talkmagic.co.uk

Heres the scenario:

After a small performance to ma wee bros and a mate I decided to dip into some mentalism; specificaly the ESP experiment from the complete course.

Failed drastically....

Not the effect but the response, after card/coin/sponge tricks there is a stunned silence then drooling, but with this nothing.

Why? Heres a quote:

"I could figure out how you did that...unlike your other tricks even if I nkew I still couldnt do that....anyone can write on a peoice of paper"

Maybe I'll just stick to non-mentalism it doesnt suit my performance style (for the moment). Maybe my eyebrows are not bushy enough...

I'll take Wilson's advice:
Introduce little bits and only if you think your audience will appreciate it (I paraphrased a bit)

Funny that I get the opostie. I did my nice little 3 peace set at the last meet up and monkey went to get the cards out and she said "How can you do a card trick after that, I understand card tricks but that is diifferent"

Wich was nice.

I think it all comes down to doing the right tricks at the right time. Sometimes, certain effects just don't work well with others. It'd probabaly be fine if you started off with some mind reading type effects because you'd set that scene but following coins and sponges obviously doesn't work.

You need a certian something about you too, to perform mentalism thats why 12 year olds cant really perform it.

Also its the way its presented if you say "right now for some mind reading" that becomes a challange to the spec and he wont like that even if you do get it right.

I aint 12.

But yeah I see that it was maybe a bit outta place. Probably lead in with a card prediction trick or somethin.

I put it out as an experiment saying it doesnt always work.
And did the whole nod nod very interesting thing.

Thanks any way guys I'll give it a shot later on in the week with a diferent set-up and crowd.
Are drunk people susceptible to mentalism?

Another point which i think is fair to make;

Mentalism rarely works well on people that know you well, magic is a specific skill, on a certain level they are fully aware of the fact that what you are performing is skilled sleight of hand, the better the performance the less it matters.

However with mentalism they are asked to believe a lot more, the work required in scene setting and character is far greater, especially if presented with a more psychological slant, the belief in your skill is required to be pretty complete. With good presentational skills and a natural talent for BS, i can pull this off, but i wouldnt be doing so on my mom, she knows i cant detect lies from her subtle body movements, and isn't inpressed anyway as, as any son/daughter knows, mothers are excellent at that themselves .

A mentalist needs far more of an air of the genuine and the mysterious, people that know you won't buy that.

I doubt even Derren's mom is impressed:)

Whole Heartledly agree, I know someone ever mentalist effect i try on him he debunks or wont play along or at all, I once tried a living and dead test on him he just wrote vegtables down. So I dont do anything for him.

It's often said that the best magic takes place in the spectator's mind so if their mind is on other things, there won't be much magic. If you can't get their mind back on track then just move on, you're flogging a dead horse!