Paul walks quietly on stage gruff and expressionless and with minimal preamble, launches into his stuff. The fact he is friendly yet vaguely standoffish is part of his character as a con artist and he's not here to win any of us over. In many ways, he's not what you would call a magician. What follows though, is magical.
Astonishingly he flicks, tosses and shuffles every card he touches making it impossible to follow anything he does. More than once Paul looks up expectantly at his silent audience, making a quip about these moves actually being rather difficult to perfect. What I don't think he realises is that the subdued reaction is the result of bewilderment, shock and intimidation at what this man is able to do.
Occasionally, the pack of cards is put aside and replaced by equally stunning sleight-of-hand involving coins and walnut shells; the former is particularly smooth.
Paul's narration is fascinating and we are treated to stories of card cheats, tricks, casino rules, famous magical feats and movie sleights, like those of Paul Newman in the Sting.
Lie. Cheat. Steal. is sleight at, what has to be, its most complex. My brain doesn't want to accept what this man is able to do. Mesmerising and 'magic' at its very best.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment