Table to table, between courses
Matteo works the room during service intervals. Ten guests at a time, nothing announced, no runtime taken from the programme. The default for seated galas of any size.
From $2,500
Gala dinner entertainment has to work around a seated room, a fixed timeline and a programme that is already full. Matteo Cammisa performs table to table between courses and, where the evening needs a single shared moment, a mentalism set piece for the full room. Bookings from $2,500.
Where a gala actually loses the room
Every seated gala has the same structural problem, and it is not the speeches. It is the twenty-five minutes between courses, repeated three times. Service is happening, nothing is scheduled, and four hundred people are talking to the two guests either side of them. The evening does not fail in those gaps, but it flattens — and by dessert the room is quieter than it was at nine.
Table-to-table magic is built for exactly that interval. Matteo arrives at a table between courses, performs for those ten guests, and leaves before the plates do. Nothing is announced, no one is asked to turn their chair, and the programme is untouched. From the production office it costs zero minutes of runtime.
The second problem is the opposite: a gala usually needs one moment that the whole room shares, and an auction or an awards run does not always supply it. A mentalism set piece does — twenty to thirty minutes, seated, everyone facing the same direction, built around thought and choice rather than apparatus. It works as the pivot between the formal half of the evening and the informal one.
For very large rooms the two combine: a stage set with the close-up work projected live to the main screen, so the guest at table forty sees what the guest holding the card sees. That is how the format scales past the point where proximity stops being possible.
Three ways it is run
Mentalism set piece
Twenty to thirty minutes, seated, for the full room. Built around thought and choice rather than props, and designed to sit between the formal and informal halves of the evening.
From $2,500
Stage show with live projection
For rooms large enough that proximity is impossible. A full theatrical set with close-up work projected to the main screen, so the back of the room sees what the front row sees.
On request
Why this format and not a band
A band, a singer or a headline act all need the same three things: runtime, a technical setup and the room's full attention. At a gala those are the scarcest resources on the sheet. Magic between courses needs none of them, which is why it tends to be the piece that survives when the programme is cut.
It also solves a problem specific to formal seated events: guests are placed next to people they do not know. A performance at the table gives ten strangers a shared thing to react to, which is the fastest way to make a table talk to itself. Planners notice this before they notice the magic.
And it photographs. A seated room mid-course is one of the hardest things to shoot well — the reaction shots from a table performance are frequently the only candid images from the dinner half of the evening.
Matteo Cammisa is a member of The Magic Circle in London, of FISM — the international federation of magic societies — and of the Society of American Magicians. Twenty years of performing, more than 500 events, over 30 countries.
Watch — Matteo Cammisa X Million — live at a private celebrity event
In the room
Frequently asked
What is the best entertainment for a gala dinner?
The entertainment that does not compete with the programme. A gala already has speeches, awards, an auction or all three, and a headline act adds runtime the evening does not have. Table-to-table magic between courses occupies the service intervals — time you have already lost — and takes nothing from the schedule. Where the evening needs one shared moment, a seated mentalism piece supplies it in under half an hour.
How does entertainment work during a seated dinner?
Matteo performs at individual tables during the gaps between courses, for the ten or so guests seated there, then moves on before service resumes. Nothing is announced and no one is asked to move or turn around. Across a two-hour dinner this reaches most of the room without a single minute being taken from the formal programme.
How large a room can this work in?
Table to table scales to any size — it simply reaches a proportion of the room rather than all of it, and for very large galas it is usually paired with a stage piece so everyone shares one moment. Above roughly three hundred guests, the stage set with live close-up projection becomes the sensible centre, with table work before dinner or after dessert.
Does the performance need a slot in the running order?
Not for the table-to-table format — that is its main advantage, and it is why it survives programme cuts. A mentalism set piece or stage show does need a slot, typically twenty to thirty minutes, and it is best placed between the formal and informal halves of the evening rather than after the last speech, when the room has already started to move.
How much does it cost to book Matteo Cammisa?
Bookings start from $2,500. The figure moves with the format, the length of the evening, the number of guests and where in the world the event is. Fees are quoted per event rather than per hour, because what you are booking is presence across a window of the evening, not a block of stage time. Tell Matteo the date, the city and roughly how many guests, and you will have a firm figure within 24 hours.
Is Matteo available for events worldwide?
Yes — Matteo Cammisa performs worldwide, year-round, and has done so at more than 500 events across over 30 countries. Wherever the event is, send the date, the city and roughly how many guests, and you will have availability and a firm figure within 24 hours. Where travel applies, it is quoted separately and transparently.
Check your date
Send the date, the city and roughly how many guests. You will have availability and a firm figure within 24 hours.
Prefer to message directly? WhatsApp · management@matteocammisa.com
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