Before I start: This is the first of Penguin's "Acts" series. When I subscribed, I was under the
impression that I would be getting lectures (these acts hadn't shown up on the site yet). So I was a
little disappointed that what I would be getting was not what I was expecting from the subscription.
From a first impression, it seemed as though there wouldn't be as much content as a regular Penguin
Lecture would have.
That being said, I like what Penguin are doing with the "Act" format.
This first one from R. Paul Wilson may not seem like much. There are only 4 tricks taught,
with a few ideas on what you can do instead. That might be a bit of a disappointment but these
tricks are discussed in a lot more detail than you would have in a lecture setting.
The
video starts with a full video of R. Paul Wilson's act in front of a lay audience. The purpose of
the act is to show what R. Paul would do in a situation where he's having dinner with other people
and he has to do something last minute. I kind of like that a full show is shown before getting into
the explanations and there's much to study from this part as well as the explanation section.
Then come the explanations. There's a lot of theory involved here, talking about impromptu
magic, talking about three-act structure, and having a theme bringing those three parts together.
All are important when it comes to creating an act like this. Everything for the act can be acquired
last minute.
He starts with the breadcrumbs effect with coins. This is a simple effect but
is important to establish the theme or premise that will carry the rest of this act. He then shows
an alternative effect that you could do instead if you don't have enough coins (or you could do it
straight after if you wish).
Next comes the card under tablecloth using the spectator's
id/credit cards as an impromptu deck of cards. This is perhaps my favourite trick in the set and one
I'm looking forward to trying out when out with a few friends.
Finally is the chop cup
routine, and this gets a lot of discussion on what you could do with the final load. Lots of great
options for what you could do here.
Finally, there's a quick chat on what type of effects
Dan would do and a discussion on impromptu tricks in general.
This may not sound like a lot
but the video is around 2h30m which means that the tricks discussed get a lot more attention to them
than they would if they were in a typical lecture. There's a lot of good advice given here on how to
structure an act.
In conclusion: While I was disappointed that this wasn't a lecture like I
expected with my subscription, I enjoyed the format and the content that was within. I will
certainly use at least one thing from this act and I've learned some good tips on act structuring
and theming.