SURREALCHEMY by Scott Creasey
SURREALCHEMY is a term that was coined by Tony ‘Doc’ Sheils in his 1989 publication the “The Cantrip Codex” and it is a word that inspired these four off kilter Bizarre Mentalism pieces for the surreal performer, designed to offer a ‘strange profound and unsettling’ experience for the audience.
SURREALCHEMY is a term that was coined by Tony ‘Doc’ Sheils in his 1989 publication the “The Cantrip Codex” and it is a word that has stuck with me since I first read it.
Many years ago, I started to dabble with Bizarre magic but to be honest, as someone who as a child used to immerse himself in the Hammer House of Horror Friday night shockers, I found many of the presentation styles proffered in the books of some bizarre magicians a bit too Gothic for my taste and physical magic doesn't appeal to me as much as mentalism.
So in order to design bizarre mentalism routines that offer a ‘strange profound and unsettling’ experience I needed to alter my perception of bizarre to ensure the routines maintained a psychic/mentalism theme.
In this 38 page book then you will find four of my favourite bizarre/surreal mentalism routines. No blood curdling screams, cloaks and daggers, blood sacrifices or incantations, but instead a number of routines that are easy to make up, easy to carry and easy to perform. With the bizarre and surreal of course presentation is everything so with that in mind I have also included my scripting for each routine.
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" I Cannot recommend this highly enough. All the routines hit hard, and leave an impression with the spectator. Having seen Scott demonstrate a couple of these, I can vouch for how strong they are, and the emotional impact they will have on a spectator. The first effect is 100% worth more than the price of admission". - Adam Daniel