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A little while ago I entered a regional talent show thing, organised in aid of charity (Miles of Smiles) by a local pub landlord. To cut a long story short, I won the heat (actually joint first place, but let's not split hairs) and am in the final mid September.

That alone is rather good, but things took an interesting twist this weekend when I was told that the winner of the final along with two runners up also get to perform the following night at a local club venue (which gets a few good acts in actually, back in the day at least) along with some finalist from BGT (Tobias Mead, one of these modern dancer types lol). It's a cracking venue (about 600 capacity I'd say on it's main stage floor) and without a doubt the biggest gig I'll have done to date.
This has caused me some headaches though about what routine I'll be performing. The final itself needs to be quite 'light hearted' - it's a family venue and that will be reflected in the audience, I can't go in being too 'dark and mysterious' for this, it's simply not appropriate but I don't have to be too 'quickfire' with my effects (as I was in my initial heat), people are talking about the 'psychic guy' who controls minds etc.

Time restraints can be a little flexible thankfully and here's what I'm thinking (along with explanations of the effects for those who don't know them):

Opening with Bob Cassidy's brilliant Scary Movie.
A spec is invited to choose a random film from a deck of index cards and asked to visualise a scene from that film or an image they get from the title if they're not aware of the film. I firstly correctly divine the image that they have in their mind before the before the film title. With a wonderful twist I also divine the title that some of the audience are thinking of too. (It's explained that they too might get some impressions from the spec etc). It's a gem of an effect which allows for quite a theatrical psychic performance. For me, it's an ideal opener as it allows me to demonstrate just 'how' I perform these miracles without having to explain it. People can see the psychic process and to a lesser extent get involved with it too.

That leads nicely (imho) to Andy Nyman's Deep Red. With a little interlude about psychics and why don't we just win the lottery every week, I go on to explain that if I could or did, I'd open up a Cult Movie Video Club. A (new) spec is invited to join me while I explain how this movie club is unlike others, for one you get to pick your own membership number, something personal to you. The spec picks his number and we discuss that friends can recommend films for you online so you go along to the club and pick up whatever your recommended film is. An audience member is then asked to name a film. Then a bag, which has been sat on a table in front of you the whole time, is handed to your spec. Inside is a DVD. It's the film our audience member suggested. The spec is also asked to take out his membership card from the bag. It's got his membership number written on it.
To be honest, I'm not doing this effect justice here, but genuinely, it's a jaw dropper. No need for any elaborate psychic performance here, let the audience wonder what they've just seen. The audience member's suggestion screams stooge to most people, it's not (at least not in the classical sense) so I'm going to use one of the talent show judges for their suggestion. That should convince them

People who own both of these effects will notice that they both have something in common, it's that fact which makes me happy using the judge for the movie suggestion. I think those who know both will work out what I mean, if not feel free to PM.

I'm still working out what to close with but that wasn't really the point of this post, although suggestions are of course more than welcome!

So first of all, how do you view the opening two routines? If you want a fuller transcript of my patter I'll happily post it, I'm refraining for now as I'm aware this is a long winded post already.

Now my other advice request is this.... On the possibility that I place in the top 3 I'll be asked to do an encore and this is where I get quite cute, or intend to at least. By brilliant coincidence the company that I work for has an 'official charity' each year. Yes, it's the same charity and better yet, my director has authorised a cheque for £100 for me to present at the gig. Of course, I'm not just going to 'present' it to them, I'm going to bloody well reveal it in my encore! In case anyone's wondering, I'm dead against using it as a closer, it just smacks of bribery and I'm not doing it. End of.
I was considering going back to Get Nyman and doing Mr Saturday Night, a psuedo game show effect where we eliminate envelopes containing prizes (comical ones at that, I was thinking £100 donations to made up silly charities like The Sponge Bunny Rescue Centre) but sadly it's essentially an envelope elimination effect and I did a bank nite flavour effect in my initial heat. While the methods are wildly different, that matters not one jot, all the audience see is me 'controlling' someone's choice of envelope. For them, it's the same effect.
So, just how can I reveal a cheque for £100?!

Well, if you've read all that I congratulate and thank you, I'm well aware it was a bit of a ramble and you've already indulged me greatly but if you'd care to go further and offer your thoughts I'd be extremely grateful.

Thank you, good night, much love

I like your opening two effects, Deep Red is a really nice routine. I've got my own variation on it which I use quite often and always goes down really well. I'll PM you with a closer that I use with a film themed routine of mine.

I like the idea revealing the cheque as part of a bank night type effect, that's the first thing that popped into my head when I read it.

Oh and good luck with the competition too

Thanks for your encouragement and a bigger thanks for the PMs, they've given me plenty to think about, not to mention an order placed for a change bag!
You've got a cracking mind there young lady

You are right that the cheque shouldn't be part of the main act in this case. Saving it for the encore sounds like a good idea.

As to the main act, I think the two effects you've mentioned, with proper presentation, are probably enough. I appreciate you might have more time here, but you don't want to be doing half an hour if others are coming on and singing a song or doing a dance routine for three or four minutes.

The close similarity between the two effects might not be an advantage. It could lead to a bit of awkwardness in Deep Red. On the other hand, it could solve a bit of the weakness in that effect. Tricky, isn't it?

OK, I hate to be mr miserable, but I think as you've already established your skills you should do something particularly memorable to demonstrate your supposed skills. Whilst Get Nyman is very nice, I still don't think it has much on Corinda or Anneman. Why not create a routine for yourself from there, I hardly see anyone performing Corinda or Anneman material. For example there are some superb prediction effects which are memorable and big. You could predict the raffle, do a blindfold routine, a Q and A routine.. something big and memorable. Sometimes I think people stop studying the basics, because they assume basics are for begginers: as they say in martial arts, you have only truly become a master when you love the basics.
Also, why not think of your own presentation. Nyman bases his routines on films because he's a film geek, I have no idea weather you are or not, but its still Nyman's routine, taylored to him and his unique style- beyond the presentation it is elementry dw-ing.
You can make a routine about anything, bear in mind. For example, If Jeremy Clarkson was a mentalist (God Forbid), he might ask someone to think of a car and swami it on, or rather, have the name of the car written on a car key in a bag a la Koran's Medallion/ Deep red. Then he might have someone test his memory on the obscure car details from the back of Top Gear magazine as a memory demonstration, then he might have someone design their own car and have it predicted.. and those examples demonstrated no imagination on my behalf, I'm sure if you thought about it you could come up with a remotley interesting and unpredictable routine about cars.. I suppose it is about coming up with something which suits you, it really isn't very hard.

Wow, since when did we reveal other people's effects here, especially in the open forum?

While 'Deep Red' is based on something dear to Mr Nyman's heart, pretty much everybody watches films, even if they never go to the cinema. I knew a huge amount about 'Psycho' because of how it's been absorbed into popular culture, way before I ever saw it. Same with 'The Exorcist'. Same with 'Titanic' (except I will never watch that film).

You do have a point, though. I always felt that the original 'Confabulation' routine was weak because, by basing it on a car, you were (a) boring the 50% plus of the audience that couldn't care less about makes of car and (b) there are much more exciting things to consider than the colour and price of a vehicle even if you are a real petrolhead (it's not like the car is real). The sad thing is, a lot of people will just stick to the new car plotline because it's the basic routine.

Part of the reason I disagree with you is that you should interest your audience. If someone is a massive WoW fan, they could create an amazing mentalism routine based around the online world. The trouble is that because the subject matter is still pretty esoteric, it has a good chance of leaving an audience cold, unless you're performing at a gaming or sci-fi convention. Yes, the routine should excite the performer too, but not at the expense of involving the audience.

Sam, thanks for your post first of all. Secondly, could you edit it?

I understand your points, both about the lack of effects being performed that 'come from the basics' - or 'roots' as I prefer to call them, there's nothing 'basic' about Corinda nor Anneman.
As it happens (I promise I'm not just saying this), one of my favourite and without a doubt my most powerful effects -in where I predict a random person's selected memory, before they've even been randomly selected, let alone thought of or decided on that memory - is pure Anneman.

Deep Red suits me, as a performer, perfectly. While the fundamental effect is the same, my patter brings more of a narrative to it as well as some slight nuances which I feel (IMVHO) strenthen the effect, or at least tidy up a weakness.

With any luck I'll get some footage shot of the whole shebang and, assuming I don't c**k it all up beyond belief I'll post it!

Part-Timer wrote: If someone is a massive WoW fan, they could create an amazing mentalism routine based around the online world. The trouble is that because the subject matter is still pretty esoteric, it has a good chance of leaving an audience cold, unless you're performing at a gaming or sci-fi convention. Yes, the routine should excite the performer too, but not at the expense of involving the audience.

I think that if you're going to create an effect around a theme then that theme should be tailored to the audience, not to you. As mentioned above, films are safe (I am a massive film geek but that's irrelevant) because everyone watches films and, believe it or not in my performance of Deep Red here, the film theme isn't the central core, it's about the psychic's ability to make predictions, the films are just the 'background' to that narrative. I chose Scary Movie and Deep Red because they're both great effects, play strong and I can narrate naturally between them.

My performance, my acting skills are far far more important than the origin of the effect.

Sorry, tell me if I need to edit it further, it just slipped..
I suppose what I was saying was more that you could make a routine out of anything, but it should be taylored neither exclusivley just to please the audience nor should it be exclusivley taylored to yourself: instead there ought to be, not an equilibrium or compromise, but something which corresponds to the tasts of you and your audience.
I meant that you should create your own routine, I know many routines which suit me which are not mine, but I still think its important to create my own material. Sometimes it will be c*** (not the best) and then there will still be stuff better than my own, but I'm gonna have to start somewhere. Also, I do perform other people's material, because there is some great material out there, but I try and change the format. For example, we have ACCAN, which I present as a memory demonstration done by the spectator rather than a game of influence.
I think that you should also go for something a little more adventurous... that may come across wrong and I hope it doesn't, but I mean to say, that you are in an important stage of the competition and you have already established your abilities now you should try something bigger. They're both great effects, but you can think so think big

I'm not entirely sure what you're saying Sam, I think that Van_der_Belt's routine is a nice one which will work really well. Ok, he's taken a couple of published routines and is performing them as is but I don't see anything wrong with that, it's a good starting point. Over time the routine may well develop but what's there to me looks like a very good place to start. The theme's solid too, it's nice to have some underlying theme and I always find it best if it's something that the audience can relate to, films, murder mysteries and music are all ones that I've used and have worked really well.

Tonight's the big night, wish me luck!!

Best of luck buddy, hope it goes cracking.

Good luck!

Good luck

Part-Timer wrote:pretty much everybody watches films, even if they never go to the cinema.

Not true. There are some people (myself being one) who almost never watch films. Two hours is far too long. There are some people who have never watched a sporting event, there are people who never listen to music, or read a book. There are people who can barely distinguish a car from a van.
It is a mistake to assume that everyone does something because a lot of people do it. And unfortunately two movie routines in a set will be enough to turn off a certain small portion of your audience.
That is why we should strive for variety.
Having said that, the best of luck, and hopefully you will get the chance to play the 600 seater venue.