Edward Claflin

“It is the illusion of magic and the magic of illusion that we are primarily interested in- not the privy tricks or the key to the secrets themselves. We seek the bafflement, the contradictions, the amusements, and the innumerable emotions that ripple uneasily through the audience. It is not knowledge we are after, but mystery and disguises. We want to gaze at the impossible. We are hungry for surprises, astonishment. In short, we are looking for a true story, but one impossible to explain in all its complexity. When we discover that story, we shall have found- magic.”

“Like the Pied Piper, the street entertainer carries his own mystique which cannot easily be transferred to the stage. He seems to have escaped reality, to perform in a time and space where he doesn't necessarily belong.”