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The Effect

What it says on the box:

Remember Friend as you pass me by, as you are now so once was I. As I am now you soon will be, so prepare for death and follow me. Into the world of magic and mystery, The world of Alain’s Storytelling.

Alain has long been recognised as one of the best magical storytellers of today, with an excellent blend of sleight of hand and storytelling.
You now have a chance to see his work and follow some of his stories.
Stories of hope and happiness, witchcraft and magic and the devil and his work. Travel with the Ferryman across the misty river and learn how you too can perform magic on the darker side.
We hope you enjoy the journey.

Cost

£20 from Kaymar Magic Company – www.kaymarmagic.com

Difficulty
(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)

2 to 3 in skill

Review

As with volume one, this DVD contains three routines.

‘The Engravers Tale’ is a three phase routine starting with a short coin routine to set the scene of with the second part using a great card routine with Gypsy deck and the CardShark extension deck to give a wild card effect. The third part of the routine is a really nice and skilful coin and ribbon routine (based on Chinese Challenge by Troy Houser) which all together combine into a marvellous dark story about the devil. Great stuff!

The second routine, ‘The Mountebank’s Tale’ is also a two phase routine and uses a Tarot deck for the card part and a necklace for the second which is a version of the classic ‘Fast and Loose’ which both combine to provide a gambling routine against the Devil with the stakes being your soul. Some great props and storytelling by Alain is in use here and of course it’s an interactive routine using the beaded necklace and a member of the audience.

The third and final routine is ‘The University of Arcana’ which is a card routine using a Tarot deck.

Overall

The teaching part of the DVD provides a great insight into the set up of each routine and begins by explaining that the storytelling is the priority with the magic being used to illustrate the story.

Frank (Alain) goes onto explain each of the routines in turn and credits where necessary while explaining how he has changed various set ups and why he has done so. He teaches the carious sleights in good details.

Volume two is a natural extension to volume one with the routines not being any harder or easier to learn. You could perform the routines as is, in which case you will have an hours worth of material or you can use Frank’s insight for ideas to enable you to create something of your own while.

A great DVD and there isn’t very much on the market of this particular genre of magic which makes it a must for all mystery entertainers.

Volume One reviewed here: http://www.talkmagic.co.uk/ftopic35881.php

We saw some of the routines (from both DVDs) performed at Doomsday 2010 and they were beautiful pieces to behold.

This is top notch storytelling magic.

I agree with the review above