Day 5 - 12. 6. 2015

[Ondřej Pšenička]

Got to school before 9. Presentations started at 11:30 so I got some time to prepare.

I went over the script a few times and solved some logistic issues with the velvet rattles on the table. I fixed some last details and went to studio 10 about an hour before the performance. Got a table and a chair, set up my props and realized that the black art idea won't probably work. So I tried to go back to lapping. And it seemed like it's going to work. So I had to figure out some more misdirection for the part when I'm taking the rattles from my lap and when I'm putting them back, especially for the moment of transition from introduction in front of the table and when I sit down to the table.

I wasn’t nervous at all.

The running order was already on the board. I was going sometime in the second half.

I won’t talk about all the acts. Just that I think that Marcus’s headphone trick has a very good potential, Stefan is a funny man, Carl is a talented musician, Balász came up with a very original concept, David Sousa has a very good sense of rhythm and he’s not a bad actor and Erik has some skills.

I went first after lunch so I got to prepare even a little longer. Everything went pretty smoothly even with a full tummy.

Then we moved to 6 for feedback. What I should work on for the next time would be the load of the rattles to my lap. I would explore the possibility of changing the matchbox into tictacs. And then a little more script work to make sure that everything is in order and logical.

After that we had a lecture over Skype with Anthony Owen who was very nice. In his early twenties he already consulted magic for some TV shows - helped on Paul Daniels’s last show and many more. The talk was split into a 30 minute talk and 30 minutes of questions.

Anthony had some wisdom on post-it papers and these were the main points:

- Magicians spend too much time with magicians.
- We must learn the magic history, not live in it.
- We stand on the shoulders of giants.
- Go against the flow - be the rebel.
- Set your constrains.
- Write, rehearse, review, then publish.
- The best magicians have teams.
- Do the things you love.
- It’s SHOW business.
- “Nobody knows anything.” - William Goldman

Then I asked him what his rehearsal process with a new live show is. He brainstorms in 3 people which seems to be the perfect amount, then gives it a week incubation time and then he works from the point where they left off. It was a very nice lecture.

That was the end of the day and we were headed to the SMC library.

Unwillingly I bought the subway card and went by subway. The library is very nice. They have many deluxe editions of many books and pamphlets and they are also giving away Geniis and Magic magazines. So me and Mikael spent a lot of time splitting those into the magazines we want to leave there and those we want to keep. And since we would go directly to the Magic Bar from there we would leave our piles in the library waiting for us to come back.

Magic Bar is actually a very nice place. There is one main room, two medium ones and two little ones. It’s filled with different optical illusions and magic posters and decorations. The prices are high but that’s expected given the country, city and style. We had free entrance and a room just for the students of the university. Johan seems to be almost something like the manager. Arne, the owner would greet us at the entrance, but Johan paid the performers, MC’d the show and even set up places and brought food for the performers.

The first magician on the bill was Simon. A theme of an employee of a retro store with an old gramophone player and an old lamp doing quite a lot of nice ball manipulations and surprising productions. He seemed to struggle quite a bit technically though. And of course he had the nicely programmed led light operated light in the store that did some of the magic.

Then was a break when we sessioned some card magic especially with Jerome.

Next performer was Håkan doing invisible deck with a purse frame forcing hearts and then removing the only card folded from the purse.

Then there was another break and then Jacob who was also doing close-up during the evening. Jacob did a very interesting cups & balls routine with 2 brass cups and a glass. The routine had multiple kicker endings that were quite unusual. The misdirection I thought was mostly very good.

Then there was this wardrobe old man who looked very nice but on stage spoke only in Swedish so I left for his part.

Then Håkan came again and did his comedy stage act. It had some very funny moments. I wasn’t that thrilled, but that’s really very subjective. We’ll see what Rimini thinks about it.

David Sousa came right after. The act is very good. That level though is totally reachable. But the flow was great, the visuals are very good, it’s a very good act.

Tom Stone did linking finger rings among the audience and to be honest, it wasn’t that awesome. It was obvious that he manipulated with the rings in a way he does not want anyone to know about. That routine would deserve some refurbishments.

During the evening I showed the guys some tricks and epitome-clocking and it was killing them. I asked Eric about the routine where you and the spectator choose a card and he tries to find yours and you try to find his that involves clocking and it’s a trick by Paul Cummins called Tap a Lack and Jerome knew of a similar one that is supposedly an improved Tap a Lack and it is by Paul Vigil called Diplopia. Jonas also complimented on my misdirection skills which means that I have to try hard to keep improving them.

Johan asked me to do some tricks for a little kid that he brought with his parents so I showed him two card tricks not underestimating his intellectual skills. I also met Robert - a strange magician/pickpocket who had a weirder humor than I.