“You know what the issue is with this world? Everyone wants some magical solution to their problem and everyone refuses to believe in magic.”
― Mad Hatter
11.06.2014
Illusionist.
Magician.
Illusion adviser.
Illusion designer.
Magic consultant.
Illusion consultant.
However you dress it up, my job boils down to this; Problem Solver.
Or Story Teller.
Or Story-Telling Problem-Solver.
I am often asked what my job involves, and I always find it hard to give a definitive answer.
Basically, It is my job to use my 20 years experience of magic, actor training and nearly 14 years of performing to provide logical solutions to problems in the absence of “real magic”.
(Of course Magic IS real… but for now, lets pretend it isn’t. Phew! I think I got out of that one!)
What that means is that if a script requires a performer to vanish or float, or an object to move by itself or turn into something else, I have to work closely with the director to discuss what their intentions are for these moments and what the limitations are given a large number of factors.
This will normally result in working very closely with the designer to ensure that each element fits seamlessly together.
I was once told by a costume designer that if an audience focuses on a costume instead of the story, then she has failed in doing her job.
It is exactly the same in my line of work.
If the story is stopped for an illusion to be performed or if the audience stop paying attention to the story because they are trying to work out how an Illusion was done, then I have failed.
There is one (slight) exception to this rule. If, as part of the story, a character has to perform an illusion as an illusion, then even though it might make the audience focus entirely on it being an illusion for that moment, it is still serving the story.
Is it now starting to become clear why it is a hard thing to explain?!
Basically, the magic has to serve the story and should fit seamlessly within the set without any objects standing out as a piece of magic apparatus.
That’s why it is such a team effort. In order for the magic to work, I must work closely with the director and designer, and often the lighting designer, sound designer and choreographer too! On occasion it is necessary for me to work with a fight director to help add some extra realism to a violent moment. This brings me onto the other question that I get asked a lot:
“What is the most bizarre thing you’ve been asked to do?!”
Most of the plays I am asked to help with either involve some sort of gory or ghostly effect.
In 2010, for a production of DOCTOR FAUSTUS at the Royal Exchange Theatre, I was faced with the challenge of not only beheading an actor on stage, but then working out how to make him grow a new one… And doing all of which in the round!!
The closest audience members were no more than 4 feet away from the beheading!! Jamie De Courcey was the actor who had the task of cutting Patrick O’Kane’s head off each night was terrified of the audience seeing how it worked, but after the entire audience gasped he began to relish in it!
Later in the same show, Faustus has his leg pulled off while he sleeps! The man that pulls it off, takes it with him and upon his exit Faustus grows a new one!!
This picture was taken whilst I was developing the method for the leg removal. The bloody stump that remained was deliciously disgusting!
Dressing the severed leg was a bizarre moment in my career!
In 2013, for the world premier of BRILLIANT ADVENTURES, I was asked to help make 3 people vanish from inside a cardboard box ‘time machine’.
That was great fun, but not something I’d use to answer the “What is the most bizarre thing you’ve been asked to do?” question.
The effect from BRILLIANT ADVENTURES that I would use to answer that question is tooth pulling.
There was a horrific scene where the main character (who has returned from the future) has his tooth pulled out (for the 2nd time… Because of the time travel!) with a set of pliers!
Director Caroline Steinbeis, Fight Director Kev McCurdy and I all knew that we wanted to see a tooth pulled out, not just a mime and a scream.
Laurence Mitchell who played the psychotic Ben, pinned Luke 2 (played by Lee Armstrong) to his chair and forced a pair of pliers into his mouth.
Some struggling, restraining and tugging later, the pliers are yanked out clutching a tooth, trailed by a spray of blood.
I came up with the method and with Kev choreographed the movements of it, yet every time I saw it, I winced!
As well as the bringing out the gruesome side of theatre, I have been asked to make objects move on their own, make people vanish, make lit candles float and vanish, cause people to vomit tennis balls, cause objects to appear from thin air and design a safe way to throw 5 knives at a girl and narrowly missing her!
I was also asked to take on the role of a hairdresser for CELEBRITY BIG BROTHER and simulate cutting a few of the ladies hair for a task where they weren’t allowed to flinch!
Using sleight of hand and a set of clippers, I made Gillian Taylforth cry by “shaving” a strip from the top of her head, causing a ball of blonde hair to tumble onto the table in front of her!
The potential for Magic is huge and I have been asked to help with some crazy things.
It’s not everyday you get you get to cause a demon to appear inside a roast pig, or shower an audience with maggots, but on those days I have to concede… I have a pretty strange job!!
I’ll leave you now with this photo of the brilliant Rosie Ashe vomiting up a Tennis Ball!
