Mar 07 2009
Nuts and Bolts - The Joy and Terror of Monomaniacal Sets
I’ve talked about the “Do Three Things” exercise with various props and apparatus earlier, and it’s made me think about “monomaniacal” sets - magic acts where everything involves one particular thing in random variations.
The most common type of Monomaniacal Set is a card act. Simply put: here’s a deck of cards, now I will do things with it. Since playing cards are relatively inexpensive, portable, and easily recognizable, that’s how a lot of magicians get their start.
But… is being able to do dozens of tricks with a single prop a good thing?
After a lot of thought on it, I believe the answer is “Yes, but…”
“Yes, but please don’t do them all at once.” Just like being a demolitions expert or bagpipe player, plying your trade depends largely on knowing when it is and is not appropriate to do so.
On the other hand, if you know how to do many things with a single prop, that means you can use that prop, plus one or two others, to perform a variety of mini-shows. The “variety” part keeps you from becoming a one-trick pony.
…. so to speak.
- The Joy of Sleep
- the joy of colors
- Extend Firefox, win stuff: The joy of the bounty
- “But that’s not the way MOM used to do it”- A dedication to all of HIS moms on Mother’s Day and all the joy they have brought women across the nation.
- but since I came here, felt the joy and the fear, finding myself making every possible mistake
