At the Table Live Lecture Andi Gladwin November 18th 2015

Gladwin, Andi

Murphy's Magic

(Based on 1 review)
With over 15 years of performing experience and a wealth of knowledge about the magic industry and history, we are absolutely delighted to have Andi Gladwin join us for an At the Table Experience like none other. Andi's Sleight of hand is second to none and his magic is world class (he was the only UK magician to perform at Obama's inauguration in 2013). Join us and get ready to have your card magic be forever changed. Modern Crime: Andi's stand-up presentation for the classic Ring, Watch and Wallet premise, with some clever handling tips and ideas from excellent stand-up magician Jack Wise.

Alice in Wonderland: A magic-packed routine using a book, a deck of cards and a watch, created alongside Joshua Jay. You'll be amazed as Andi gets six magical moments in just a few minutes.

Master Pushoff: A brief look at Andi's widely used Master Pushoff technique, including explanations of the Master Pushoff as a double turnover, second deal and even third and fourth deals!

From the Center: A version of Steve Mayhew's Poker Deal where you apparently center deal face-up cards from the middle of the deck. Watch closely and you'll swear that the cards really do come from the middle.

The Undo Cut: One of the most convincing false cut sequences to date. Its sloppiness makes it completely disarming and is something that you will definitely use.

Swindle Control & Tom Cruise Control: Two of the cleanest card controls in Andi's repertoire. The Swindle Control uses absolutely no sleight of hand, yet looks perfectly as though the selection is lost in the deck.

Convincing Tilt: A rethink of the classic Depth Illusion where the audience will be completely convinced that the selection is lost in the middle of the deck. Andi will also share some of his other finesses to help supercharge your Tilt technique.

Covered Slip Cut: Proof that slip cuts can look like real cuts! Andi will teach a tabled and in-the-hands handling of what many experts have called he most effective slip cut handling to date.

Spread Shuffle: An easy, yet effective tabled false shuffle that looks exactly as though you shuffle two spreads of cards together. Andi will also teach you how a participant can join in the shuffling too.

Magic Squared: To close the lecture Andi will perform and teach his magic square routine that was the talk of The Session, Blackpool and Magi-Fest earlier this year.

Reviews

Josh Burch

Dec 03, 2015

Andi Gladwin is half the magical brains that makes up the outstanding magic company Vanishing Inc. He and Joshua Jay have in my opinion created one of the best magic production companies in existence. The products that they produce are outstanding, their customer service is top notch, and everything that they put their mark on is better because of it. On this lecture you get some very good, professional material. If you were to purchase all of the products that Gladwin goes over you could easily spend over $100. Here you get it all for less than $10. In the past I have gone through each effect specifically, in this review I’m just going to talk about the highlights.

Watch, Wallet, Ring: The magician places their ring, watch and a bill inside an envelope. The objects vanish and reappear on the magician’s wrist, finger and wallet respectively. This is a fun quick effect but I don’t see it as a very strong piece of magic. Andi uses it as an opener, it strikes me as professional and character driven. It definitely plays big but there are parts of the method that are very transparent in my view, or just not impressive. I believe that this routine is used by Ben Seidman and many other professionals. I will not use it, but I can see the place that it would occupy for others.

Three Thoughts: This effect was performed in the middle of a larger routine. Loosely outlined a card was selected, a page in a book was selected and a time on a watch was selected. The three things are remembered, the magician reveals each thought and the page turns blank, the card turns blank and the hands vanish from the watch.

There is a lot going on here. I wasn’t crazy about the routine, it was difficult for Andi to perform it with just one spectator, but even if the scene was perfect I feel like there was a lot going on. That said, each of the three specific effects were great, in my opinion. The methods were clever and the effects were clear and clever.

My favorite was Andi’s use of Timeless by Liam Montier. A time can be selected, divined and the hands of the watch vanish while held by the spectator. This gimmick and DVD can be bought for $40 itself and Andi very kindly teaches how to make the gimmicks and even encourages the viewer to create the gimmicks themselves. This is incredibly giving of him and I encourage everyone to purchase the DVD. The methods for turning the page and card blank are both solid and very clever. I will be applying the card move to other routines for sure.

Talking about card moves. Andi opens the curtain to his Master Push Off. This is a tough approach to cards. Andi, with the help of The Master Push Off, has eliminated virtually all the “breaks” (ie. flesh breaks, pinky breaks). The Master Push Off is a technique that can help to perform very deceptive second deals, third deals, double lifts and controls. The idea piqued my interest but I haven’t made up my mind on the efficacy of this approach.

The creativity that comes from trying to eliminate something as common as the break is inspiring and outside of the Master Push Off the solutions that he comes to are very clever. Andi covers a handful of interesting sleights all taking this approach into consideration. He teaches a sloppy Lennart Green style false cut that is incredibly easy and deceptive.
The final thing that really stands out to me was Andi’s take on the magic square. It is outstanding! The magic square relies heavily on the performer’s charisma to pull it off well. Andi works in his performing persona perfectly. Gladwin’s magic square stands out for a few reasons. It uses specially printed cards, it is almost self working, there is no calculation to be done at all (he even gives you a scaffold so that you can look like you are calculating the totals at superhuman speed without any memorization), and you also get a giant kicker at the end when the magician turns the board upside down and continues the magic square. It is killer.

Over all this almost feels like a dealer demo, except in almost every instance you can make your own gimmicks, and he invites you to make your own. There is a lot of stuff here that can easily accordion to fit a close up or stage performance. Everything felt very professional. I will be using Timeless for sure in my act. This lecture is a steal, if you are interested in any of the above effects buy this lecture now.
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