talkmagic.co.uk

hey,

just wondering if any of you know of any books or dvds out there about Pre-show work?

And alos i was just wondering about your views on the subject and if you use pre-show work!

Thanks,

Ollie

It depends. I meticulously stack decks before I go.

Speaking of which, I'm off to do a gig at a barbecue in about 10 minutes. I hate this bit - the waiting around. It makes my stomach churn.

Then again, if you are talking about Mentalism and pre-show... I'm personally not aware of one single source that covers that issue and too, it depends greatly as to what effects you are planning on.

yeah i was talking about mentalism...for instance if your going to reveal someones pin number during a parlour act and you ask the spec before the show to write it down on an impression pad. Basically I'm asking for tips on how to go about it, I'm just not sure on what you actually do, if I'm making sense

To get some pre-show info, I'll walk up to a few people and ask if they'd like to take part in the show. I'll have them write down their name, where they're from, and a random thought, word, number, or anything else on a pad with a single sheet of paper divided into four scored sheets. They write on the bottom and tear it off, pass it to someone else, who passes it to someone else, who passes it to a fourth person who brings the then-empty pad up to me. I can then write the info down on smaller paper or just memorize it. The impression pad you use is up to you.

When it comes time to introduce it, I'll say, "who was thinking about ponies?" or whatever random thought they wrote down. They'll stand up and, since we've never met, it's even more amazing when I tell them their name.

From here on out, it's all about presentation. You can say you're seeing something, you can say you're picking it up by body language... whatever you want to do, it's up to you.

Hope this helps,
Rob

Michael Ammar has a section on it in his book......I perform close up with little or no stage work, and if I remember correctly (has been a while since I read it) it is more geared towards stage shows, etc. PM if you can't find anything else, and I will dig through my books and re-read the chapter to see if there is any info that would help you......what style do you perform, and what type of venues?

I must say that pre-show as in the hours leading up to the show, through experience I have developed my own pre-show routine......I want to do things that will settle me down and make me comfortable. I like to visually run through my routine, check and re-check my supplies are in order, do a last dry run of any effects that are new or moves I am trying for the first time (in performance), etc.....that is simply what works for me, I suspect much of what you will find is dependant on the style you perform, the venue, your personality, and what you want to acheive pre-show!

I don't do any venues yet lol...making sure my knowledge of mentalism is top notch first! If you don't mind looking through your books that would be great! I'm working towards hopefully doing some small stage shows, like parlour and close up mentalism on tables.

Well let me tell you a little story... I've been doing mentalism more or less full time since the late 1980s and early 90s and for most of that time I've not used Pre-show much at all. This is a deliberate thing on my part in that I loathe it and I'm not comfortable with it. Sure, you can get some wonderful hits via said ruse, but I'm not a magician and my material don't have to have that hard hitting kick of a magic trick.

Yes, I am cheating.... I'm allowing years of experience to work to my favor but I personally believe that most of us put too much stock into pre-show vs. THE show. We look at accomplishing tricks vs. miracles and most important, we don't have enough confidence in ourselves to pull it off so we want the pre-show material as insurance.

My act is what one friend referred to as "Gut Magic"... that is to say, you have to have guts or the balls of a very large elephant to do the kind of material I do in that it is not 100%. Sure, I have that handful of key pieces that are going to hit every time "for entertainment purposes" as they say, but the greater whole of what I do is "real"... that is to say, I tune in and go for it by employing everything from Psychological Controls (forces) to Anagrams and a huge amount of Kenton Knepper's thinking (see the book MIND READING as well as the Wonder Words series).

Yes, I do a Q&A and there are times when I have some advance info on a couple of key people in the room but as a rule I'm not running around with clipboards or doing center tears or all that other silliness you've read about... it's simply not a necessity if you think through what you want to accomplish and why.

The beauty of Mentalism is being able to walk into any room or group of people and on the spot go into your business. That's how reputations are built... and I'm not talking about doing some simple pocket stunts, as it were. Rather, I am talking about doing an act...a real show if need be.

We have a concert hall here in town that I drop in on every once in a while... one night they were have some tech problems and the audience was getting restless. Without being asked I rolled out to the center of the floor nearest the bandstand and just called out the name Jane... I proceeded by describing random things that were popping into my head and finally this young lady stood up and said, "My cousin's name is Jane and everything you just said has happened to her just recently..."

Well, I continued and as time moved on I shifted from the Readings to Drawing Duplications, Book Tests (using books people present had with them... this town is surrounded by 5 major colleges so books are easy to get) and a few other bits for roughly a half hour. The audience was dumbfounded, the management of the club ingratiated (in that I covered their butts) and my phone rang off the wall for both, Readings and gigs for much of the following month.

I don't go out with a bunch of stuff in my pockets... I don't have any of those nifty wallets or all that other "JUNK" thats out there just knowledge. Which brings us back to your issue; actually study and learn how to do mentalism and strive to do it as clean as you can without the need of all those other things. Then when you are in the position to create a bigger and better program that's of higher profile, you can ring in that kind of material so as to add to production value as well as what I call "jaw dropping power"

BTW... one of the best pre-show guys I've ever watched is Jon Stetson...he's a genuine artist when it comes to such.

Wow.

Thank you for that amazing post...Trust me i am taking on board everything you give to me...i obviously do have a much longer way to go and i certainly will be doing a lot more studying on the matter. It didn't occur to me i guess that to be a great mentalist, you needed the power to make something out of nothing; i guess that means a lot more work on my part

Thanks loads

A damned good memory for personal trivia and the ability to get it out of people are excellent tools for the budding mentalist

I've done a couple of things with pre-show work and I must admit that I share the reservations many people have about it. It worked fine for me, but nearly went a bit wonky, due to what the person said!

It might not suit the venue, or may lead to awkward questions. My suggestion is that pre-show should be done sparingly. There are usually many ways of achieving the same effect, especially in mentalism, where there are only a handful of basic premises. I try to go for one that doesn't require setting-up in advance.

Check out Lee Earle's DVD set on the Q&A Act. In one of them he talks extensively on ways of doing pre-show and points out some incredible things that you can do with it, if you have the time and resources to hand.

Personally, I'd leave the PIN idea alone. If you think about it, it's got all sorts of awkward connotations for the performer and the spectator.

If you're doing parlour shows, what are the chances of the audience members not knowing each other? What are the chances of them not discussing what was done? What are the chances of you getting an opportunity to draw one of them to one side in advance?

EDIT: I forgot to add...And how can you improve the odds in your favour?

I wouldn't rule out pre-show, but I suggest you think about other options.

Oh, and Craig...another great post from a man who's actually been there!

I agree totally...it wouldn't be suitable i don't think in many cases during parlour shows.

I think i need to spend some more time on making sure I'm set for every possible scenario instead of worrying about shows...

Thanks for the posts guys!

Tomo wrote:A damned good memory for personal trivia and the ability to get it out of people are excellent tools for the budding mentalist

I couldn't have said it better... sadly, my mind is the one thing I miss the most