Issue 19 - Mar 08
Chez Louisa
Steve Cantwell
Available from www.spocmagic.com
Price: £45
This is a very interesting routine for mentalists who work
stage or cabaret shows. The performer invites a spectator on stage and hands her
a glossy restaurant menu which purports to come from an establishment called
Chez Louisa. The lady is requested to open the menu and to confirm that there
are sections inside which are allocated to seven different countries, and that
each section contains a different selection of four three course menues from
that country. Having digested the contents (excuse the pun!) the lady is asked
to select any of the 28 three course meals and to concentrate on it. Gradually
the performer starts to reveal the one she is thinking of until he is able to
give full details of her chosen menu. Having successfully arrived at her chosen
menu, he now gives her a wine list and she is asked to select any of the five
listed wines. When she names her choice, an envelope, which he had earlier shown
to contain one slip of paper, is picked up and the slip of paper removed to
reveal it has printed on it the name of her freely selected drink.
So, an interesting plot and one which I think would engage
an audience, particularly if the performance was taking place in a restaurant or
at a dinner function. First let's look at the props. The menu is A4 in size when
held closed and has glossy artboard covers and thick glossy paper for the pages
inside. The colour scheme of brown for the outside and predominently black for
the inside pages looks a little sombre and unimaginative, but I suppose menues
are often not a riot of colour and so it might look like it has come from a
classy restaurant. The menu is cleverly designed so that unknowingly the
spectator will clue you in to which menu she is looking at simply by opening the
menu up. I thought this was a particularly clever and elegant idea and one that
would give you a little kick every time you did it. As well as the menu you also
receive a laminated wine menu sheet and a printed Chez Louis envelope inside
which are a number of compliment slips with wine names on them. Although these
are printed on glossy paper I would imagine both these and the envelope would
very soon become a bit grubby or damaged with performances, so you might need to
produce replacements yourself if Spocmagic don't supply them.
Now for the method. This has been very well thought out by
Steve Cantwell and it struck me that in the right hands this would play quite
strongly. There is a certain amount of memory work, something which would not be
a problem if you performed this routine on a regular basis, but which might be
difficult if you only worked the effect occasionally. Steve does make some good
suggestions for how to simplify the memory work, but even that in itself
requires a bit more memory work, so if you want to work this, be prepared to put
the necessary time in and learn those bits that need to be committed to memory.
The techniques required rely to a certain extent on good use of patter, and
Steve provides his personal patter which I thought was in this case a big help
as it enabled you to see how you could make the revelations as natural and
amazing as possible.
The prediction of the wine in some ways seemed to me a
little anti-climactic as I didn't feel it was as strong a piece of mentalism as
the revelation of the meal choice. After all, the wine list only has 5 wines on
it whereas in the first part the performer is revealing an entire three course
meal chosen from a possible 28! The
other part that I felt was a bit weak was a middle section in which the
performer attempts to prove that he may have influenced the spectator to select
the menu that she has gone for. Now, I know you can present this effect in
different ways (are you reading her mind as she thinks of her menu, or are you
subliminally making her choose a particular meal?), and Steve feels that this is
a lighthearted segment that creates an entertaining interlude before moving on
to the wine selection, but I must confess I didn't think it added a great deal
and if it wasn't presented well, might even detract from the excellent opening
part of the effect.
So, all in all I would say that Chez Louisa is possibly
worth buying just for the menu revelation alone, and then if you find you like
the other parts you can include them, or perhaps you may choose to leave them
out. At the price I think the item is a bit on the expensive side which may put
it outside the pocket of the casual performer, but for a working stage mentalist
this should not be an issue. ML
What's Hot: clever and convincing menu revelation
What's Not: second and third sections not quite up to the standard of the first,
fair bit of memory work
Star Rating: ***
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