Conan Doyle, Houdini, and the Davenport Brothers: Huddersfield Connections.
As part of Cultures of Place, I’ve been busy rehearsing and preparing for Conan Doyle, Houdini, and the Davenport Brothers:…
Making Dark Magicks at Doomsday
After three years of pandemic related cancellations and delays, the highlight of the UK Bizarre Magick calendar, Doomsday, returned to…
Mashing up Magick: Bizarre Magick and the Fuzzy Gothic
Gothic Mash-Ups: Hybridity, Appropriation, and Intertextuality in Gothic Storytelling edited by Natalie Neill is now available from Lexington books. The book…
Jonathan Creek (extract) Season 1 Episode 1
Maddy MagellanDo a trick for me. Jonathan CreekI beg your pardon. Maddy MagellanSomething from your repertoire. Jonathan CreekI don’t do…
Diane – The Seductive Sorceress
Before the COVIDs really got going, I put out a request on social media for information regarding performer Diane Matthews….
The Magician – enquiring about practice #1
A key element of enquiry for me when working practically in bizarre magick was my role in the creation of…
Séance, Magicians, and the Arms Race of Things
Historically, the apparent ability to contact spirits has provided a wealth of opportunities for deception by performers. Magicians have had…
Séance: A View through the Veil
*The film is now available to watch on the Media of Mediumship YouTube channel* An aptitude for deception is all…
More on Magic Objects
“Objects have histories. Some have souls” (Chelman, 1993, p. 65) In many ways, performance magic is about the props, the…
Abandoned Magic #1
I read something this week that got me thinking again about the photographs I took last summer. The series entitled…
The Magic Object
I’m very interested in the notion of the (performance) magic(al) object. Aileen Robinson (2014) in ‘“All Transparent”: Pepper’s Ghost, Plate…
Séance Technologies – The Pendulum
I find it useful to think of performance magic props as a technology. In theatre we often talk about theatre…
Insider or Outsider?
The challenge I have as an academic is that I am both inside and outside of my research. I cannot…
Writing about Magic
The notion of what constitutes the role of the trick in magic performance raises a number of questions, two of…
Hiding the Elephant in the Room – Performance Magic and Practice Research
A transcription of a research seminar delivered 31/03/21 The seminar itself is now live: Thank you for inviting me to…
Space to Practice – whatever that means.
In a few weeks time I shall be presenting on practice research as part of the Spring 2021 LINES OF…
COVID-19 and Performance Magic – your views?
The New Normal? As I mentioned in a previous post, The Journal of Performance Magic (www.journalofperformancemagic.org.uk) is currently accepting academic…
Call for Papers – The New Normal
I’m delighted to announce that the Journal of Performance Magic is once again accepting submissions! The Journal of Performance Magic…
Projects
I’ve just finished* a big project, and now I have three others to work on. Today is about starting one…
The Extraordinary Project Podcast
Last year fellow performer Ashton Carter and I found ourselves at The Science and Spiritualism, 1750 – 1930 Conference. As…
Elizabeth and BGT – Bizarre Magick plays big?
In Spirit Theatre (1986) Eugene Burger when referring to bizarre magick quotes Tony Andruzzi as saying; ‘the number of people…
Bizarre Magick: An Experiment in Paranormal Entertainment (finale)
So what no posts since the 28th September? Well, the simple fact is I realised that I couldn’t write up…
Bizarre Magick: An Experiment in Paranormal Entertainment
Week One (two sessions) The first session with the cast was a little talky. There was a lot to introduce…
Bizarre Magick: An Experiment in Paranormal Entertainment – Early doors
For the next few months I’ll shall be mostly blogging about a research/teaching project that begins in earnest this September. …
The Journal of Performance Magic – Issue 5 – out now!
Very happy to see that the the Magiculum issue of The Journal of Performance Magic is out now. It’s open…