A magical start to your morning

Even at my creaking old age I still maintain that open-mouthed joy I used to have as a nipper when I saw a conjurer at work, usually at friends' birthday parties.  Oddly enough, it is still the 'simple'(!) tricks that give me the most pleasure, rather than those over-elaborate ones the American magicians tend to go in for.  I once had to pull off a conjuring trick myself when I directed Stoppard's play Travesties.  In one scene there are two characters taken from real-life, Tristan Tzara and James Joyce.  The latter is wearing a homburg hat which he waves around from time to time, mainly so the audience realise it's empty and then - hey presto - he suddenly pulls a rabbit from it!  I took advice from a pro-magician and so, as Tzara is giving a fairly long and very impassioned speech I asked him to literally jump up and down in passion and wave his arms about.  At the same time, I had Joyce, very naturally, backing away slowly until he was up against the side curtain holding his hat behind him.  A stage manager then surreptitiously slipped the rabbit into his hat which he slowly brought round to his chest before once again edging back slowly towards centre stage and the capering Tzara who was the centre of attention for the audience.  As soon as he stopped, Joyce delivered a few lines and then produced the rabbit from the hat.  I checked with friends in the audience afterwards and none of them had spotted the trick.  I think I was more proud of that than anything else in the production!

Anyway, all of that is merely a prelude to my advice that you click over to the blog-site of that equally big kid, er, I mean my e-pal and regular commenter, A. K. Haart, who has a YouTube of an excllent magician at work.  For you wage-slaves it will be the best possible way to start another week at the coal-face.

 

Comments

[Whyaxye]

Was the rabbit sedated? If it popped out before its cue it would have caused mayhem! And do you now realise that the Magic Circle have despatched hit-men to Somerset in order to stop you revealing any more of their secrets?

Yes, I saw the magician on AKH's site. How the *@%! does he do those things? Especially the bottle one. That is actually scary.

[Webwrights]

Never act with animals or CHILDREN:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Og6gVihE5uA

[David Duff]

No, no, the rabbit wasn't sedated but like all my actors, darling, it was utterly terrified of the director - me, ME, ME! My tantrums are whispered of to this day.