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Look, No Hands
by Wayne Dobson
Reviewed by Liam Montier
“Look No Hands” is a new
collection of 10 routines from the ever astonishing Wayne Dobson, and the theme,
as you may have guessed, is that all of the tricks have been structured to work
without the need for the magician to touch anything.
Although Wayne mentions that he came around to this style of routining through
necessity (due to his M.S.) he goes on to mention how much stronger his routines
became as a direct result, and encourages the reader to explore this concept.
While some of the routines would take masterful audience management to keep
completely hands off (which Wayne has in spades), there is much to learn from
adapting as much of this approach as you would be comfortable with.
Out of the ten effects, some have been published before, but Wayne includes
enough new ideas and presentational twists to make even avid collectors of his
work find value in this new booklet, and some of my personal favourites are
mentioned below.
“Out of my Hands” is an interesting variation on Paul Curry’s classic ‘Out of
This World’ which features a great ‘build-up’ construction, starting with the
performer being able to identify some of the cards colours, and then two
spectators simultaneously separating the deck in classic fashion, “The Sh*t
Spell” is an extremely funny version of the classic ‘spelling’ trick that, while
it won’t be for everyone, for the right performer is going to be a killer.
“Invisible” is another ideal trick that I can see working its way into acts left
right and centre, where a card chosen from the ‘invisible’ deck turns out to be
genuinely the only card in a prediction envelope in full view.
In my opinion, those tricks alone make this a worthwhile purchase, but then
there is so much more in the booklet. New versions of Wayne’s classic ‘Tossed
Out Deck’ routine and ‘Echo’ are, well, even more classic than before, and that
just covers half of the material included in this collection.
Well written by Stephen Tucker, nicely produced (there are no photos, but none
of the routines need them to be honest) and would be an entertaining read for
the stories and jokes alone. The fact that this booklet also contains the
repertoire of one of the most entertaining performers magic has ever produced is
a rather splendid bonus.
9/10
Available from www.waynedobson.co.uk
© Liam Montier, March 2011