Rehabilitation platform for street magicians to come up in capital city

Thiruvananthapuram: Wandering street magicians, who once amused people with their tricks and later slipped into oblivion with the advent of advanced illusionary techniques, are all set to get a permanent platform in the State.

The live performances of street magicians will be one of the major attractions of the 'Magic Planet', a magic park-cum-infotainment centre opening at Kazhakkuttam near here next month. It is claimed to be the first of its kind magic-theme-park in the country.

Well-known magician Gopinath Muthukad, the brain behind the park, said street magicians were the pioneers of modern magicians and a permanent platform is necessary to retain their legacy.

"India was one of the earliest civilisations that practiced the art of magic. But, somehow, most of the wonders that had born in our land disappeared. The vision of Magic Planet is to regain the rare genre of Indian magic," he said.

He said the history of magic would be incomplete without street magicians. "They had performed it before packed audiences by roadsides and streets without the accompaniment of any advanced technical support," he said.

He said the 'Street Magicians' Corner' at the Magic Planet would not only help revive those techniques but also rehabilitate those hapless street magicians.

Some well-known tricks like 'climbing the stick", 'Indian basket', 'green mango tree' and so on would be performed by them at the Corner, he added.

A 'history museum', depicting the centuries-old history of magic from stone-age, an 'underworld-tunnel', 'close-up theatre', 'science corner' and the recreation of magic in William Shakespeare's play 'The Tempest' will be some other highlights of the centre.

The Magic Planet will be opened for public on October 31 in the presence of around 1500 magicians from across the world.