THE SHOP
Selly Oak, Birmingham is perhaps best known to all of those who remember Crossroads, the home of the famous motel. The Shop is a world apart and will surely put Selly Oak back on the map for a different and much better reason. The Proprietor is one DB (Darren) and he’s passionate about this project as well as being knowledgeable on various genres of the arts.
This was my second visit having visited The Shop a few months back. Some of you may remember that I wrote a few lines back then. Since that visit The Shop has continued to develop and the progress shows.
The parlour is just divine and is perfectly suited for anything that is out of the ordinary. It has been carefully crafted ( just saying that it’s been decorated would be an insult)to give the parlour the look and feel of an Edwardian era room with everything from the pictures, mirrors and furniture and the creaking wooden floor boards looking authentic. Nothing looks out of place.
You can't fully appreciate The Shop and the amount of work that has gone into the creation until you visit for yourself. You should keep an eye out for more events here in the future.
THE SHOW
I arrived some 30 minutes before the start and the front door was locked with a hand written note that asked everyone to wait in the restaurant next door. Spotting a familiar face I sat down and chatted to an acquaintance from the Coventry Magic Circle and had a natter over a flat diet cola until it was time.
Access to The Shop was at the back and it would have been a nice touch (hint
) to put a notice on the front door to this effect. It would have saved me knocking and knocking.
What was apparent is that just about everyone had been debating the term metaphysical and what this actually was, and where it fitted into magic. The meaning would soon be revealed.
I selected the second show of the evening to attend so that I could stay on for the lecture, and I was pleasantly surprised to note that the parlour was literally packed out with there being standing room at the back. There was an audience of around 20 people with the majority being lay-people and from the conversation, I am assuming that the earlier performance was similarly attended.
Dr. Todd opened by setting the scene and talking about psychology and metaphysics. His first routine using a Rubik’s Cube was used to good effect to illustrate the dialogue and everyone began to settle and relax.
There was a good mixture of established effects that had been given a good and clever twist by Dr. Todd to fit into the psychological theme of the performance and after the Dr. Todd treatment, some of these methods were unrecognisable from how they originally started out. In particular, there was Dr. Todd’s version of the magic colouring book which had been painstakingly reproduced in high quality soft-back with the pages having been changed to profile different philosophers and making it into a book test type of routine. I found this a really excellent idea. There were a number of prediction routines that complimented one another, one of which was a particularly cunning selection of a book from three (all philosophical books of course). It sounds simple but the presentation of the routine and the revelation based around the concept of freewill took the technique to another level in my opinion.
Then there was a presentation of Fogel’s bags which is akin to the Box Clever routine that I perform with tubes. It’s a very simple routine that always plays well for the audience which allows for the performer to focus on the presentation. While I enjoyed everything I would say that this was my personal favourite of the night as Dr. Todd did this more than justice with some inspirational scripting. I’ll be rethinking my own presentation after this.
The show ran for a little under 90 minutes and from the rapturous applause there is no doubt that everyone enjoyed the show. Although I was sat in the back row I took the opportunity to look around at the reactions of the lay audience and there were looks of bemusement, gasps of amazement and frowns of confusion throughout the evening.
The scripting was perfect. This wasn’t presented as a selection of tricks that moved from one to another but instead was very much like a lecture about philosophy, history and thinking that used the effects to illustrate the flowing dialogue at the key moments. For that it was original and it pulled the audience member into the show. Thoroughly gripping stuff!
We all left knowing a lot more about what metaphysics and philosophy means but if you want to know more then I’m not telling. I couldn’t do it the justice that Dr. Todd gave it so you’ll just have to go and partake yourself. I highly recommend that you do.
THE LECTURE
There was only around five or six magicians that stayed behind for the lecture. This started out with a review of the show and some explanation of the routines that Dr. Todd has the rights to. Those routines that used the secrets of others were appropriately skipped around after highlighting the origins but nothing was revealed otherwise.
This was a very relaxed two way session while Darren brought what seemed like a never ending stream of food and drink into the back room. Incidentally, this room is also decorated in a similar vein to the front parlour and you could spend a good hour just looking at the artefacts. It’s a little like visiting a museum.
The conversation broadened out a lot and I have to admit to being one of the first to leave at around 01:20. I thoroughly enjoyed this part of the evening too and I was delighted to see our very own Fairie and Mandrake. I spent around 20 very enjoyable minutes speaking to Fairie about the projects that she’s working on so watch this space.
DR. TODD
This was the first time I have met Dr. Todd and it won’t be the last (I hope). Darren is planning for the Doctor to return to Selly Oak in September and if I’m not busy then I’ll definitely be there.
Dr. Todd is obviously a very clever man and the number of letters after his name sort of recognises this. He has a captivating style and speaks with authority without being condescending in a way that a teacher can speak to his pupils. He is obviously a very experienced speaker who takes you on a captivating and mystical journey. A very nice guy indeed!
OVERALL
I had a truly wonderful night and would highly recommend the show, the lecture and also the venue. Outstanding value for money.
