The Effect The performer makes the top half of his/her body disappear behind a raised sheet, lowering the sheet to reveal just a severed waist before bringing the sheet back up to restore.
Cost $14.95 (Free Shipping) from
http://www.weirdthings.com/
Difficulty
(1=easy to do, 2=No sleights, but not so easy, 3=Some sleights used,
4=Advanced sleights used, 5=Suitable for experienced magicians only)
3-4 : see main review.
Review
I am really getting to like Andrew Mayne's work. He's a great thinker with the same physical approach to magic that interests me, and provides real value plans that can provide a great platform for your own creativity. When I ordered this from his website I was delighted to find the free shipping option still applied internationally, making this a real bargain for UK magis.
Be warned, though, Andrew's magic is not the sort that you buy and perform the same day, even though the materials you'll need are ridiculously cheap and the gimmicks simple makes for anyone that ever built Blue Peter projects as a kid, to make the most of Bisection you'd better be prepared to put the work in to get it right.
I won't go into too much detail about the construction issues I found so as not to give away the secret (PM me if you've bought it and want to discuss it), but I will discuss the performance. Even though this is billed as a solo illusion, you'll need a friend to help you practice this, a mirror's no good. A fair sense of balance, body awareness and movement skills will be a major advantage, depending on the size blanket you use. We bought this for my partner to do and have spent a lot of time on movement training in order to make it look right; if you've ever cringed as you watched someone bu**er up the Balducci or King's Rising levitations, think of that level of skill and rehearsal, but without being able to see how it looks in a mirror and without being able to rely on angles.
Put in the work though and you'll have yourself a fun little effect that lends itself brilliantly to routining, it can be performed surrounded (with a hoop curtain) or impromptu (with a long coat or sheet), you finish clean ready to move on to anything else you choose and the effect is a real freak-out moment which, if you perform it right, no-one in your audience will be prepared for.
Overall
6/10