An Oracle show from Perseus Arkomanis. Enjoyed the previous ones and I like his little Instagram posts on his Orion Magic Productions account, so interested to watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrT-ZxC-JmY

Met him in Greece (Crete) he is a wonderful performer and person!

The Oracle is producing some of the finest work out there. So grateful to them for taking the time to shoot and edit these performances so expertly, and to share them with the rest of us.
Highly subjective, I know, but to my mind these videos represent the state of the art.
I only hope there are more to come.

I've said when previous ones came out that I would happily pay to watch them to help keep them going. The fact that they carry on putting them out for free is a wonderful resource for inspiration for the community. While I'm sure they help promote the venue as well, I'm grateful that I get to watch.

If you are not familiar with the Oracle's work, take the time to watch the video linked in the first entry of this section. If you follow that video to the end and go to the website, you will have the chance to see three other masterworks as performed by this group, all different and as good as any lecture you might pay for on any dealer site. The final wrap-up, especially of Echoes, shows just how carefully this was constructed. It especially showed me how, with enough thought, I could take standard props I already own and use them in a coordinated way to strike emotional chords I would not have thought possible.

I consider the time invested in watching these performance pieces (and I watched them twice, taking notes on the second viewing) to be a transformative process.

Thank you, Oracle, for sharing your art!

Brilliant performance, he takes what would normally be presented as mere conjuring tricks and turns them into emotional immersive theatre that hold his audience in awe.

Black Hart

Perseus's performance here is one of the best I've ever seen.

It was nice seeing the manipulation work within the performance. Within this sort of storytelling magic there is a tendency to gravitate to mentalism effects so nice to see those skills mixed in. The delivery of spoken and silent routines making a nice change.

It was truly a delight to be able to view this.

Thank you for sharing this! A gem of a video I had no idea was out there.

What a beautifully crafted show! I loved everything about this: from the staging, the musical choices (Debussy, Chopin, and the old timey jazz!), the storytelling, and especially the reaction shots of stunned people in the audience. The recurring coin motif was also excellent. Just exceptional work from Perseus and all the people who put this together.

Thank you for sharing this Joshua!

Check the rest of the oracle bars youtube and you'll find other shows. Witch of the woods with Lewis Leval is my favorite of the bunch, but all worth a watch.

I really like the overall structure and storytelling, but I’m curious about mixing Manipulation or General Magic into a Bizarre magic / Mentalism show.

Do you think it works, or does it risk changing how the audience interprets the whole experience?

For example, vanish multiple objects or use flash paper to produce a rose, the audience immediately recognizes it as “Magic.” Even if they’re not trying to solve the method, does that recognition give them an easy explanation for everything else they’ve seen?

In other words, instead of thinking, “I can’t explain what just happened,” do they simply think, “He’s a magician, so it was a magic trick”?
I’d love to hear how others approach this, especially when trying to maintain mystery and ambiguity in a bizarre or mentalism-style performance.

I see your point and it's a good one.

That's a fair comment. My personal interpretation is that Perseus was playing the character of a supernatural/archetypal magician. So I would consider this to be a magic show (or mental magic show), but this doesn't diminish it in my opinion. It was very artfully done and very effective (judging by the stunned reaction shots in the audience, and the smiles many of them had as they were watching). Through this lens, I think the production of coins and various manipulations make sense in the context of this particular show. Plus the website is called "the Oracle Magicians" and so I think audiences in this particular venue are expecting to see a magic or mental magic show.

This isn't the particular style I would perform myself. I tend to be drawn more to readings and the Dark Artifice and Prof BC approach of making the artifacts the star of the show (and where the performer is merely facilitating an extraordinary experience to happen). But I don't like to judge a show based on whether or not it is something I would personally do; I like to look at the performer's artistic intent and how well they achieved that. And I think on this metric Perseus did a fantastic job.

Every performer brings something unique and their own style to the art. Eugene Burger did bizarre magic but he also produced shot glasses from a bag.

But to your answer your question about maintaining mystery and ambiguity in a bizarre/mentalism-style performance, yes I agree, if that is one's intent then I would not mix general magic or manipulation in your show. It should appear as if the performer isn't doing or causing anything to happen at all.

I think it can work. Derren Brown's most recent show had a stage illusion combined with mentalism and people still walked out believing in his abilities. But I'd see this more as theatre. People are suspending their disbelief for the time they are in the show. Done well this sort of show can still leave people questioning what is possible in the world. If you think of theatre shows like Andy Nyman's psychic and his ghost stories, 2:22 ghost story, the women in black. No one thinks they've really seen a ghost, but they still create emotions that are very real. You are still left with a feeling of unease. I think storytelling of this nature may not be seen as real, but that doesn't mean they don't take messages into their lives that are real.

Within this particular show I think the manipulation was more engaging than the mentalism. If I was to give a note for the show it would be to look at pacing as it plods along at the same pace making it attention heavy. If you think of a show as a roller coaster there should be highs and lows, fast and slow to add tension and relief. Things to signal this is a moment something particular is happening. There was a brief moment where the show picked up pace when he was acting out catching the train and collects the red coat, but it then returned to a snails pace. I wonder if this was a directors choice as the last oracle show blood and shadows was the same slow pace. A period of slow delivery can add drama, but throughout is a bit fatiguing. I think this slow pace in part leads to the mentalism not being as strong, because the manipulation work comes as a welcome release, but also Perseus is just very good at that side of magic. When they show the reaction shots of the manipulation work towards the end you can see the audience are entranced. But visual magic does just hit differently to mentalism. People's reactions are more internal to mentalism. It doesn't necessarily get as big outward reactions, but that doesn't mean it didn't hit home.

I enjoyed this, pacing aside, but I'd say the witch of the woods had a better mix of magic and mentalism if that's your interest.