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Perkins Special user 950 Posts |
"to alter reality with extreme honesty." - Silvan
I know this is not spooky. I was absolutely floored by it though. I even went upstairs and dropped a link off with the pasteboard slingers, because I thought some of them might like to see it. The more I thought about it though, I thought I'd share it here for a slightly different reason. http://vimeo.com/87456040 I was taken by this new short documentary on Silvan the Great Magician for a host of reasons (check it out, it doesn't disappoint). However, the one that truly struck me was that quote about honesty. James Cagney quite famously said about his craft "Find your mark, look the other fella in the eye, and tell the truth." I think that this is good medicine and should heavily dose any style of performance. I've spent 17 years as a professional performer, but I'm an absolute toddler at magic. I was wondering if here, in magical performance and bizarre presentation, a dedication to "telling the truth" in our stories is all the more important. We're surrounded by artifact and artifice. If we succeed at our show, we're stirring emotional responses from our audience. These are connections that have to be forged in some kind of truth. I might be out on a limb here. Am I just the kooky thespian or is this something to talk about? Do you think about your devious devices, artifacts, scripts and routines and find ways to mainline some sincerity into the story? I'm interested in any musings you may have on this, fellow Cellar dwellers. Bizarre Regards, ER Perkins
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Al Desmond Inner circle Secret Mountain Lair in Conifer, Co 1511 Posts |
You are probably already better equipped to become a full fledged magical performer than most people starting out.
I've told this story before on the Café, but I will relate it again to you. One of my sources of both a little income and creative outlet is the fact that I am a published playwright (under my real name, not my nom-de-magik). One of my works is a play with magic called "Poof!." I've produced this show four times since I wrote it back in the 70's, and each time I've cast it, I cast it with an actor playing the part of the magician. It's much easier to teach an actor to do magic then it is to teach a magician to act. You may have heard it before but a magician is an actor playing the part of a magician. If you have been acting for 17 years, then I suspect by now you understand that your audience is the most important aspect of your performance. You are not just performing FOR them, you are asking them to suspend their reality for a couple of hours and go on a journey WITH you as you perform a play or musical. That is the same opportunity you have when performing bizarre magic. Bizarre magic is storytelling magic. When I develop a routine, I script it out like I am acting in a one man play. My job is to allow my audience to travel with me, not just sit passively and watch. Everything within the playlet (see Edward Albee for origins of that word) has to advance the story. Consider how the props advance the story. Is that candle on the table really there to advance the story, or does it just clutter up the scene and distract from the needed focus. Consider how certain words in your script sound to the spectators ears. Does the word register right away or does it become a road bump that interrupts the spectators concentration on what you are saying. Example: When I was adapting a famous book for stage, I changed the lead characters last name from Debra Blau to Debra Klein. Blau was too soft, a mumble, a word that got lost in your throat, and lost in the audiences mind. Klein had that "hard k" sound, it easily registered with the audience. And you have to appear that you are telling the story fresh, for the first time, every time you perform. As an stage actor you already know that "rule." I really don't see much difference from acting and performing magic, really any style of magic, but particularly story telling magick. All of the chops you have learned as a live stage actor are the same "rules" and techniques you need to use to come across as honest in your bizarre magic. At the top of my performances I usually tell my audience that "we are going on an adventure together." You can't be more honest than that. |
Brynmore14 Inner circle The Séance Chamber 1815 Posts |
Very well put Sir.
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Dr Spektor Eternal Order Carcanis 10781 Posts |
Years ago when I first came on the scene here I said what guided me was Rod Serling's intro into the Twilight Zone - which basically was using fiction to explore the reality of the human condition - and that it was the realm of imagination that would be tapped to be used for reflection on our existence.
Rod is one of my biggest inspirations for most things
"They are lean and athirst!!!!"
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weepinwil Inner circle USA 3828 Posts |
I've written two books and the stories are based on true events but twisted enough to make them interesting; most people think of them as fiction. As with acting, writing takes the reader on a journey as well. However, reality is demonstratable as being what is believed between a person's ears and interpreted by their mind and it is not exactly the same for all of us, even in the same situation. Eye-witnesses rarely give the exact same details.
Reality that depends on memories isn't absolute truth either. If you've ever had kids you understand that. You tell a story and the kid says, "That's not the way it happened." You think the kid is wrong but the truth is your memory is flawed and you believe a non-truth. In the biblical story of Jesus, Pilate catches a lot of flak from evangelicals for asking, "What is truth?" But, Pilate is correct because truth is seldom purely objective and the subjective component makes it questionable. In the death industry, we face this thread's question in the reverse. People have an altered reality expressed in words like, "I just can't believe they're gone." Well meaning friends try to comfort them by using words like: "passed", "better place", "gone on before us". It is left to the funeral director or pastor to bring them from the altered belief they hold to the full reality of the event by just simply stating, "They are dead!" But then again, what is death?
"Til Death us do part!" - Weepin Willie
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weepinwil Inner circle USA 3828 Posts |
I had actually thought about singing "the worms go in, the worms go out", song but decided just telling them was sufficient.
"Til Death us do part!" - Weepin Willie
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KOTAH Inner circle 2289 Posts |
About fifteen years ago during my heart transplant, I was dead for a brief time. Now people ask me if I saw a
bright white light. I answer no. They would not want to hear that I only ever see, A DARKER LIGHT. Kotah |
MRSharpe Special user Never a dull moment with 940 Posts |
From a 30+ year career in the professional theatre and equal time as a magician I can tell you that it is easier for an actor to become a magician than it is for a magician to become an actor. The unfortunate trait many magicians exhibit it concentrating too much on the props/working method and not enough on the presentational aspects of an effect. Believability and truth don't exist in working methods, but in presentation.
Custom Props Designer and Fabricator as well as Performer from Indiana, USA
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ZoOpDoG Veteran user All the cool people have 311 Posts |
I use honesty to sell. One example would be ipswich. A lot of people will say "no witches were burned in Salem" Maybe - maybe not. I wasn't there. I will counter that however with numerous and real examples of history being "white washed". That history is routinely toned down to make those involved or the events seem less horrific than they were. Where I live this is commonly done with topics like slavery. (I sight a few brief examples - all real) I will mention Thanksgiving as an example where American settlers killed every man woman and child in a rival Indian tribe in order to win favor and treaty with another tribe. Funny that never comes up when it is taught. There were withes convicted here in Charleston by Nicolas Trott, yet I bet they did not mention it on the carriage tour - or how Trott convicted a woman of treason (who killed her husband) so that he could order her burned to death. There is a record of that conviction and sentence but no record of it being carried out. Why? because it was horrific and we want to pretend it didn't happen. That one of the most powerful men in Charleston wasn't such a bad guy. When in reality he was so bad that locals petitioned England to have his powers reduced because he was so corrupt. In the case of ipswich - I tell them I have a record of the sentences that were given and they are free to examine it. ...and isn't it interesting how many of these were left out of records that exist today. It is up to them if they want to believe it or not but as far as credibility goes - I can site numerous examples of records being altered and stories twisted in order to paint a nicer picture of the past than actually existed.
....so it is by giving numerous honest examples of events, I back up my seemingly questionable story. I am being honest with them by saying all of these things that others won't and therefore imply that I have more credibility than those who I have just pointed out have a history of deception. Sorry if this seems thrown together. Depending on the people I am talking to are the examples I use. I tried to add a variety of them there. The point being I definitely try and establish credibility through honesty and I think it is important. I also believe that it strengthens the effect as many will now feel like they are seeing something that much more secret. ....many will even chime in with their own examples of altered history. Those folks are sold and will help sell you to the others as you have let them look smart and "in the know". I will always surround something questionable with honest examples of similar things. Sometimes more - sometimes less. |
Seance Medium New user Used a Ouija board to write 53 Posts |
Wow. . . and just about the time I got that whole "crafting illusion" thing figured out. . .
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Doc Ben Loyal user Phoenix, AZ 261 Posts |
Some great points ZoOpDog, and not to bring in politics here, but one has only to look at daily headlines and so- called " major media news" each week to see plenty of examples of history being altered or at the least attempts to alter history.....!
I really like your points based on Ips as I am still working on my use of that and WA for an intimate performance piece and some of the friends I will present to, like me grew up and lived for years near Salem, MA and may raise the same challenges. Thanks for your thought provoking comments!
"Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain" (the original F. Baum)
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Perkins Special user 950 Posts |
This is of great interest to me. Thanks to all the posters and perspectives. There's also some good encouragement here, so thanks for that too.
Storytelling Magic. Yes. The story is the life blood of the thing. And the props, however miraculous or arcane, are there to advance the story. I know I have already found in some of my scripting, that I might be cluttering the content with too many toys. It's so easy to get caught up in the excitement of objects of mood and marvel. There's so many brilliant *** things available (and thanks be for that!). Exploring the reality of the human condition through fiction. That's right on the mark too. These things can be fantastic, but they really should be pinned to those primal currents of fear and curiosity that we all have. There's the trick. I read about an photographic artist who stages scenes of childhood nightmares. Some of the results are devastatingly good. But he said at one point "horror functions as a projection of fears lurking in our unconscious". That to me is the kind of truth that we're trying to tap here in bizarre magick. The early stuff. The down deep stuff. If you can access that, and project it into your performance, that's real. Historical dramas. Shared experience. Mortality. These are proper things to carry in the gig bag as well. Thanks for chatting this over. Love to keep it going if anyone else wants to contribute. ER P
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Perkins Special user 950 Posts |
Oh, and I found that link to that horror photographer if you'd like to be afraid of the basement again. His name is Joshua Hoffine.
http://www.joshuahoffine.com/#/6/1
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Ed Solomon New user Ed Solomon 70 Posts |
Within the next few days a milestone will be encountered. 72 years involvement in magic conjures up many memories,
many of them dealing with realities. Here is a little thought to contribute to this thread. Enjoy! Things Remembered By Ed Solomon/ Storyteller, sage, Mage, etc. Somewhere I put some memories in a place I that I could find. Stored away in boxes, in the corner of my mind. Like props you're missing and you need them in a bind. I know just where I put them, in the corner of my mind. And I remember patter sets, but not the grown up kind, Just kiddy conversations, in the corner of my mind. The magic books and programs, and convention things we'd find. They're all among the memories in the corner of my mind. The silks and silly card tricks won't be too hard to find. I'll know I'll come across them, in the corner of my mind. These are among my treasures and to pitch them I've declined. They're stored in dusty boxes in the corner of my mind. So when I'm gone and you explore the things I left behind. Don't toss out the memories from the corner of my mind. |
Wizard of Oz Inner circle Most people wish I didn't have 5150 Posts |
Quote:
On Feb 25, 2014, Al Desmond wrote: Great stuff. I love reading your contributions Al. So thoughtful, insightful, and helpful.
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.
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YitzhakNoDice Special user Portland, Oregon 517 Posts |
Like a fairy spreading Fairy Dust, I see the Honourable Ed Solomon dropping nuggets of wisdom about Spooky. Thank you, Mr. Solomon! And Happy You've-been-deeply-involved-in-magic Day. May you celebrate many more.
Thank you too, Al, for your insightful contribution to this thread.
A wise man's question contains half the answer. - Solomon ben Judah, Philosopher
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Brynmore14 Inner circle The Séance Chamber 1815 Posts |
72 years, wow that's committment to your art. I'm impressed.
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Perkins Special user 950 Posts |
I am pickin up what everybody's puttin' down. Cool thread so far. Now woven with fibers of word-wizardry from Ed Solomon. Thank you, sir!
Wizard of Oz / YitzhakNoDice / Brynmore14 - I am too am grateful for Al's thoughts here. I've re-read it several times and it keeps giving. Kotah - Do you follow this dark light? Do you see it even now? Or do you edge away from the unavoidable? ZoOpDoG - I checked out your store online. Phantastic! I wish I could see it first hand. "I use honesty to sell." That's what we need to do as well.
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The Magic Cafe Forum Index » » The spooky, the mysterious...the bizarre! » » Altering Reality with Honesty (0 Likes) |
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