You can practise magic at home, but furniture gives very little feedback. During a quiet stretch between Bahrain and Dubai, I found myself missing the people as much as the performances: the conversations, the reactions, the look on someone’s face when something impossible has apparently happened in front of them.
With war and uncertainty in the background, my Dubai event calendar had slowed down. I was coming over from Bahrain roughly once a month, staying connected with the city and the work I love. Between those trips, there was more time to fill than I was used to.
When performing is your livelihood, it is easy to judge a day by whether a booking comes in. I understood the temptation, but watching the diary was hardly going to make it fill faster. I began looking for other ways to use the time, without expecting every interest to produce a new act or a business idea.
Artificial intelligence and technology drew me in. I wanted to understand how these tools might help me develop an idea, build something or approach a problem differently. One question led to another, often well beyond anything I had originally intended to learn.
The creative possibilities interested me most. I kept wondering how technology might become part of a live magic experience, with people still at the centre of it. I had plenty of questions and few settled answers. For once, being the person who did not understand how something worked was rather enjoyable.
Old films offered a different pace. I found myself watching how a scene held something back, when a character entered and how much could be communicated without an explanation. A film can make you wait for a moment and enjoy the waiting. That is useful company for a magician.
I think about timing in my own work, too. The surprising part of an effect may last only a second, yet what comes before it shapes the reaction. Watching stories unfold gave me room to notice those choices without immediately trying to turn them into a performance.
Books helped me stay with a thought for longer than a few seconds. I cannot claim to have become immune to notifications or suddenly acquired perfect discipline. Still, reading gave some of those quieter days a shape beyond checking what might be happening next.
The rhythm between the two places mattered. Dubai kept me close to performing; Bahrain gave me time between visits to follow interests that a full diary might have pushed aside. I would have preferred more bookings, but I was glad to be learning while I waited.
I do not yet know which of those ideas will make it into a show. Some may become a different presentation or a better story. Others may remain a film I enjoyed or a book that held my attention. I am happy to leave a little room for both.