Andrew Mayne - Bisection

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Andrew Mayne - Bisection

Postby Quicksand Kerry Devile » May 27th, '04, 17:58



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

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Quicksand Kerry Devile
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Posts: 38
Joined: May 26th, '04, 13:15
Location: Leeds UK (27)

Postby bananafish » Jun 3rd, '04, 07:45

QKD - I'd be interested to know if you have actually performed this in anger yet? I couldn't make up my mind from the review wether or not you liked it lol -

Once you have practiced and are fully aware of angles - do you think it is something you will use a lot? are you getting some great reactions with it?

Thanks...

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bananafish
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Joined: Apr 22nd, '03, 09:43
Location: Simon Shaw. Suffolk, UK (50:SH)

Postby magicdiscoman » Jun 3rd, '04, 10:39

did you check out the vid, awsome man.

could see the workings in my head so i dont think you could do it surrounded as said in the add but great all the same, looks kike same principle for the severed head routine.

magicdiscoman
 

Postby Quicksand Kerry Devile » Jun 3rd, '04, 11:17

We haven't actually performed it yet, in anger or otherwise, because we're not completely satisfied yet with our version (like I say, it needs a bit of work to do properly, and it'd look terrible if done badly), but we're not far off and we definitely expect to use it a lot due to the ease of routining and coolness of the effect.

Doing it surrounded with a hoop curtain is possible, but harder, and benefits from a little extra ingenuity in the design of the hoop curtain and gimmick.

User avatar
Quicksand Kerry Devile
Junior Member
 
Posts: 38
Joined: May 26th, '04, 13:15
Location: Leeds UK (27)


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