Double Vision wows at PC Fair

The 100th Annual Phillips County Fair had plenty of talent and events that kept crowds coming back for more.

One act on the Free Stage was Saskatoon's Double Vision, Mike and Mitchell - a twin magician duo - that brought laughter, anticipation and bewilderment to the fair.

After their first performance, Thursday, July 31, at the Fair, the PCN caught up with the peculiar magicians.

"We've been doing this show for 25 years across North America," Mike told the PCN. "We do everything from small fairs like this to state fairs like the Ohio State Fair to trade shows to the Magic Castle in Hollywood."

Double Vision has been to Dodson before for a fair about seven years ago. Thankfully the fair wasn't too hot for Double Vision, because of their contract, they nearly left town.

"At these temperatures, we could actually melt. It's amazing," Mitchell said jokingly. "There's a rider in our contract that says, 'If it gets over 100 degrees, we just drive back home.'"

The duo is independently booked for nearly 90 percent of their shows, so if there was a scenario where it was too hot, they could leave if they wanted.

"It's not that we don't like agents, it's just that we work harder than they do," Mitchell said.

Being a one of a kind act, Double Vision as a company sells itself.

"We are our own best salesman," Mike said. "How many other identical twin acts are there?" Mitchell said.

Some of their influences included David Copperfield.

"He's always been on top of the magic world," Mike said. "He's a workaholic who does over 500 shows a year."

Another influence appeared to be Houdini, who influenced their grand finale trick that Thursday, a trick that involved Mike escaping from handcuffs and a blazer jacket.

"We don't actually do that at a regular show for corporations," Mitchell said. "Some of the stuff we do here, we don't do anywhere but at fairs. It's simple to understand, simple to see. You can turn your brain off and just watch."

Some of the tricks are kept simple because many of the viewers are typically worn out from being in the sun all day.

The fact that they were asked to attend a fair that has been running for 100 years did not add to the pressure.

"The only time that we've ever been nervous was at the Magic Castle," Mike said. "It's the world's most exclusive magic night club. You only get a chance to perform for them by invitation only."

The Magic Castle is a prestigious show that at times hosts many celebrities like Johnny Depp and other Hollywood Celebrities.

"Three shows a night for 20 minutes (per act)," Mitchell said. "It's huge. There's a lot of money flowing through there."

"We hit the big time and bounced off," Mike and Mitchell added in unison. "Every fair we go to (including the PC Fair), they bring in the top guys because there are huge national conventions in Vegas that the buyers from this fair and other fairs will go to."

He went on to say that if you bring in acts that perform terribly, no one will want to go to the fair next year.

"You don't want to have a bad fair," Mike said.

Double Vision only did several tricks at the P.C. Fair, but they have over two and a half hours of material. What trick they go with depends solely on the crowd they perform for.

Though they could run for an hour per show, Double Vision and other free stage acts respected each others' time.

"This show we just did here, went over, so we cut some things out," Mike said. "It's a domino effect. If somebody goes over ten minutes then the next guy is starting ten minutes late and it keeps going. Everybody works together here."

Because the duo has been doing magic shows for quite some time, they admit they mess up, but only they know their mistakes. They did point out a situation they saw, where a magician's dove trick had an unfortunate ending with a ceiling fan.

"That actually happened," Mike said. "A dead dove falls down. And that was the end of his show. There's no animals in our show."

For more information on Double Vision, visit their site: doublevisionmagic.com