When David Penn performs onstage, he does what magicians have done for hundreds of years: He makes audiences wonder, “How did that happen?”
But Mr. Penn’s act has a modern twist: He performs alongside a robot who seems to have magical abilities of his own. Human and robot, colleagues in magic.
To one venerable magic society, however, the robot, D4RYL, is not a true magician. The Magic Circle in London, an exclusive club of top magicians, rejected the robot’s application to join last week.
“Technology can enhance magic beautifully, but historically there is a human storyteller at the center,” Marvin Berglas, a magician and the president of The Magic Circle, said in an interview. “Wonder is emotional, not just mechanical.”
Mr. Penn, himself a member of the Magic Circle, uses technology like iPads and smartphones in his act, marketing himself as “The Tech Magician.” That led him to a technology trade show in Hong Kong in October.
“I turned a corner, and I was met by a robot,” he said. “It felt a little bit scary. When you meet something like this in the flesh, you’re kind of uneasy. But then it reached out to shake my hand. That moment changed my perception. It was magical.”
Mr. Penn bought the robot and put it into his act, naming it D4RYL, after the 1985 sci-fi film “D.A.R.Y.L.” about a boy and his robot.
Now, performing alongside Mr. Penn in a series of shows at the Magic Circle, D4RYL dances, makes champagne corks pop from a distance and at one point appears to send thoughts into audience members’ minds.
So Mr. Penn decided that D4RYL was worthy of a place in the Circle, a society of 1,700 members founded in 1905 that includes many big name magicians, and even King Charles III. But the society disagreed.
“Magic is about making you feel something,” said Mr. Berglas. “At the moment, humans have the edge there.
Mr. Penn defended D4RYL’s magic bona fides. “It’s onstage performing magic, creating genuine moments of wonder,” he said. “If that’s not magic, I don’t know what magic is.”
The Magic Circle’s hesitance to admit a robot was shared by the Society of American Magicians.
“While robotics and A.I. have taken great leaps over the last couple of years, they are not yet to the point to take the stage.” said Matthew Crabtree, the society’s president. He noted that applicants must have a “genuine interest” in magic. “A robot can only be programmed to have an interest,” he said.
The Magic Circle’s rejection is complicated because it does have a nonhuman member: Sooty, a puppet who does magic on British children’s TV. The society said that Sooty’s 70-year career earned him a special membership, and that D4RYL could also be eligible decades from now.
“If he has 50 years to wait,” Mr. Penn replied, “I’m not sure how the world’s going to look.”
When an application to the Circle is accepted, a candidate still must pass a test in front of other magicians, performing an 8 to 10 minute show. They are judged on magical ability, stagecraft and patter. The pass rate is only about 50 percent.
But D4RYL was not permitted to attempt that test. Mr. Penn said that if he could somehow dress the robot up so that the judges could not tell it wasn’t a human, he would “absolutely guarantee” D4RYL would have passed.
If it did, it would not be the first time the Circle was fooled by a disguise. For many years, the society did not accept women. That led Sophie Lloyd in 1991 to disguise herself as a man — calling herself “Raymond Lloyd” — and gain membership. When she revealed the ruse, she was kicked out.
The society did begin admitting women later that year, and Ms. Lloyd joined as herself last year.
The Circle was also resistant for years to induct the American magicians Penn and Teller, because they sometimes give away how their tricks are performed. The two finally joined the society last year.
Mr. Penn remains committed to his robot, and to the nexus of technology and magic: “I believe technology will never replace wonder, but it certainly amplifies it.”
But D4RYL for now will remain outside the Magic Circle.
“The day that a robot can handle a heckler, maybe we’ll reconsider,” Mr. Berglas said. “Especially if he buys me a drink at the bar.”
