#morganandwest

[alisonsye]

Time-travelling Victorian magic duo #MorganandWest. Photographer uncredited. Taken from a Southbank Centre leaflet #mostlyuninvited #mostlyuninvited794 #mostlyuninvited795 #alisonsye632 #artfromlondonbins

[i-have-no-idea-what-this-is]

Thoughts on people playing characters

One thing I have been thinking about a bit due to seeing magic previews are people who choose to be characters in their act. I'll explain what I mean by that. It's not being a character for one show, like an actor would, then switch to something else. It's sticking with a character for a longer period than that and doing multiple shows.

A famous example of this is Leigh Francis. His career has been built on sticking with characters for a while and rarely breaking it. Keith Lemon is his current one and he's only seen on TV as this character. I think I have seen an interview with Leigh a few years ago but all the other times I have seen him he has been one of his characters .This fascinates me, not because I like Keith or any of his other characters (I really don't) but because he just keeps it up. He has hosted shows as his character, done interviews and even has a documentary series coming up. I don't know how he does it. He has had to create an elaborate back story to be able to do this. I wonder how long it took to create the character as well as to maintain it. How does Leigh mentally cope with always being this character? Does he get bored?

In terms of the things I am actually interested in, there are a couple of magic acts that play characters. I know stand up and magicians arguably play characters, but they are mostly just exaggerated versions of themselves. This is not really the case with Piff the Magic Dragon. I do know a little bit about the reasons why John created the character of Piff due to an interview he did with Richard Wiseman in 2009. It was to reflect how ridiculous he felt when doing magic. What I am interested in is how he created Piff. Did he have any other ideas for the character, other animals or beings? What about the personality? How did he create Piff's story? Also, how much of Piff is himself? Would he admit that there are individuals he was inspired by?

Morgan and West are another example of magicians choosing to be in character. Again, I know a little about the reasons why they decided to go down that route as well as how they decided some things via their respective blogs. Their blogs are very interesting, by the way, so people should totally read them if you're interested in magic. Anyway, I am curious about the amount of research required to fully realise the characters. They are meant to be Victorian time travellers, so how much time did they spend looking into what sort of mannerisms and language a Victorian gentleman would use. I think they have done a great job in being Victorian. Also did they consider other forms of the characters, different classes, different origins. I also wonder how difficult they find staying in character. Do they have to work on how they speak, especially as they can't use contractions? Like Piff, I am also interested on how much of their characters back story they have thought of. On their website and in their shows they do create a story, although with somethings that are not fully explained or make sense. There are quite a few inconsistencies, which I will not reveal here due to spoilers for their Edinburgh shows. Most people will not be aware of these things like I am due to me being an utter geek when it comes to look at information about my favourite acts and of course seeing them the number of times I have! They are still awesome regardless. Back to the main point, their personalities in general are an interesting point. How much of their characters are themselves and how much is different? Personally, from what I have seen of them, it feels like they are pretty much Victorian versions of themselves.

These are a few things I have been pondering about, due to me being interested in the back stage elements of an act and the psychology behind it.

[i-have-no-idea-what-this-is]

Morgan & West: Teacups and Balls (by MrMorganandMrWest)

Seeing Morgan and West this evening. Here is a lovely video of them involving tea, balls, cake and confusion

[i-have-no-idea-what-this-is]

Morgan & West: Rhys or Rob? (by MrMorganandMrWest)

I saw these fabulous magicians last night

[drunkensemaphor]

Morgan and West @ Canal Cafe Theatre 4th May 2011

Last night I had the pleasure of seeing two wonderful prestidigitators preview their new Edinburgh Fringe show Crime Solving Magicians. The concept is that they find out that they are going to be murdered at the Ed Fringe and need to solve it using their magical powers and time travelling abilities.

This was a very stylish and well presented show. The concept meant it actually had a plot which makes it stand out compared to most other magic shows which are usually just a collection of loosely related tricks (not criticising those shows but they do account for most magic shows). I enjoyed the use of a voice over separating each section, as though it was an audiobook of sorts.

Also, the fact that they are Victorian parlor magicians how they look and present the tricks do stand out too. I just loved their humour and how they did not rely on cheap tricks to get a laugh. The closest thing to one was a visual gag which was quite clever and quickly dispensed with and was not explicitly mentioned by either magician.

There were some issues with the show however. This show relied heavily on prediction, which given the nature of the storyline is unsurprising. However, although for the most part the prediction worked, the very good stuff was watered down by the slightly less good ones. It was all too much at times.

Another problem was that the pacing was not quite right for some of the tricks and even the show itself. This meant that some of the tricks were dragged on too much and then some of the good ones were rushed through a little. One case towards the end where the trick promised quite a lot but although the trick was effectively completed, the more detailed parts of the trick were left not covered or attempted. This trick could have used more time on it to get the maximum impact. This rushing impacted the ending which felt like it was pulled out of thin air, although I do understand that it was probably done for comic effect, it would have been nice to dwell a little more on the solution to allow the audience to feel satisfied at following the show to its conclusion.

I also felt that the tricks were not as linked as carefully as they could have been to the overarching storyline. One very good part of escapology felt very out of place as the voice over did not really explain the relevance to the solving the mystery of their murder. A very brief explanation would have done that with ease. I assume that they will work on this more once they have their set of tricks solidified.

I would utterly tell anyone to go and see them, especially to these previews if you are not going to Edinburgh. I have made criticisms but it's because it is a preview and things are not going to be perfect and the magicians themselves wanted the audience to make comments on the show afterwards! They are a pair of very talented magicians and very funny to boot with a presentational style second to none. They are also very family friendly which is a bonus as many magicians I am interested in are not exactly that so everyone can go!

Here is a link to their upcoming shows: http://www.morganandwest.co.uk/shows/  They are doing the first Wednesday of every month up until Edinburgh at the Canal Cafe Theatre - http://www.canalcafetheatre.com/   I hope see many of you there! 

[drunkensemaphor]

Morgan & West: Forwards / Reverse (by MrMorganandMrWest)

I'm seeing these wonderfully Victorian magicians tonight! This is a simple trick but played around with to make it a little bit clever! I hope to blog a little review of the show tomorrow but in the meantime enjoy this video and check out some of their other videos on YouTube!