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magicmarkdaniel Special user Bolton, England UK 831 Posts |
Hi All,
Your valuable advice is needed once again! I'm putting together a theatre show consisting of mainly kids and family magic. But I also have 2 costume characters, an owl and a dragon, that I want to utilise in the effect, whether they're just turning the prop or whatever. I also have a female assistant who's going to be playing the dumb type role. Have you any ideas what type of effect I could use? I'm after something inexpensive, but with a kicker ending whereby I can get one over on my assistant and on the audience too. I'm handy at building so after any ideas to get me started. Thanks in advance, Mark
Mark Daniel
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aquamage New user 92 Posts |
First thing that comes to my mind is the assistants revenge. It sounds like your show is open to themed story lines...If you are the wandering wizard or knight, you start out on a quest hunting the dragon...get some advice from the wise owl, but when you find the dragon he and the evil (yet charming) sorceress capture you and lock you up in the stocks. The owl sneaks in and slips you your magic wand (or sword, etc.) and as the Sorceress rolls the curtain around you turn the tables, she is imprisoned, you cast a spell on the dragon (flash wand?) that stuns it, and you and the owl triumph. The idea would need to be flushed out of course, and it may be nice to add some smaller tricks as part of the quest. Assistants revenge is not really inexpensive...but there are other escape-type illusions that may also fit the bill here. If you are at all handy in the wood shop A.R. is not the worst to have to build and there are many good plans out there for it. That was just off the top of my head...I do a lot of theme-type shows and it is always fun to play with story-lines.
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Spellbinder Inner circle The Holy City of East Orange, NJ 6438 Posts |
I used to do an act with a costumed character (a giant rabbit), but unklnown to the audience, I had two costumes and could use them to get away with something like this: An assistant comes out, is tied up by the rabbit and me and put into a cardboard box (or cage, etc.) While the rabbit and I are busy elsewhere, the assistant gets untied and sneaks out of the box, crawling into the wings. The kids usually "tell" on the assistant and the rabbit and I take apart the box and then run around looking where the kids tell us to find the assistant. During this, the rabbit goes offstage and returns immediately, but is now the assistant dressed up in the duplicate rabbit costume. The rabbit and I put the box back together again and in the course of this, the original person who was in the rabbit costume creeps up behind the box and helps the assistant to get out of the costume and then gets inside the costume- this can all be done from the rear of this particular costume. So when the rabbit and I open up the box again, the assistant is back inside, still tied up as before.
That's just a rough idea, but it shows you what you can accomplish simply by having a duplicate costume.
Professor Spellbinder
Professor Emeritus at the Turkey Buzzard Academy of Magik, Witchcraft and Wizardry http://www.magicnook.com Publisher of The Wizards' Journals |
magicmarkdaniel Special user Bolton, England UK 831 Posts |
Great ideas guys. Thanks very much for your input.
Any more ideas? Mark
Mark Daniel
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KV Magic New user Missouri 58 Posts |
If I remember right, Doug Henning actually did a MisMade-type illusion on the Muppet Show with one of the "giant" monster muppets.
Maybe you could do something like that, if there are some extra costumes. Keith |
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