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Illusions 101 — Part Four: Circumvention

This is, I confess, a topic about which I feel somewhat unqualified to write. Thus the long delay in tackling it, I imagine. But if my modesty (you must acknowledge, vast) seems to exceed my confidence, well, it’s not that I haven’t tried to get a handy handle on it. It just seems to be a topic that refuses to be encompassed by convenient categories. I blame Max Maven, for one. With more than 1,700 released effects to his credit — a goodly number of them useable by illusionists — it’s a daunting task to become familiar with just his effects and how they might fit into the category of Circumvention. So, I hereby make a prediction: this article will begin with Circumvention illusions that are easily defined and end with a broad generalization just as the topic begins to get away from the author….

Circumvention Recap
In an article written many moons ago, I attempted to summarize the Circumvention category with the following paragraphs:

“Illusions that affect Nature comprise the final category — what Poe would have called “preternatural” abilities and I think that’s the best word for it since it precisely encompasses effects that seemingly occur outside the laws of Nature (such as Levitations) as well as psychic phenomena (including Mentalism). Such a category may be an over-generalization, and I apologize if I’ve lumped devotees of many branches together, but if you think about it for a minute, these effects tend to focus on one or more laws of Nature or physics over which the performer has an apparent immunity or control: Gravity, Inertia, Confinement, Mental Privacy , Properties of Matter, Constants of Time and Space, Barriers between the Living and the Dead and more bow to the will of the Illusionist, Mentalist, Bizarrist and (depending on presentation) even Escape Artist — how about the “Spirit Cabinet?” By further refinement of the category, they tend by method and presentation to be separate from other forms and comprise a world of performance all their own — some advocates eschewing Transition or Alteration altogether and making a complete career of Circumvention effects.

"For the illusionist, bringing these kinds of effects to the stage can be a trick all by itself. Without a camera and large-screen TV to work with, expansion of scale is the primary solution. Apart from Levitations and Suspensions, “Room Service,” “Dream Vision/Graffiti,” and “Color of Emotion” are a few of the more successful stage-sized Circumventions that spring to mind. Max Maven excels at this kind of thing (he created “Color of Emotion” for Charlotte Pendragon) including all the interactive stuff done for television.”

That seems as good a summary, and starting place, as any.

Suspensions and Levitations
The simple difference between a Suspension and a Levitation is that the suspended individual remains fixed in space while the levitated individual moves through space, although both appear to do so without visible means of support. It’s a minor point but it does irritate when terms are used interchangeably by performers or, even worse, by illusion designers who ought to know better. There are, to my knowledge, only two methods of convincingly defying the laws of gravity: by means of a fixed support or by wires. Granted, there are occasional attempts to try something different — but I did say “convincingly” and so we’ll focus on these.

The fixed support is by far the more ancient and frequently used method. >From an Indian Fakir meditating in mid-air as his arm rests blithely on a walking stick to Broom/Chair/Sword Suspension, the classic “Aga Levitation,” Vanishing Feet cabinet, and so on, the fixed support rules by means of its simplicity and stability. Even the Cub Scout Magic Book includes a fixed support Levitation (composed primarily of femur and tibia, but there you go). This method lends support either from beneath the floating body or from behind. One or more supports may be used or the support may be curved, traditionally in an “S-shape,” to facilitate the “proof” which is usually a hoop being passed around the body several times. Occasionally, several supports are used in tandem so that they can be withdrawn serially and re-attached when a solid hoop is used. More often, a hoop with a locking gap is used, much like a “Linking Ring,” and the hoop is passed cleanly on and off again.

More recently, the wire method was developed. Howard Thurston used a rig composed of numerous fine wires in his legendary “Levitation of Princess Karnac” although there are even earlier examples. The descendent of Princess Karnac is found in David Copperfield’s “Flying” rig which is a configuration patented by John Gaughan. The advantages of the wire method boil down to mobility. The wire rig allows for superior freedom of movement and that all-important “lighter-than-air” feel.

The best way to tell the difference between the two methods is to observe how the floating body moves and what means are used to demonstrate the apparent lack of support.

Escapes
Escape Artists may not wish to be lumped together with Illusionists; however, their success depends on creating a specific illusion: that they are legitimately restrained and as likely to suffer harm or duress as the next guy which, obviously, they are not. Literally, Escape Artists circumvent their restraints by means of hidden keys or picks, trick lock setups, and hidden assistants as well as taking advantage of physical attributes unnoticed by the audience. For example: Houdini would often escape from several pairs of handcuffs running up his arms. If a set looked particularly troublesome, he would put them on last, high up on his muscled forearms near the elbows. Naturally, they couldn’t be closed to the same small diameter as the sets nearer his wrists and therefore could be slipped off easily once the other pairs were removed, a fact that the audience never suspected.

This is not to say that Escapology is without a significant need for well-developed skill, strength, and willingness to accept risk. If you want a category most likely to change the color of your underwear in performance, try Escapes.

This Just In
Thanks to “David Blaine: Frozen in Time” and Copperfield’s “Tornado of Fire” I would add physical challenges and (by psychological association) illusions that include bodily mutilation to this category. Physical challenges are arguably the most legitimate in presentation and are endured more than circumvented. However, the circumstances are mitigated in favor of the performer while the dangers are given the hype treatment. The audience is made to believe that the challenge is extraordinarily risky as at the very same time those risks are minimized. Of all the demographics likely to be impressed by Blaine’s stunt, I’m sure “Eskimo” would be nowhere near the top….

Bodily mutilation and geek magic falls into this category as well. Pounding a nail into one’s nose or stabbing oneself through the arm with an upholstery needle constitute a special sort of Circumvention that seems to demonstrate the performer’s ability to endure pain while at the same time nauseating a substantial portion of the audience. Played for laughs as often as played straight, this branch of magic has its own sub-culture that Venn diagrams into the pierced and tattooed set.

Finally, Mentalism
A person’s private thoughts are considered to be sacrosanct along with the undetermined (and undeterminable) state of future events and the constancy of physical objects unless acted upon by direct means. This is the demesne of the Mentalists and Bizarrists who tread with aplomb across the landscape of Nature by breaking down these otherwise immutable laws. I suppose you could throw in self-proclaimed “psychics” and those who claim to communicate with the dead in sterile, three-camera “séances” but it seems to me to be an insult to the Mentalists and Bizarrists. I most appreciate and value those who leave the decision up to the audience as to whether their perceptions are extra-sensory or their affinity for those beyond the pale is real.

Now, before the topic completely circumvents my abilities to categorize: anything that appears to defy the laws of Nature by the power of one’s will or the influence of unseen hands (talons, etc.) is a duly identified illusion of the Circumvention category. How’s that for a generalization? Ah, well. While I may find it difficult to define Mentalism, I know what I like….

Finally, Finale
So there you have it. An attempt to describe what I consider to be the third category of illusion. If you’d like to read about the first two categories, Transitions and Alterations, they’re available in earlier issues of Visions.

Michelangelo