Output details

Free Money Magic Show

My long-term project in performance has been concerned with examining the relationship between what has conventionally considered low, popular cultural forms, and complex and important ideas about society. To this end I have incorporated magic tricks, ventriloquism and comedy into a cabaret act and a series of full- length shows, which have made up my practice over the past 25 years. The core of this is my Magic for Socialism act, which has been performed at local, national and international venues.

Developing this research ‘Free Money’ built upon the ways in which money has long been a theme in magic - with the appearance or disappearance of wealth in the form of coins or notes as a popular trope. My practical research for this project thereby entailed:

- Developing a magic show which both illustrated and explained the workings of the money system, in the context of the international financial crash.

- Creating through improvisation, a serious show using a form which is often considered insubstantial, dealing with weighty technical and philosophical issues, and making the performative elements of the show a self-reflexive feature of the work.

- Making explicit in the fact that this show would be free, with audiences contributing voluntarily at the end. The precarious financial basis of the show would then itself become an important part of the theme, with the final collection established as a potential trading point.

- And lastly, further stimulus arose from the unlikely fact that I was given a valuable ventriloquial dummy dating from the nineteen sixties, which had been made by the leading craftsperson in this field, Len Insull. I decided that this act of generosity would also become integral to the show.

The work was presented at the Edinburgh festival, Aug 2013.