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Sleight of Hand |
| Written by Tyler Rice | |
| Friday, 23 May 2008 | |
Sleight of Hand Tyler Rice 10 30 2006
The lights come up. The stage shines like a survival mirror reflecting the sun to hail a plane. The announcer speaks his name and the curtains part. The sounds of applause and screams fill the theatre. He steps forward, and with a simple gesture, silences the crowd. He says nothing, only points to a large case behind him. He opens the case and displays the emptiness inside to the silent watchers. He closes the door again and makes a bunch of meaningless gestures while the music swells. After enough tension has built he opens the door again. This time a beautiful woman walks out smiling. The crowd once again explodes. Laughing, screaming, some even crying, they emote purely for him. The lovely woman walks toward the edge of the stage while two assistants carry away the crate in the other direction. As the reach the edges of the stage, and are out of sight of the audience, they all dematerialize into thin air, their necessity having passed. He once again quiets the crowd. Another shockingly gorgeous woman materializes at one edge of the stage, just outside of the audience’s view. At the same time on the other end of the stage two assistants and woven basket appear on the other side. The woman walks toward him and the assistants carry on the basket while he makes up something about India and gurus and the ability to survive grave bodily injury. The woman climbs into the basket and he conjures a sword from behind his back. He could have just materialized the sword in plain view, but that’s not what the crowd came to see. He thrusts the sword through the basket, seeming to pierce woman inside, of course the woman isn’t there. For that matter neither, technically, is the basket, or the sword. He thrust another sword through, and another, and another, until there can be no doubt whatsoever that the woman inside must be dead, or at least bleeding profusely. Then he pulls a lighter that wasn’t there before out of his pocket and lights the basket ablaze, and lets it burn for a few seconds. He thinks about his grocery list while the fake fire rages next to him. He wonders if his neighbor is feeding his dog like he promised. Two assistant materialize across the stage and rush forward with a bucket of water. They dowse the basket, snuffing the flames. They then pull the swords from the basket. He makes another bunch of meaningless gestures, then pulls the baskets lid off while the music again swells. The woman steps from the basket again, not only alive, but also wearing a completely different outfit. Oops, he thinks, must pay more attention. But the crowd loves it. The show goes on, he invokes the right demons to make doves appear, wemon and lions disappear, and read the crowds mind, the whole time using misdirection. The crowd didn’t come here to see magic. They came to see tricks. Copyright 2008 Tyler Rice |
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