Shared Dreams by Marcelo Insua of Tango Magic, is a Confabulation routine. Confabulation is a mentalism routine whereby in a sealed envelope or box, the performer has predicted several random decisions made by one or more audience members. Since it was first devised by Alan Shaxon in the 1960's, there has been a multitude of variations of Confabulation and the methods to achieve it is as varied as well. The golden grail of Confabulation is being able to perform this remarkable effect without any assistance or with mechanical and electronic devises. In addition, it should be made to look like it has been done with ordinary objects and not items that came from a magic shop.

Shared Dreams is a natural and believable method which not only is plausible but portable as well. With only envelopes and pieces of paper one can create an effect that almost no one will forget. Every claim in the ad copy is true. What you receive when you purchase Shared Dreams everything (almost) you need to perform this. You will get 2 special gimmicks to help you achieve this miracle, 20 envelopes in which your prediction will be, a small writing pad and the instructional DVD.

The gimmicks and envelopes are constructed well. Not much can be said for paper envelopes but they are designed specially for this routine. The writing pad is a small pad minus lines on which you will write the spectators choices. You will need to buy a couple of additional items to assemble your gimmicks. You will also need to prepare ahead of time a crucial piece of the puzzle.

The DVD is adequate at best but thorough enough for you to understand all you need to. It is dubbed over in English for English speaking purchasers. For most of the video, the camera was handheld and the photographer constantly zoomed in and out at the moments where a close-up was needed. I found this particularly annoying. As a major player in the magic market, especially the coin magic market, one would think that some attention to the quality of the explanation video would have been more of a concern. The story line given by Marcelo Insua to justify having three envelopes in his hand unfortunately will not play well for many others. I personally am not a magician that travels the world and I certainly do not get love letters from my wife. If you yourself do not fit this scenario I suggest you come up with a story line that suits your own circumstances or you will sound disingenuous and the routine could fall flat.

As in other tricks, you will use up the envelopes and the writing pad. Since these envelopes are designed special for this routine you will have to buy more. In the past I have had an issue with refills but over the years my stance has changed. As a general hobbyist I hated using up items such as special cards because to replace them was expensive. However, as I started getting paid to perform, I looked at the few dollars in expendables as a cost of doing business. So, the take away is, if this is a paid gig the cost of replacement envelopes is minor and if you are performing just for fun realize that you will have to purchase refills. All in all, Shared Dreams is probably the most natural and easy Confabulation one can do without special equipment or any assistance.