This routine will blend the simple with the sophisticated in a really elegant manner. It will make use of preshow work to achieve a
surprising and uncommon outcome. Normally preshow work is limited to the harvesting and revelation of information. In this demonstration, we are harvesting and revealing information, but we are disguising it as a prediction. We are also able to eliminate the notion of preshow work by having the spectator make their final choice in real-time onstage.
With your Scanner Pad ready to go, you will look at the audience before the show begins and pick a spectator that has something interesting or unique about their appearance; this might be a bright or odd-colored
piece of clothing, hair color or some other element. The important thing is that the spectator can be described in a few lines of text, and later be instantly recognized by the audience. A quick scan of your audience will instantly locate your spectator.
You will approach this spectator with your Scanner Pad. You will address them:
“Later in the show I would like to try a special experiment with you. It is all about creative thought and imagination, and I do not want to put you on the spot in the show, so I want to get the hard work done now. It will make things much easier for you later.”
By framing the approach in this way, your preshow work is framed as being helpful to the spectator, rather than it being some odd process.
You will then continue:
“I want you to think about your favorite book. Is there somewhere in that book that if it were real, you would want to be able to visit?”
The spectator thinks for a moment and then confirms there is. You then offer them the pad and ask them to record this place, on the pad. It is important that you offer the spectator the restriction in language, by asking them to think about their favorite book, and a place connected to
it. They will have no problems in creating the thought or more importantly remembering it later onstage. This is something they already k new, and therefore they will have no problem recalling it later onstage. You will continue with this approach, asking the spectator to think about their favorite movie and finally their favorite childhood movie. Have all three pieces of information written on the pad and have the spectator retain the paper. Be clear that you have not, and will not, read the paper. I suggest turning your back on the spectator as they write on the pad.
Finally, you will instruct them:
“Later in the show I am going to ask you to pick one of those three places. I do not want you to pick one yet. Wait till I ask you to settle on one final destination. So when you are onstage, have those three places in your mind for me. Allow them to cycle around in your imagination, and later you will select the one we will use in our experiment. Please do not tell anyone the places, and do not show anyone the paper. It is important you know that you and you alone have these places in your mind.”
You will now head to the backstage area and access the information obtained with the pad. You will prepare three predictions, each with the
description of the spectator and one of the destinations you have acquired from your preshow work.
To speed this process, up I often begin with a set of ‘template’
predictions ready. These have the bulk of a description already filled out:
“A woman, with blonde hair wearing a ________ top and _______ shoes.
She has _______ eyes.
Together we will travel in our imaginations to_______.”
I simply fill out the blanks to fit the spectator and add one additional line of more-detailed information to the second line of text. Once these predictions have been filled out, you will load them into one side of a standard double envelope. You will use the double envelope as an open index, with the ability to show it empty after the prediction has been removed. In performance you will open the index side of the envelope, remove the correct prediction, and then display the envelope empty by showing the empty side of the separation. Handled smoothly and with confidence, this is a very confounding combination of deceptions.
I fold all three papers slightly smaller than the last, creating a set of staggered predictions, and place them into the envelope in the order I preshow the information: Book, Movie, Childhood Movie. This means that I am never confused as to which paper to remove.
Your preparation is now complete. You preshow work has been
completed. Now it is show time. Please review the effect description for the staging and scripting I use.
Walk onstage carrying the envelope. Invite the spectator onto the stage with you. You will then have them imagine a number of fantasy destinations. The scripting here is important. You will ask them:
“I would like you to make a fantasy j ourney right here and right now.
For a moment, I would like you to close your eyes and bring to your mind a number of places you would like to travel to. These places don’t even have to be real; they can be purely fictional places—somewhere from a movie, a book, from your childhood dreams. The choice of your fantasy destination is left entirely up to you. Begin by bringing into your mind a few different places you would like to visit in this
imaginary j ourney. I will give you a few moments to bring those places to mind.”
You will then pause and continue:
“I am right that you already have a few different places in mind, correct?”
The spectator will confirm. You will continue:
“Good. Now, I would like you to make the final choice. From the places in your mind, I want you to settle on one of them as your final
destination.”
Here you are repeating the exact scripting you used with the spectator before the show, when you explained she would pick one of the
destinations as her final destination onstage. Using this language acts as a trigger or anchor, and she will instantly be guided to think about the three destinations you acquired in your preshow work. She will not settle on one of these destinations as her final choice.
This means you can then underline the impossibility of the situation by having her confirm that this choice, this final destination, is a choice she has made right there and then, a choice she has made after you handed her the envelope. Do not underestimate the power of having the spectator orally confirm these facts. It eliminates the possibility (in the minds of the audience) of any prior preparation.
After the spectator has confirmed these facts, gesture for the envelope. Her natural response will be to give the envelope to you, without the need to ask for it. Have the spectator announce the
destination she has in mind, open the index side of the double envelope and remove the accurate prediction. Then display the empty side of the
envelope to the spectator, asking her to confirm there is nothing else inside the envelope.
Finally, read the prediction, and accept the applause.
Additional thoughts by P eter Turner:
This piece is a wonderful piece of preshow work, on the basis of which you can create many wonderful variations.
Stick closely to the scripts offered above; they are of ultra-importance to ensure the clean nature of the effect.
Here is what I had in mind (as a variation) when I read this piece.
I would approach someone I knew would be sitting at the front of the audience. I would then ask them to think of someone they have seen that stood out to them from within that room, someone that if you were to say the description out loud we could instantly recognize (someone they do not know). Ask that member of the audience to write that person’s description down and to keep it hidden away at all times.
Explain that later you will ask the person to point to a random member of the audience, and as they randomly went for that person, point them out.
Leave the audience member with that and go preshow the member that they have written down!
Later, when you are performing, all you have to do is point to the first person you pre-showed and ask them to point to a random member of the audience. You know they are going to point to the person that you have pre-showed in order to make this work.
Stage
As the above is great for parlor (as they are pointing out a person), with a minor adjustment you can work this on stage. Instead of asking the first participant to point to someone, ask them to simply call out the
description of someone that stood out to them. Then ask anyone in the audience that thinks they match that description to stand.
This is where you have two choices: if the second pre-showed person is in eye-shot of the first, you can have them point to the person, OR if they are not, you can just point to the person that you pre-showed.
[Don’t be afraid if the person doesn’t point to the right person; just proceed into a different routine. Not the end of the world! What is great about setting up an additional pre-show is that, when it comes to the revelation of the description in the variation I am about to share, because you didn’t choose the participant, it makes the whole thing
seems so much more impossible and the reactions will be a lot greater as a whole.]
Now we have taken care of how to ensure that the pre-showed
participant gets onto the stage. Let’s take a look at the preshow I would apply to the actual participant coming onto the stage.
First, I find my candidate.
“Later in the show, I would like to try a special experiment with you.
It is all about creative thought and imagination, and I do not want to put you on the spot in the show, so I want to get the hard work done now. It will make things much easier for you later.”
[As this is very similar to my approach, the scripting here I think is perfect.]
“I want you to think of a place you have been to and absolutely loved, (wait for their confirmation) and now I want you to think of a place you would absolutely love to visit.”
[The participant has two destinations in mind now; this is where things get a little sneaky.]
Ask them to commit to the two places and to write them down. Ensure that they write the destination they want to travel to at the top and the destination they loved underneath (it is essential).
Address the participant:
“As you went for these places, you could have chosen any place. Hell, you could have even made the places up; as far as I am concerned, these could be made up places—somewhere from a movie, a book, from your childhood dreams. What is ultimately essential is that there is no way I could know these places!
“Later, I am going to ask you to think of making a mental j ourney to a place, a place that could even be made up; I want you to think of one of these two places for me.”
[Ensure that they understand; if I think they aren’t, I reiterate.]
“When I ask you to change your mind, I want you to j ump from one of these places to the other. If I tell you at any point to keep changing your mind, j ust keep cycling between these two places. If you do all of this for me, I am going to try and guess at least one of these places.”
[Now you have done something wonderful. You have set up the participant to change their mind as many times as you want, and they will only ever change between two pieces of information.]
Write down the participant’s description (on its own) and seal it into an envelope. Now when you go on stage later, you hand out the envelope to a random member of the audience (of course, that random member is the member we have asked to choose someone for us in preshow).
Ask that member to stand and point to someone in the room. They do.
“Completely free choice?”
Let them confirm that it is.
“Do you know each other?”
Get confirmation from the two that they do not.
“Wonderful.”
You can either invite the participant onto the stage or deal with that participant at their seat (for this effect it doesn’t matter).
“I would like you to make a fantasy j ourney right here and right now.
For a moment, I would like you to close your eyes and to think of a few places; these could be places you have been to or would like to travel to.
These could be made up places—somewhere from a movie, a book, from your childhood dreams. The choice of your fantasy destination is left entirely up to you. In a few moments, I am going to send you in your mind to one of these places.”
[You have just employed what is known as a call-back line (the lines about the movie, the book); they will remember you mentioning this in the pre-show and therefore will not even pay it any attention. If you had not mentioned these in the pre-show in the way you did, they could at this point potentially let their minds just wander somewhere else. This prevents that.]
This is again where we differ from the original:
“I want you to keep changing your mind for me.”
Give them a few seconds to do so.
“Now, honestly, there is not j ust one destination you were thinking of, correct?”
Let them answer.
“You have now changed your mind a few times.”
Let them answer.
“I want you to focus on one of the destinations. You changed your mind from any one of them. In fact, make it interesting, and go for a
destination you would love to travel to.”
[Lovely use of dual reality here: to the audience, you are telling them to go for any of the destinations that they changed their mind from; to the participant, you are directing them to go for the destination they would like to travel to.
This serves a beautiful purpose: it lets you know exactly which
destination they are thinking of, because you just disregarded the entire
"change your mind" thing without having to openly tell them to disregard it.]
This is where you let your participant travel in their mind to that place. I would make an effort to Google the place before the show starts, so I could point out a few bits and pieces before the final revelation. For instance with landmarks, I would not reveal the actual landmark, but I would reveal it in a totally ambiguous way that only the participant would understand. I would finish by revealing the place real time.
Get your round of applause and then ask the participant to take a seat.
As the participant is taking a seat, cut the applause short.
“Sorry, sorry, can you stand back up for me?”
Let them stand.
“Be honest. Did you try to catch me out there?”
Let them answer (the answer doesn’t make a difference).
Scribble the place they loved to visit on the pad (keeping it hidden from the audience and the participant) and say to the participant:
“At the last second, you changed your mind from another destination. I j ust saw this as you were taking a seat, and I got a sense this was a place you loved to visit.”
Let them answer and turn your pad around for an even larger round of applause. Let them take a seat now and start to talk to your audience.
Then stop mid-sentence.
“I forgot the envelope, the envelope!”
This is where you can fill in a script about how you made a journey the night before and saw yourself in that very room. The details were a little hazy, but you wrote down what you saw.
Now when the envelope gets opened, it devastates people, especially the person holding the envelope who chose the participant. It really solidifies the fact (from the audience’s perception) that they did in fact select the person at random!
[As you can see in this routine, the many layers that are placed together make this an impossible piece of what appears to be real mind reading.
Pay attention to all the little nuances and scripts, and think about how you could utilize this layering process in your own routines. It is a little bit of extra work, but on stage it gives you all the room you need to be playful!]