Britain's brightest independent magic magazine

Issue 26 - May 09

Review

Neat And Tidy  

Wayne Fox
Available from www.waynefoxmagic.co.uk
Price: £24.99  

Here is a highly visual and fast piece of magic from pro close upper Wayne Fox. A bundle of loose rubber bands is shown and when rolled between the two hands, they instantly and visually turn into a solid ball of rubber bands that can be bounced on the floor or table. It's impossible to describe in words how good this looks if you catch it right because you really need to see it to fully appreciate it, but I'm sure it would get a strong reaction from spectators.  

This works best if used as a follow up to some other rubber band magic because in itself it is a bit too quick and there is no real logic for bringing out a big bunch of loose rubber bands if you've not been using rubber bands previously. Wayne suggests that you perform Crazy Man's Handcuffs and/or ring on/off a rubber band as a lead in to Neat And Tidy as this accustoms the audience to seeing you do magic with rubber bands. Then when you bring out the pile of loose bands it just looks like this is your supply of bands that you use for the other tricks.  

Technically this requires some skill and so will need practice. The actual concept is simple enough and you are supplied with all the bands, the band ball and a gimmick you need, but to get it to look as good as it does when Wayne performs it, you will need to put some time in to ensure that you get the timing and the angles right. There is some palming involved and there are bad angles, so you will need to cover those by your body position and how you hold your hands. Seasoned performers will understand and automatically adjust their positioning, but if you have less performing experience, you will need to think about this carefully or you will expose the method.  

The instructions come on DVD and are nicely produced. Wayne goes through the handling carefully, although in truth there is little to explain as the technique is simple enough in theory, it just needs you to try it out and go through it with props in hand. This is a really different effect and with no re-set can be immediately repeated. Give it the practice it deserves and you will have a startling piece of visual magic to add to your repertoire. ML  

What's Hot: unusual effect, highly visual magic
What's Not: some angle problems, palming involved
Star Rating: ****

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