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Tony Noice Veteran user 342 Posts |
A Review of Liam Gilbert's CLOSE UP THEATRE
First, let me mention my background for writing this review. Although my original career was magic, I have been a fulltime actor/director/professor of theatre for over 30 years. (All my work has been done under union contracts (Actors Equity Association, Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists). Furthermore, I have a PhD. in theatre. So I believe I bring a practical perspective to this review of a book on the intersection of theatre and magic. First, let me say that, although I have some reservations, I believe this is the most practical, concise, and helpful book ever written on this subject. My main reservation is that the title promises more than the book delivers. This is not anywhere near a complete treatment of the application of acting techniques to magic performance. It would be more properly titled, ONE MAGICIAN’S APPROACH TO CLOSE UP THEATRE. That’s what it is: an individual magician’s presentation of a series of quick fixes that will provide a short, highly efficient road to effective close up performance. But such quick fixes are, by definition, incomplete. Take the author’s advice on voice placement. He suggests, based on a recommendation from Roberto Giobbi, in Card College -2, that the magician practice by saying, “ U uh” between every word in his or her patter, as in the following example: “U huh Pick U huh A U huh Card”. The author says that this will allow the words you are speaking “to sit in the same voice register as the soft vowel sounds of U huh. This will give you a rich, soft, pleasant and comfortable voice.” True -- but such a quick fix is far from the final word on voice production. Thousands of voice specialists around the world train actors to explore the entire range of their speaking instrument and work for years on resonance, muscularity, etc. I certainly don’t think the average magician needs such extensive work, and, and if your problem is that you speck in an annoying high-pitched squeak, this Giobbi advice will certainly make you a more commercially acceptable performer. The same is true for body work. The author passes on a single tip for avoiding an awkward walk or clumsy body language. Indeed, the author's highly condensed view of the art is both the virtue and defect of his book. It gives you one or two quick, practical techniques that that really work, but ignores the enormous amount of other knowledge available on these subjects. However, on balance, I would say that Liam Gilbert’s CLOSE UP THEATRE is the best primer of its type and, if the instructions are followed, will probably result in vast improvements in restaurant table magic. |
liam-j-gilbert Regular user Leeds, England 121 Posts |
Thanks for your thoughts Tony, I have sent you a PM with my responses to your ideas for a way to improve my book.
This is why I am so pleased that I have had it reviewed whilst it is still a work in progress. Best Liam Gilbert p.s. There are many more extensive reviews in the 'e-books, pdf's and downloads' forum. Thanks.
www.liamgilbert.co.uk -- for info, booking or queries on Liam Gilbert
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Tony Noice Veteran user 342 Posts |
Hi Liam,
Sorry that my reservations seemed to be more salient to you than the rest of the review. I intended the early sentence (prior to discussing my reservations) to be the most important one: “I believe this is the most practical, concise, and helpful book ever written on this subject.” Actually, I don’t think your book even needs additional material, just more emphasis on the fact that it is not meant to be an exhaustive treatment of the subject. In reading it, I got the impression that you felt your 10 stages were THE road to applying theatre techniques to close-up performance. I feel that your book is one great approach among dozens of potential ones. I will PM you on the other matter you mentioned. Tony |
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