To achieve variety without making the routine seem like a magic act, however, is a more problematic area. As far as up-beat presentation is concerned, one need look no further than Andy Nyman to see that such things can be done congruently and brilliantly. It is also the case that mental effects do not immediately suggest variety and up-beat presentation. It does not compromise the effect - it is the effect, rather like a drawing duplication but unlike the use of a book as a means to select a random word. It is the first effect that I remove when I pare down the act for a shorter performance, but I feel that there is enough justification for the use of a book. There is more justification here than in the more common book-test, for here I am dealing with primarily visual information, as well as information such as telephone numbers and company slogans. Yellow Pages, and describe any advertisement they happen to look at. The logic that justifies the compromise of having the picture actually drawn by the spectator can be applied to other areas, in order to make other compromises a little more acceptable - for example, I sometimes do perform a book-test, but I use a copy of the However, readers that have seen me perform will realise that it is possible to draw a picture that exists only in the imagination of the spectator, with no visible compromise whatsoever. The drawing made by a spectator for later duplication is an entirely justified visible compromise, for the only way that the effect can be demonstrated is by having the pictures compared. 'Invisible compromises' would be pre-show work, transmitter equipment, and the advantages offered by the positioning of spectators on stage. At a gathering of magicians, I would rather someone in the audience simply remove their own deck from their pocket and deal them off as I name them.Įxamples of 'visible compromise' are books, bits of paper and the likes of alphabet cards. Similarly, if I am able to read all the cards in a deck, then I would wish to do so with a deck, preferably borrowed, shuffled by the audience and untouched by me as I face the other way. Compromise can come later, but not where it will be visible to the audience. There is no reason why the subject should not just think of something - anything at all. If a spectator is to concentrate upon a word and I am to reveal it, then there is no reason to involve books, however appealing the gaffed volumes or brilliant the handling may be. I decided to start with the highest ideals and see how far I could move towards them without compromising on those aspects of the performance tangible or visible to the audience. There may be ways of making small pieces of folded paper psychologically invisible, but I felt that to begin with that familiar currency was compromising too early. They only have value when any physical channels of communication are clearly absent. These are simple notions, and they demand very simple performance. The effects of this ethereal passage may be varied: an object may move or behave unusually, a person might find herself performing involuntary acts, one person may reveal the thoughts of another or demonstrate some esoteric knowledge. A thought is to move from one place to another. When presenting a mental routine, the effect will be in essence very simple. Thus as my interest in the performance of strong, direct and off-beat mental effects developed, it did so without giving any thought to the usual gaffs.Īs I have said before, the importance of beginning with nothing but the effect in mind is paramount. But the idea of centre-tears, billet switches, book tests and the standard fare seemed very out of place. Soon I had developed a close-up set of 'mental' effects, which would be recognised by us as the more visual area of mentalism: metal bending and PK effects featured heavily.
On the other hand, I developed an interest in the use of suggestion and liked the response I received to effects that at least appeared to work through psychological rather than thaumaturgical principles. Even as I found myself able to create my own close-up environment more and more, avoiding when possible the inelegance of the banquet hall, the performance of run-of-the-mill mentalism would still have been inappropriate. There is little room, I feel, for ' mentalism' as a table-hopping performer. I occasionally would perform a stage hypnotic show, but as I had no desire to perform the standard humiliating stunts, I saw the advantage of concentrating on the magic, which was far more commercial. Since making the decision in my early twenties not to pursue a career as a lawyer, I began to earn my living performing close-up magic.
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