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The Briefcase Illusion

Romhany, Paul

(Based on 1 review)
The Briefcase Illusion has been the opening for Paul Romhany's World Class Act for the past twenty years! An illusion that is designed to set up in less than five minutes, and pack flat in less than two! The possibilities are endless!! Use it as an appearance or vanish, as a solo illusion or with an assistant.

No mirrors or black art to worry about. The unique table design will allow you to use it throughout your show to retrieve or put away props, then at the right moment produce your assistant.

This illusion is designed to pack flat and play big, and best of all it is EASY TO BUILD, and requires only seven pin hinges.

The possibilities with this design are endless. Use it to produce a CEO of a company, for a product launch or at trade shows. You don't have to use a briefcase, you could produce a person from an empty box, a large hat or a modern looking suitcase. Paul has used this in almost every imaginable working condition from corporate shows, trade-shows to theatre shows, and cabaret work.

Easily build this illusion in a weekend, and have something unique and original to ad to your act.

Basic Performance: The MC walks on stage with a briefcase, no magician, just the case. He then places it on top of a writing desk. The lid of the case open, and the magician makes his appearance out of the briefcase.

Basic Vanish: The magician places the case on top of the writing desk, and a girl is pushed inside. The magician then picks up the case and walks off stage.

Variations: Use this for other productions with or without the briefcase. In Romhany's routine the briefcase lid opens up and an eight foot ladder appears from it, then Romhany makes his appearance out of the briefcase as though he is climbing up the ladder.

At FISM it was used to vanish TWO people. The briefcase was placed on the floor in front of the writing desk and a girl was pushed down inside. The magician then picked up the case and placed it on the table and another assistant was put inside the case. The case was then picked up and the magician walked off stage.

Produce or Vanish an assistant away from the table - use the table as a place to conceal your assistant.

Puppetry: This was also used for a puppeteer who was concealed inside the writing desk and able to operate a puppet while the performer interacted with the puppet.

Included in the book are:
Full plans both in 3D and 2D with all working dimensions so you can build this prop from home.
Photographs of each separate part of the prop
Step-by-step photographs on the set-up of the illusion
Variations on different routines and uses for the prop

BONUS: Video links to live performances PLUS the set-up and pack down of the illusion.

Pages: 53 - 8.5" x 11" - Softcover - Black and white photos and illustrations

Reviews

John Damen

Nov 05, 2011

Lets break this down, the Illusion itself, once completed is fantastic for the money invested in materials etc....no question. The real question here is...how easy was it to construct the illusion using this book? For me the book came off a bit unclear and difficult at times. There is access to an online video that comes with the book which helps to an extra degree but not 100%. The fact that I had some wood-working skill (I build my own floating tables, stage props etc) helped me work this out. But right off the bat, this book is using the metric system (I'm an inches and feet guy), so figuring out the measurements was like deciphering Chinese to me...lol. Then, the fact that they break it down in 'millimeters' (really?, why not centimeters??) comes really close to coming off as someone TRYING to make it difficult...lol. (That would be like describing a 5 foot board as "60 inches"). Plus the book doesn't clearly cover materials needed, amount of pin-hinges needed etc.

So bottom line, the book could have more thorough and clear, but I still gave it 4 stars because I now have a beautiful, easily transported and convincing stage prop as a result of buying this book,...and it didn't break the bank. Book difficulty or not, Id still recommend this.
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