the story it tells
Some experiments in videography, performance magic, and autobiography. [Practice Research Project] [see this & this]
The Davenports play Huddersfield (process)
To find a mode of performance for the Cultures of Place project Davenports Play Huddersfield (Taylor, 2022) I wanted 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
2023 update: I am now in touch with Diane, thank you for all of the messages! Before the COVIDs really…
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…
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. …
Tales Beyond Borders
I throughly enjoyed the Tales Beyond Borders Conference last week. A wonderful collection of people all with a passionate interest in…
Edge of the Unknown (and more)
It’s been a busy October here as I’ve been setting up the Magic Research Group and the Journal of Performance…
Where am I?
For the rest of this year my research time is going to be spent preparing for my upcoming sabbatical. A…
Scripting & Storytelling For Paranormal Entertainers
This month it was an honour to supply and Introduction to Scripting & Storytelling For Paranormal Entertainers, published May 2011….
Collective Delusion and the Madness of Crowds
(April 2011) Collective Delusion and the Madness of Crowds published in Occult Magic 2: Into The Darkness by Freddie Valentine.
Things that go bump in the night: Fact, fiction and the audience in séance performance
[Ongoing] Joint authored project with Madelon Hoedt.
Magic and the M-Word
Magic and the M-Word (2010). Co-authored with Madelon Hoedt. Essay for the collection published by Psycrets. Publication date: tbc.
How Psychic Are You?
October 31st 2010″Psychic Tests and interactive fun with Dr Orlando Watt”
Performing Fabulous Monsters: Re-inventing the Gothic Personae in Bizarre Magick.
Taylor, Nik and Nolan, Stuart (2009) Performing Fabulous Monsters: Re-inventing the Gothic Personae in Bizarre Magick. The Ninth Biannual Conference of…
‘Bizarre Magick.’ [Performance]
A walkaround performance illustrating Bizarre Magick (July 2009) at The Ninth Biannual Conference of the International Gothic Association at Lancaster…