Welcome!
Here are a few of my published essays and books, on magic and performance.
Some you can purchase and have posted to you, others you can purchase from booksellers, whilst a few you can access directly here for free.
Here are a few of my published essays and books, on magic and performance.
Some you can purchase and have posted to you, others you can purchase from booksellers, whilst a few you can access directly here for free.
Compromised by Magic
by Augusto Corrieri
Published by Varamo Press, in the essay series Gestures
First edition, February 2026
72 pages, 11 x 16.5 cm, sewn perfect binding
ISBN 978-82-693189-7-5
Graphic design by Michaël Bussaer
Compromised by Magic comprises two main essays that touch on questions of theatre and ecology, as well as the differing senses of the word 'magic': as illusion/deception, and as an appeal to otherwordly forces. The essay's main invitation comes from the Belgian philosopher of science Isabelle Stengers, who wrote: 'I would claim that we, who are not witches, do not have to mimic them but instead discover how to be compromised by magic.'
Shorter pieces in the booklet consider the role of darkness in cinema auditoria, in reference to novelist Ben Lerner and the work of filmmakers Michelangelo Frammartino and Alice Rohrwacher.
Bookshops that stock Varamo press books can be found here
by Augusto Corrieri
Published by Varamo Press, in the essay series Gestures
First edition, February 2026
72 pages, 11 x 16.5 cm, sewn perfect binding
ISBN 978-82-693189-7-5
Graphic design by Michaël Bussaer
Compromised by Magic comprises two main essays that touch on questions of theatre and ecology, as well as the differing senses of the word 'magic': as illusion/deception, and as an appeal to otherwordly forces. The essay's main invitation comes from the Belgian philosopher of science Isabelle Stengers, who wrote: 'I would claim that we, who are not witches, do not have to mimic them but instead discover how to be compromised by magic.'
Shorter pieces in the booklet consider the role of darkness in cinema auditoria, in reference to novelist Ben Lerner and the work of filmmakers Michelangelo Frammartino and Alice Rohrwacher.
Bookshops that stock Varamo press books can be found here
The Dying Art of Magic: Tommy Cooper, Penn & Teller and the death-defying stunt (2026)
This essay is part of a fantastic issue of the journal Performance Research (vol 28 n.8), edited by Helena Grehan and Richard Gough, on the theme of Exits and Endings.
My article thinks through questions of stage death in the context of magic, looking at the case of Tommy Cooper’s stage death, and an apparently death-defying act by Penn and Teller. In both cases, the magic act does something to death – making it unreal, non-final, chimerical. The essay is also my first attempt at articulating something about how the world of magicians and magic tricks – avowedly secular, ironic, showbiz - might in fact connect to questions of mysticism and transcendence.
Link to read the article for free here (best to download as PDF)
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13528165.2024.2608482#d1e101
This essay is part of a fantastic issue of the journal Performance Research (vol 28 n.8), edited by Helena Grehan and Richard Gough, on the theme of Exits and Endings.
My article thinks through questions of stage death in the context of magic, looking at the case of Tommy Cooper’s stage death, and an apparently death-defying act by Penn and Teller. In both cases, the magic act does something to death – making it unreal, non-final, chimerical. The essay is also my first attempt at articulating something about how the world of magicians and magic tricks – avowedly secular, ironic, showbiz - might in fact connect to questions of mysticism and transcendence.
Link to read the article for free here (best to download as PDF)
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13528165.2024.2608482#d1e101
An autobiography of hands: how to train in sleight of hand magic
(2017)
22 pages. 12 B&W images, 1 colour image. Size: A5.
This is a first-person account of an intensive process of training in sleight-of-hand magic, undertaken in my teenage years. Accompanied by a short online video, as well as illustrations from a classic book on coin magic, the text explores the configuration of the magician’s studio, the relation to the mirror, and the forms of exchange with other sleight of hand magicians.
Originally written for and published in the Theatre, Dance and Performance Training Journal (Routledge, Vol. 7, 2016), the text has been edited and printed as a lovely independent booklet, designed by artist David Caines.
You can view a PDF of the booklet below. To order a printed copy, please get in touch.
(2017)
22 pages. 12 B&W images, 1 colour image. Size: A5.
This is a first-person account of an intensive process of training in sleight-of-hand magic, undertaken in my teenage years. Accompanied by a short online video, as well as illustrations from a classic book on coin magic, the text explores the configuration of the magician’s studio, the relation to the mirror, and the forms of exchange with other sleight of hand magicians.
Originally written for and published in the Theatre, Dance and Performance Training Journal (Routledge, Vol. 7, 2016), the text has been edited and printed as a lovely independent booklet, designed by artist David Caines.
You can view a PDF of the booklet below. To order a printed copy, please get in touch.
| autobiography_booklet_2017.pdf |
What is this? Introducing Magic and Theatre
Platform Journal, Vol 12, N2, Winter 2018
This short essay, for the academic journal Platform (Royal Holloway University), is partly about why theatre and performance studies, despite having devoted considerable attention to other forms of popular entertainment, has seldom engaged with the work of magicians and illusionists.
Magic is fundamentally about the tension between the audience’s awareness that what they are witnessing is a trick and the nevertheless inexplicable magic taking place right in front their eyes. As such, magic is a kind of ‘meta-theatre’ that prompts philosophical reflection on the nature of perception.
A direct link to the essay is here.
The full journal can be accessed here.
Platform Journal, Vol 12, N2, Winter 2018
This short essay, for the academic journal Platform (Royal Holloway University), is partly about why theatre and performance studies, despite having devoted considerable attention to other forms of popular entertainment, has seldom engaged with the work of magicians and illusionists.
Magic is fundamentally about the tension between the audience’s awareness that what they are witnessing is a trick and the nevertheless inexplicable magic taking place right in front their eyes. As such, magic is a kind of ‘meta-theatre’ that prompts philosophical reflection on the nature of perception.
A direct link to the essay is here.
The full journal can be accessed here.
A Conjuring Act in the Form of an Interview
(2014)
20 pages, B&W and colour images. Size: A5
Printed by Workhorse Press. Edition of 200
This publication accompanied the solo gallery show, 'Augusto Corrieri & Vincent Gambini', at Rhubaba Gallery Edinburgh, 2-31 August 2014.
It contains an interview between myself (Vincent Gambini), the artist Augusto Corrieri, and a member of the Rhubaba Gallery committee.
It also includes the essay 'Slow Magic', on magician René Lavand.
You can view a PDF of the booklet below. To order a printed copy, visit or contact Glasgow's Goodpress bookshop here, or contact me directly.
An edited version of the interview in the booklet was published in the 2019 book The 21st Century Performance Reader, (eds Fenemore, Brayshaw & Witts), and also in the book The Creative Critic (eds Hilevaara & Orley)
| a_conjuring_act_in_the_form_of_an_interview.pdf |
Imagined Theatres: Writings for a Theoretical Stage
edited by Daniel Sack (2017)
This is a brilliant book in which artists and scholars muse on 'impossible' shows for imagined theatres.
I contributed various 'imaginary theatres' specifically about magic as a theatrical art.
You can purchase a copy via its publisher.
edited by Daniel Sack (2017)
This is a brilliant book in which artists and scholars muse on 'impossible' shows for imagined theatres.
I contributed various 'imaginary theatres' specifically about magic as a theatrical art.
You can purchase a copy via its publisher.
Dining Tables and Performances, or: The Labour of Illusion
Published in the Journal 'FEAST: Setting the table', ed. Laura Mansfield (2017)
In 2016 I was invited by the journal FEAST to spend time in the 'Home Studies' archives, held at Manchester Metropolitan University Library. The result was a performance-lecture and publication, in which I make parallels between the hidden labour of magic and the hidden labour associated with domestic house work and dinner preparation. I focus quite a bit on the famous 'Vanishing Lady' illusion.
You can read an online version here.
Or open a PDF version of the text below.
Published in the Journal 'FEAST: Setting the table', ed. Laura Mansfield (2017)
In 2016 I was invited by the journal FEAST to spend time in the 'Home Studies' archives, held at Manchester Metropolitan University Library. The result was a performance-lecture and publication, in which I make parallels between the hidden labour of magic and the hidden labour associated with domestic house work and dinner preparation. I focus quite a bit on the famous 'Vanishing Lady' illusion.
You can read an online version here.
Or open a PDF version of the text below.
| Dining Tables and Performances.pdf |
In Place of a Show: what happens inside theatres when nothing is happening
by Augusto Corrieri
Published by Bloomsbury Methuen Drama (2016)
This book is a critical, creative and historical study of theatres, particularly when they are in a state of abandonment or emptiness. What do theatre spaces 'do', when they are not in use? What other functions do they serve? Can anything that happens inside a theatre be considered a performance?
The book focuses on four case studies - The Cuvilliés Theater in Munich, Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, the Dalston Theatre in London, and the Teatro Amazonas in Manaus, each meticulously researched, visited, and creatively explored.
To purchase a copy of the book, go the Bloomsbury website.
by Augusto Corrieri
Published by Bloomsbury Methuen Drama (2016)
This book is a critical, creative and historical study of theatres, particularly when they are in a state of abandonment or emptiness. What do theatre spaces 'do', when they are not in use? What other functions do they serve? Can anything that happens inside a theatre be considered a performance?
The book focuses on four case studies - The Cuvilliés Theater in Munich, Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, the Dalston Theatre in London, and the Teatro Amazonas in Manaus, each meticulously researched, visited, and creatively explored.
To purchase a copy of the book, go the Bloomsbury website.