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George Parker – Performing Magic with Impact – review

Phil Sweeting — Thu, 25 Jul 2019 23:01:08 +0000

Performing Magic with Impact is a difficult book to categorise. It makes a bold claim in its title? Does it deliver on the promise? Let’s get in to our review.

Speaking from experience

A great starting point for this book is that it is written by a practitioner. There are many books on magic theory, but not all are written by people who perform. This one is.

I’m going to walk you through the chapters because it is quite difficult to summarise.

The ‘introduction’ consists of an interview with George Parker. He explains the context for much of his work – which is in the field of corporate training and in particular helping people think about change. This is quite a specific field and brings a different focus from the regular magic gig of many magicians. However, some of the principles he expounds upon are really helpful in a subject which is close to my heart – thinking about the meaning and the ‘why’ of what we do.

Chapter One is all about Communication. This is a fundamental area for any performer to think about. He illustrates his theory with concrete examples which helps enormously.

Between many of the chapters are routines that George regularly performs. The first of these – Micro-Metamorphosis – is a very practical walkaround coin transposition.

Chapter Two is about the Impact to Effort Ratio. Again, for anyone performing for a living this is worth considering. You can pour an enormous amount of effort into an effect which never quite impacts the audience in the way you would like. And the opposite can also be true. Worth thinking about.

As an illustration of this he explains his routine The Bigger Picture – which is a nice twist on a commercially available routine which you would need to purchase.

Chapter Three is all about preparing for things going wrong. He analyses different possible areas for things to go wrong and some suggestions for minimising the risk.

Stimulating your imagination

The next chapter is all about a concept he has marketed called ‘TheSurvivalVersion’. He contends that the principle will help with creativity in coming up with routines. It may well help you.

By way of illustration he teaches a Torn and Restored Card routine developed using this technique. It’s a really nice, impromptu effect which is not too difficult to do but does require a certain amount of boldness! I liked it.

Chapter Six is all about interaction. Again, this is sort of applied communication theory. He explores something called the Leary Interpersonal Circumplex – which is a way of analysing character types/dynamics. I’d never come across this before and it is a helpful lens through which to consider how you ‘play’ your character throughout a routine. By consciously shifting ‘mode’ you can potentially make your performance more interesting for the spectator.

The next chapter provides another way of thinking creatively about your routines – imagining them done in multiple styles. He mentions a book called Exercises in Style – which I now want to read! He includes here a really nice Card to Card Box routine. I don’t really follow how it is related to the concept of style under consideration, but it is an excellent solution to this kind of prop. You don’t need to buy any special props – though you will need to make a very basic gimmick.

Chapter Eight explores the idea of taking an idea normally done with playing cards and performing it with a different prop (a bit like we saw on Dice, Dice, Baby). Again, this is a helpful lens to get your creativity flowing. He illustrates it with a routine involving postcards – which owes something to Eugene Burger’s excellent work on the ‘Black Envelope’ (which you can learn here). It’s a good routine.

Chapter Nine raises the question of openers. What are you communicating with your entrance on stage and very first routine? And how would you like to change that. He explains his 12321 routine – which is a sort of extended remix of the classic Professor’s Nightmare. It’s a good routine which I would like to try out. He illustrates it with several scripts to show how it could be used in different contexts.

The Final Chapter is perhaps what you might have expected given the title. It is about making things play bigger and thinking about different techniques and strategies to do that. There are some helpful checkpoints to run through to think about individual effects and indeed the structuring of your whole act. I would have liked to see a little more on that last section. But he does provide some suggested further resources (really on scriptwriting) to help you continue to think about it. The illustrative routine here is a surprisingly showy take on The Grandmother’s Necklace principle! To my surprise I could see this working really well.

Final Thoughts

I really enjoyed reading this. Disclaimer – I love pondering the theory of magic – and I’m already a fan of thinking carefully about what you are saying and doing as you perform. In that respect I think Parker’s work is a much condensed version of Scripting Magic.

Performing Magic with Impact is nicely produced – a 23x15cm perfect bound book – well illustrated and easy to read. The pricing is fair for a limited edition magic book.

If I had to sum up the intent of the book in a sentence I would put it like this: Creating Magic with Impact is written to help you unleash your creativity and think carefully about the presentation of your magic. And for my money it achieves that target pretty well.

If you’re the sort of person that just performs tricks ‘out of the box’ with the supplied ‘patter’ don’t bother. But if you’re the sort of person who likes to think carefully about their routines and scripts then I would highly commend spending a few hours of your time with this book.

You can pick up a copy of Performing Magic with Impact from MagicShop.co.uk for £22.99 (at the time of writing).

Review copy kindly provided by Murphys Magic to whom dealer enquiries should be directed.

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Pete McCabe – Scripting Magic – review

Phil Sweeting — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 00:01:30 +0000

Scripting Magic is one of those books that have a reputation. I own (and have read) a very large number of magic books – and over the years you get to hear about certain books which are apparently essential reading. I had been trying to track down a copy of Scripting Magic for some time, without success, so was delighted when I heard that Vanishing Inc were not just republishing it – but also releasing a second volume. In this brief review I will try to give you a flavour of why I think it deserves its reputation.

What is it?

The vast majority of magic books are about tricks. Of the making of tricks there is apparently no end. But Scripting Magic, as its name suggests, has an entirely different focus. It is all about how you can go about massively strengthening the effectiveness of your magic by giving greater attention to the script you use. Or as McCabe puts it “scripting magic can make you more effective, more entertaining, more dramatic, and most of all, more magical.”

McCabe, as well as being a very competent magician in his own right, has a background in scriptwriting and so he knows what he is talking about. And if you’re the kind of person who is immediately put off by the idea of a script, it is worth saying right away that a script is more than just a set of words. It is more to do with the setting and shaping of your performance – so the script might be entirely silent – consisting more of blocking and implications than actual words.

I suppose there are plenty of amateur magicians out there who feel that if they have mastered the mechanics of the trick then it is ready to perform. And that simply saying whatever comes into their head is enough to make a trick entertaining. We’ve all seen ‘uncle John’ performing a card trick where he speaks a running commentary simply describing every action he takes. It is the magical equivalent of someone doing a PowerPoint presentation and simply reading the slides to you. It shouldn’t be allowed.

So you will already have gathered that I am completely in agreement with the central premise of the book – that to elevate magic to more than mere puzzles – it is worth the careful investment of time to work through the routine you will use, thinking about every word and gesture, aiming to add meaning and artistry to the performance.

Scripts and Essays and Interviews

There are three main kinds of contributions in the book. Firstly, there are some essays exploring a particular nuance of scripting your magic. These cover all aspects of scriptwriting and also character development etc. The essays are sane and intelligent – and none of them are too long!

Secondly, there are some interviews where the opinion of a well-known magician is sought on questions pertaining to scripting. In the overused phrase, these are worth the price of the book alone. These guys earn their living doing this stuff and they know what they are talking about. And many of them are very funny to boot!

Thirdly, and making up the bulk of the content, there are a significant number of full scripts – many for classic routines – so that you can learn some of the principles in action.

The contributors’ list reads like a veritable who’s who of magic – and many have generously given their prize routines. Who doesn’t remember where they were the first time they saw Eugene Burger perform the Gypsy Thread (he provides two full scripts for the effect and there are also a further two from John Lovick)?

Some of the standard effects for which scripts are provided include: Coins Across, T&R Card, Invisible Deck, Gypsy Thread, Card to Pocket, Add-a-number prediction, Marked Deck, Triumph, Chop Cup, Out of this world, etc. etc. After the script comes a series of notes on the mechanics and the subtleties of the whole process.

I don’t think the idea is that you would necessarily use any of these scripts as they stand – rather they are there to help you see the difference a good script can make and to explore the nuances of a good script.

Some of the effects have more than one script to allow you to see different ways of taking the same general effect. Many of the effects have fairly detailed instructions of the mechanics of the effect – so you may even learn some new routines here.

Final thoughts

I have been reading magic books for over 30 years and I honestly can’t think of any which deserve their reputation as fully as this one nor that I have enjoyed reading as much. I’ve only had a chance to dip into Volume 2 – but it promises to be just as strong. And includes another 33 scripts ($100 Bill Switch, Dancing Cane, Magi Colouring Book(!), thumb tip and many others), 3 more interviews, 9 exercises to help you think through the process of creating your script and lots of illustrations like Volume 1.

Scripting Magic comes very highly recommended indeed. If you are serious about improving the quality of your magical performances then you must buy this book and take its lessons on board. They have been beautifully published to Vanishing Magic’s usual high standard and will repay a lifetime’s study.

Scripting Magic is available from MagicShop.co.uk. Volume 1 is £40.50, Volume 2 is £40.50 or you could splash out on the deluxe edition (a boxed set of both books) for £120.99 (all prices correct at the time of writing).

Review copy kindly provided by Murphys Magic to whom dealer enquiries should be directed.

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