Max Major asked me to play a game during our interview. We swapped phones and he asked me to do two things: trust my instincts and answer his questions without hesitation.
He asked for two one-digit numbers between 0 and 9, snapping his fingers as I answered, and then asked for a two digit number. His phone unlocked under my fingers.
When Major was 10 years old he got his first Rubix cube, and for the next 8 years he performed magic tricks as a hobby for family and neighbors. Now 32, he can solve a Rubix cube blindfolded in 8 seconds. Major became interested in mentalism at 18, when his father was hypnotized to stop smoking.
Major is bringing his show “THINK AGAIN” to Bloomington Playwrights Project starting Thursday.
“Mentalism is mind reading, making predictions, knowing a lot about human behavior,” Major said. “It’s why we make the decisions we make, how we’re wired, nothing supernatural. What I do is a learned skill set, it’s like Sherlock Holmes in real life.”
Like with his Rubix cube, it’s all about formulaic memorization, Major said. If he studies each side of the cube for several seconds, he can solve it with or without looking with the same amount of ease, because his self-taught movements are so well practiced.
In his new show, instead of showing off tricks that he can do, he turns the spotlight on the audience. Their thoughts, decisions and actions drive the show.
“The audience members take the stage and end up reading each others’ minds and making predictions themselves,” Major said. “I’m bringing you into my world.”
One of Major’s pieces in the show includes Russian Roulette with loaded staple guns. Audience members come onstage, make decisions and fire staple guns into Major. He said by using his ability to subliminally influence them, he can suggest correct and safe decisions.
Major said mentalism is a unique form of magic because it is an ongoing experiment. He is constantly learning more about human behavior, and every show will be different depending on the people he works with.
“The truth is, I don’t know if a lot of this stuff is going to work until I get onstage,” Major said. “There’s no way of knowing whether I’m going to be able to communicate things to people just by practicing, I have to actually go out and share it with someone. Things don’t always go right. That’s how I become better at reading people.”
He said the best part about being a mentalist is he gets to live a life of his own design. He went from working children’s birthday parties to performing for sold out shows of thousands of people across the country, and it has never felt like work for him, he said, because he loves it.
“I hope that people wonder when they leave the show, ‘What am I capable of? If he can do these crazy things, what are the limits of my mind and body?’” Major said. “As a performer, I have the opportunity to impact a lot of people. If I can touch just one person in the audience and encourage them to pursue their dream or take a leap, that’s the biggest payoff that I can have.”
