During the spring 2008 I was writing a column for a news paper in Sweden. Pre to my show Malin:Unplugged I wanted to create a piece of magic entitled the Audience’s Magic Trick. In cooperation with the paper I asked people for ideas. It could be a dream, a memory a story, anything! I got challenges ranking from “turning myself into an angel and fly to the sky” to, “restoring a broken arm” and many more.
The one I picked was a story about the towns drunk, a local profile who, when he saw a gold fish for the first time cried out: “I didn’t know a smoked herring could swim…!!” The person submitting the story said “I think making a smoked herring swim would be real magic”. I took the challenge.
The development of the piece was to be followed in the column up to the opening night of the show. At the time being you can only read the columns in Swedish...
Sometimes it happens that a theatre production needs a magical illusion or a special effect in their show. Most often it’s the directors idea, but sometimes it’s written in the script that a character is performing magic.
In Time for Miracles, produced by Theatre 23, the director wanted red light and smoke from the fingertips when ever the young boy had performed a miracle…
In the Cherry Orchard by Tjechov, produced by the Malmö Theatre of Drama, a young girl had magic as a hobby and in one scene was to entertain with card tricks and make two people appear from behind an ordinary blanket.
The card tricks were difficult slight of hand from the 1700 century. I can almost certainly claim that Tjechov didn’t make them up himself; I wonder who the magician was that inspired him?
Moving Pictures
Now and again we put new videos on our canal on YouTube. The link will bring you there.
