The Russian Man
Not currently for sale
Difficulty= 2-5
(1=easy to do, 2=No sleights, but not so easy, 3=Some sleights used,
4=Advanced sleights used, 5=Suitable for experienced magicians only)
Review
Copyright emailed me a PDF of The Russian Man this morning and I've just spent the afternoon reading it. The PDF itself is nicely done, well-written with a mix of illustrations and photographs.
Copyright, under a second assumed name of G. Katterfelto, makes it clear from the start that the The Russian Man is an elaborate hoax rather than a 'mentalism act.' Not a con job, but a convincing demonstration of psychic ability, or an elborate and convincing hoax. Rather than a demonstration of psychic ability or a clever magic act. What then follows is his method of perpertrating this hoax.
The routine consists of 3 demonstrations. A break. And then a Q&A session. The basics of the demos, have been mentioned here.
What makes The Russian Man such an interesting read is that, as Copyright mentioned in the other post, he devised the act before he knew any mentalist techniques (naively believing such techniques are never published). In the PDF, he explains how the ideas evolve over time, influenced by real-time performances. Not only does this mean that the techniques discussed are new, or a different way of doing things, but that the routine is magician-proof.
Returning to the idea of a hoax. You could ignore Copyright's techniques and replace them with established methods. Instead of creating the devices he used, you could use established professional props. But, as observed in the PDF, all it takes is one mentalist in the audience to spot a Brown Hornet, or Kozer Pad and the hoax is blown. How likely is it that there will be a mentalist in the audience? The question is, how likely is it that someone familar with mentalism attends the university you're perfroming at. And how likely is it that he or she would want to come and watch this demo?
What's more, the author's lack of knowledge in mentalism results in the methods taking strange turns, from a mentalist point of view. For instance, reading through the PDF you think to yourself "oh now he's going to switch X for Y" and then you realise that such a switch is impossible in the presentation as explained. Any magician watching would be similarly confounded.
The The Russian Man reads like a treatise on deviousness. All the action takes place on the off-beat. Everything the performer and Russian say or do is designed to fool the audience. This is a two man (or woman) act. Copyright deals with how the performer (you) obtains the information and then how this info is communicated to the Russian. The moves are subtle and surprising. No-one suspects you of communicating to the Russian because you never know the information, you barely communicate to him at all.
There is a lot of psychological work in the book. Copyright himself is a published author in the field. One of the most interesting parts of the PDF was his deconstruction of a lie.
Overall
The Russian Man is interesting personal history of mentalism, an account of the evolution of methods and technques. But more than this, it is a complete, workable and saleable act. It is a hoax but not a malicious one. When you are paid, it is due to your abilities not as the result of con. Copyright deals with how you sell the act and get bookings in the first chapter. If you had the oppotunity to get a copy of the PDF, the ideas in this chapter will the worth the money itself.
If you didn't want the perform the routine, the techniques and effects are pretty strong.
- Design dupe
- Billet peek
- letter force
Caveat
After reading the PDF, I emailed Copyright and we chatted on the phone. Basically, I offered to buy the routine off him. Due to his work (he's well-known in his field) he is hesitant to release this 'confession'.
If he does sell, I will realise this material because I think people in the Mentalism world should get a chance to read it. So if the review appears like sales copy, then maybe in a small way, it is.
