A new year and a whole new series of challenges ahead. Most of all The Sabbatical. Beginning in earnest next month, I’m spending a little time this month putting things in place so I can write, write, write. As a kickstart to this process I’m working on a short paper/presentation reflecting on my own thoughts on performance magic and its relationship to the academy. It’s been a little bit of a slog today as I’ve been mainly reading negative reviews by magicians attacking those ‘lofty academic’ who dare to have an opinion on magic in any sphere whatsoever. It’s such a shame. I don’t know why ideas can’t be shared and discussed, rather than knocked down and trampled on. I’m hoping to find my own ideological position as I write this paper, but I guess it will be my usual damn leftie buddhist position (!) – and I guess I just better find a helmet for the moment when we publish the first issue of The Journal of Performance Magic.
This quiet (and cold – it’s freezing here) time is very different to the happy and creative chaos of last week’s Ten-in-One shows. Three very successful carny nights were created by Third Year Undergraduates. A full sideshow, Tarot readings and a Strange Thing. I’ll end this post with a contact sheet of the acts!
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