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The Effect

A comedy rope routine from Joe's cabaret act.

You begin with a single piece of rope of approximately 1.5 to 2 metres in length and then fold the rope into three equal lengths before asking the a spectator to cut the rope at the top and at the bottom.

This produces what appears to be three equal length pieces but it actually leaves you in position to perform the equal / unequal length rope trick (Professors Nightmare). You crunch up the three ropes and hand them to the spec who cut them before taking the ropes, one at a time back from the their hand. They're amazed that the ropes come out of their hand at different lengths. Stretch the ropes, count them as three ropes that are the same length again and when you've finished this you then tie the three pieces of rope back together and vanish the two knots, one by one before ending up with a single piece of rope once.

You're left with a single knot in your hand which you then throw back onto the rope before handing the rope out for examination.

Cost

I can't remember exactly but think it was about £15 for the manuscript which came with 50 feet of rope. Purchased from http://www.mikedanatasmagicstudio.co.uk

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)

Depending on your experience I would put it at between a 2 and 3. It took a couple of afternoons and evenings to learn everything and the rest, as they say is practice.

Review

I've often referred to this effect when adding to threads about rope magic but following a recent post I couldn't find a review. So here goes.

The 8 page manuscript is in type writer print and there are no breaking the text into paragraphs making it a difficult set of instructions to follow at times. I found that the best way to learn it was to re-write it into sections that could be followed one section at a time. Diagrams are scarce and are limited to four hand drawn diagrams on page 8.

The text contains everything that you need to know to perform the whole routine including the one liners that Joe used. There are some very nice basic rope sleights taughts and the rope restoration just looks like pure magic once you've perfected your presentation.

If you're performing the equal / unequal ropes then it's just a million times better when included in this routine than when performed on it's own.

There's commedy, audience participation and it's such a simple routine that it's easy to personalise the presentation of the routine to your own taste by changinf the patter. there's even suggestions on different ways to hand out the rope to the specs to get a few extra laughs.

Overall

I've often referred to 'Roped In' in the past as being my favourite rope routine and it still is. It's very versatile and in my opinion it's one of the best rope restorations out there. The handling allows you to start off any number of other rope routines that use the equal / unequal rope principle, such as fibre optics with a single uncut piece of rope and then put the rope back together again at the end. The rope is handled before and after by the specs and a spec even cuts the rope for you so nothing appears to be suspicious.

Highly recommended and I would award it 8 from 10 due to the old fashioned way that the manuscript is written. Just as a routine I would score it as 10/10. Simple but stunningly impressive with great audience reaction.

I do so agree with dat 8962, It is a great routine, once learnt. And it only involves the cost of a length of rope. Mine copy came from the late (much missed)Joe Riding himself in the form of a printed booklet at £8. Again I agree with the comments on the layout. It wanted breaking into sections for easy study. This is one continuous flow.
An alternative is Aldo Columbini's Mama Mia Rope Trick which has a great number of flowing effects from one piece of rope.
On a different level, is Steve Bedwell's In Over Your Head routine. This is Paper Balls Over The Head with rope!
Allen Tipton