Philip Escoffey – Six More Impossible Things Before Dinner
Fairfax Studio, Arts Centre Melbourne
Reviewed on September 21, 2010
For ninety minutes, push skepticism aside, and come walk the tightrope.
Every great magic trick consists of three parts or acts. The first part is called “The Pledge”.
The magician shows you something ordinary: a deck of cards, a bird or a man. He shows you this object. Perhaps he asks you to inspect it to see if it is indeed real, unaltered, normal. But of course… it probably isn’t. The second act is called “The Turn”.
The magician takes the ordinary something and makes it do something extraordinary. Now you’re looking for the secret… but you won’t find it, because of course you’re not really looking. You don’t really want to know. You want to be fooled. But you wouldn’t clap yet.
Because making something disappear isn’t enough; you have to bring it back. That’s why every magic trick has a third act, the hardest part, the part we call “The Prestige”.
Michael Caine, The Prestige (2006)
Motion pictures like Alfred Hitchcock’s The Thirty Nine Steps, Christopher Nolan’s above – mentioned The Prestige, David Mamet’s House of Games, and Neil Burger’s The Illusionist seduce people into worlds beyond rational explanation where make – believe is king.
How these films dare to go one step further, is that they each take their trademarks, slowly pulling them apart one by one. The ticking clock is dismantled for our satisfaction; audience members are allowed in on the joke.
On name alone, Six More Impossible Things Before Dinner, could be the title taken from any work by Samuel Beckett, Eugene Ionesco, Tom Stoppard, Harold Pinter or Edward Albee. Presented by English master illusionist, Philip Escoffey, his tightly – controlled reality of fun and games isn’t far from that pre-conception.
In fact, this one – person act is the ultimate night of absurdist entertainment.
One of the sleeper hits from the 2010 International Comedy Festival, the stakes have well and truly been raised since April. Playing up a delicious sense of irony combined with his cheeky, rapid – fire wit, Escoffey makes a triumphant return to Melbourne.
Since time immemorial, magicians, card sharps and mind readers have forged a love / hate relationship with any followers of the art. When logic is deliberately skewed before our eyes, it throws a mighty spanner in the works. One of the questions running tandem with Six More Impossible Things Before Dinner is, how does he do it?
Like tantalizing clues from a crime scene, the Fairfax stage is empty apart from a few simple props.
A multi colored cube rests on top of a plastic cup. A brown leather briefcase sits to one side of the stage. Several chairs are placed front and centre. A new pack of Tarot cards lies flat on a round wooden table. Small pieces of paper with a question for the first two rows, have been left on patron’s armrests to fill in. Covered with a strip of black film, a cardboard sign is suspended from two thin wires. Its significance will be clear in good time.
In the raked Arts Centre auditorium, the audience couldn’t be any closer to the action.
A virtual Jack – In – The – Box, Escoffey jumps into action quickly. With the quick throw of a foam brick, volunteers are apparently chosen at random. As both witnesses and willing participants, our involvement is almost immediate.
At several key points in the show he eggs us on, begging him to reveal his secrets. This is a theme Escoffey employs, lecture – like, for the entire experience.
Part of the fun is asking if we would prefer he wore a white lab coat, or dress in a magician’s hat (with the smell of patchouli hanging in the air) to validate what we are seeing.
As the show builds, Philip Escoffey indeed lives and dies by his immense gift. Without the aid of David Copperfield’s lasers, smoke and mirrors, or indeed Mary Poppins’ magic carpet bag to hide behind, the electricity he creates between himself and the audience is gripping.
Following the penultimate trick, my guest turned to me and shook their head, laughing, “No f****** way!” If that isn’t glowing testament to Escoffey’s skill as an artist, entertainer, and wicked con man, I don’t know what is.
As members of his exclusive grouping, we have been asked not to reveal our experience outside those four walls. The joy is witnessing the final punch line, Six Sense like, in person. You won’t be disappointed.
Six More Impossible Things Before Dinner is playing until October 2.
Image Source: Eventfinda