Ching Ling Foo (Chee Ling Qua, 1854–1922), Chinese magician who later performed in the United States and became the first modern East Asian magician to achieve world fame, known for a beheading trick and production of a large bowl of water from an empty cloth * Robert Harbin (1908–1978), South African inventor of the Zig-Zag Girl, the Aztec Lady and other illusions, debuted in London theatres in 1932 and on BBC TV in 1937, also became an expert and author on

origami ) is the Japanese art of paper folding. In modern usage, the word "origami" is often used as an inclusive term for all folding practices, regardless of their culture of origin. The goal is to transform a flat square sheet of paper into a ...

* Robert Heller (William Henry Palmer, 1826–1878), English magician known for stage performances , associate of Harry Kellar and follower of Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin * Doug Henning (1947–2000), Canadian magician who came to prominence with '' The Magic Show'', a musical play which ran 1974–1978 on Broadway in New York City, and starred in television special performances 1975–1982 *

Alexander Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here ar ...

and

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

Hermann (1844–1896 and 1853–1932), French and English husband-and-wife performers, Alexander being the younger brother and protégé of Carl Hermann * Carl Hermann (Compars Herrmann, 1816–1887), older brother of Alexander Hermann, German stage magician who performed in London and copied some of his illusions from Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin * Carl Hertz (Louis or Leib Morgenstein, 1859–1924), American stage and early film performer, known for levitating a dancing girl, vanishing a bird, and having his wife enter a furnace without harm, debunker of mediumship and

spiritualism Spiritualism may refer to: * Spiritual church movement, a group of Spiritualist churches and denominations historically based in the African-American community * Spiritualism (beliefs), a metaphysical belief that the world is made up of at leas ...

Harry Houdini Erik Weisz (March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926), known professionally as Harry Houdini ( ), was a Hungarian-American escapologist, illusionist, and stunt performer noted for his escape acts. Houdini first attracted notice in vaudeville in ...

(Erik Weisz, 1874–1926), Hungarian-American performer, especially known as an escape artist and debunker of spiritualism, named himself after Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin * Émile and Vincent Isola (1860–1945 and 1862–1947), the Isola Brothers, Algerian performers in Paris who embraced the development of film cinema technology * Harry Kellar (Heinrich Keller, 1849–1922), American major stage performer, protégé of Fakir of Ava (Isaiah Hughes), known as the "Dean of American Magicians" * John Nevil Maskelyne (1839–1917), inventor of a levitation method later incorrectly credited to Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin or Harry Kellar, debunker of spiritualism, father and grandfather of well-known stage magicians

Nevil Maskelyne Nevil Maskelyne (; 6 October 1732 – 9 February 1811) was the fifth British Astronomer Royal. He held the office from 1765 to 1811. He was the first person to scientifically measure the mass of the planet Earth. He created '' The Nautical Al ...

(1863–1924) and Jasper Maskelyne (1902–1973) *

Georges Méliès Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès ( , ; 8 December 1861 – 21 January 1938) was a French magic (illusion), magician, toymaker, actor, and filmmaker. He led many technical and narrative developments in the early days of film, cinema, primarily in th ...

(1861–1938), French stage magician and pioneer of filmmaking, especially producing

trick film In the early history of cinema, trick films were short silent films designed to feature innovative special effects. History The trick film genre was developed by Georges Méliès in some of his first cinematic experiments, and his works remain ...

s * The Pendragons (Jonathan and Charlotte Pendragon), known for strongly physical, choreographed performances and new variations of classic illusions in television appearances (divorced in 2012) *

Penn & Teller Penn & Teller, Penn Jillette and Teller, are American magicians, entertainers, and scientific skeptics who have performed together since 1975. They are noted for their ongoing act that combines elements of comedy with magic. The duo has bee ...

(Penn Jillette and Raymond Joseph Teller, born 1955 and 1948), American comedy magic duo since the late 1970s, the longest-running headliners to play at the same hotel in Las Vegas history *

James Randi James Randi (born Randall James Hamilton Zwinge; August 7, 1928 – October 20, 2020) was a Canadian-American stage magician, author, and scientific skeptic who extensively challenged paranormal and pseudoscientific claims.#Rodrigues, Rodrig ...

(Randall Zwinge, 1928–2020), Canadian-American stage and television performer who later devoted himself to skeptical investigation of paranormal, occult, and supernatural claims * Richiardi Jr (Aldo Izquierdo Colosi, 1923–1985), Peruvian illusionist known for dramatic and gory stage presentations of classic stage illusions, credited for influence and mastery by Criss Angel and David Copperfield * Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin (1805–1871), often credited as the father of the modern style of magic performance, performed in formal attire * P. T. Selbit (1881–1938), English magician credited with being the first to perform the illusion of sawing a woman in half (in 1920 or 1921) * Siegfried & Roy (Siegfried Fischbacher and Uwe "Roy" Horn, 1939–2021 and 1944–2020), German-American magic duo known for performances with big cats especially

white lion White Lion is an American glam metal band that was formed in New York City in 1983 by Danish vocalist Mike Tramp and American guitarist Vito Bratta. Mainly active in the 1980s and early 1990s, they released their debut album ''Fight to Survive ...

s and white tigers, Las Vegas performers starting in 1967 and headlining 1981–2003, ceasing to perform after Roy Horn was critically injured in an onstage tiger attack * Silvan (Aldo Savoldello, born 1937), Italian illusionist, became popular in 1973 with a television show on RAI in Italy, continues to perform at age 87 as of early 2025 *

Chung Ling Soo William Ellsworth Robinson (April 2, 1861 – March 24, 1918) was an American magician who went by the stage name Chung Ling Soo (). He is mostly remembered today for his extensive use of yellowface in his act to falsely represent himself to be ...

(William Ellsworth Robinson, 1861–1918), American (non-Asian) magician who performed as a character similar to Ching Ling Foo and later died from a failed bullet catch trick * P. C. Sorcar (1913–1971), Indian television illusionist with a flamboyant style, father of P. C. Sorcar Jr. * P. C. Sorcar Jr. (born 1946), Indian illusionist known for making iconic landmarks disappear, such as the

Taj Mahal The Taj Mahal ( ; ; ) is an ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. It was commissioned in 1631 by the fifth Mughal Empire, Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan () to house the tomb of his belo ...

, son of P. C. Sorcar * Jim Steinmeyer (born 1958), American designer of illusions performed primarily by other magicians such as David Copperfield, Doug Henning, Siegfried & Roy, and Lance Burton * Howard Thurston (1869–1936) American headliner of the largest traveling magic show of its time, known especially for his presentation skill in performing levitation, influenced by Alexander Herrmann, partnered with Harry Kellar * Mark Wilson (1929–2021), American known as the first major television magician, appearing in the United States in a local show in 1955 and debuting nationally in '' The Magic Land of Allakazam'' in 1960

References

{{Magic and Illusion Magic (illusion)