Magic Tricks

THE 9 ROUTINES (35 mins,) in this dvd = presented to children in a school environment, are presented by Tony Chris in a slow, pretentious, flat (no affect) and dull/wooden manner. He is not an actor and expresses no 'dramatic flare'. Although a Canadian he pretends to be an European - Count Dracula himself - by giving himself a soft (!)contrived European accent/voice which is barely audible. Additionally, in 3 of the routines he turns his back on the audience as he searches in his prop box. In his interactions with the one child he invites onto the stage he is formal and bossy. His handling of props is slow because he is careful and considered, rather than very well rehearsed, 'snappy', alert to the surroundings and free in his body. He hampers himself by presenting himself - he explains - within a "gothic" tradition. To the onlooker, he simply appears slow of speech and movement and preteniously self-absorbed within the soft long hair he has chosen.

The dvd includes a so-called 'BONUS' section (25 mins) of Tony Chris showing a display of props he never used in the show !!!.

THE EDUCATIONAL discussion (30mins) in nothing more than Tony Chris displaying the props he DID use in the show.

I found both these sections educationally worthless.
Yer win some-yer loose some. Far, far better value is to be found in 'The Halloween Safety Show' dvd, by Tommy James - magician and educator who, in my view, has an active dramatic/theatrical style of presentation with children; and discusses and demonstrates his props in a manner that allows on-lookers to see how and why they were made the way/s they are. He also has a specialist store on-line.