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At the Table Live Lecture - Paul Draper 3/11/2015 - video DOWNLOAD

Draper, Paul

Murphy's Magic Supplies, Inc.

(Based on 3 reviews)
Paul Draper is one of the hardest working mentalists and magicians we know. An anthropologist, magician and mentalist all in one, Paul has traveled the world performing, lecturing and spreading his knowledge of these arts, even having had the honors of performing at the world famous Magic Castle. Paul has appeared on TV on several occasions and won the Merlin Award in 2014 for Best Corporate Performer. In this AT THE TABLE EXPERIENCE, Paul will be performing and explaining pieces of both magic and mentalism. He will also be discussing the limitations of mentalism, how to create a character and much more.

We welcome you as we step inside the mind of Paul Draper!

Reviews

Stuart Philip

Official Reviewer

Jun 17, 2015

Paul Draper’s At The Table lecture was fantastic. For those of you who don’t know him, he is a mentalist. Throughout the lecture, he presents practical advice on working gigs, how to prepare, how to present various tricks and interacting with your audience.

Interestingly, he discussed the flaws of mentalism, and why mentalism can be boring…. how you can lose an audience and how you can grab and keep their attention. He is quite a captivating lecturer and his common sense anecdotes and tips can really help a performer reflect upon their own act, even if they are not a mentalist. Draper indicates that most people don’t want to be able to do magic, they want to be able to read minds.

During the lecture, he reviews mentalism gimmicks and toys and spends a decent amount of time discussing the oft neglected thumb tip. Draper demonstrates a few routines with a thumb tip and shows how powerful this $1.99 gimmick can be when used properly. He is critical of how we use the tip and it may make you rethink how you use a thumb tip, or inspire you to dig it out of your closet. Although he does not go into the mechanics of a switch, that is not necessary to understand the big picture he presents.

Draper gives war stories of the early years of his career and tells it like it is. He conveys a somber assessment of how performers can fail in this tough world. He also discusses, reading people, psychometry, the art of cold reading and how he relates to people.

His advice on understanding who you are and finding yourself as a performer is insightful. Although this lecture does not teach many tricks of mentalism, compared to several to several other lectures, it is still an excellent resource and lecture on the topics discussed above.
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Dr. J. M. Ayala De Cedoz

Official Reviewer

May 11, 2015

This lecture was fantastic! For me one of the highlights of the lecture was the fact that Paul tackles the often neglected aspects of mentalism, a genre itself that is inherently boring to most lay audiences.

Paul teaches you how to overcome that aspect in more than just one way. It is something that every mentalist or aspiring mentalist needs to think about - even magicians who never perform mentalism will take something away from this because it can easily be applied to them as well.

Paul talks about on-stage character development, putting a show together, planning your career whether it is as an amateur, hobbyist, or part-time or full-time pro, he discusses the mindset that you should have as it relates to success, etc. There is a lot of great information given here that is often overlooked.

He does not teach a lot of effects, but he does teach some very clever ideas and things that you will be able to use. As he point out though, the best thing to do with the effects that he does teach is to play around with the presentation and the outcome and suit them to your own personality and style. All in all I think there are less than eight effects altogether, but many of them are modular in both effect and presentation.

Whether you are a beginning mentalist or an experienced practitioner, you will get lots of great ideas and insights from this lecture. There is something here for everyone whether it is an effect or a bit of philosophy on character, show or career development.

Very, very highly recommended! 5 stars.
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Joe Diamond

Official Reviewer

Apr 01, 2015

If you are looking for the newest mentalism gimmick, this is not for you. If you want to learn what it takes to be a full time mentalist on stage and screen, this lecture is absolutely for you. You will get the real world, no nonsense advice to put you ahead of most other performers in the industry.

Paul gives you real world advice on everything from Psychometry, to Fortune Telling Fish, to Character Development, to Animal Crackers! The lecture format was very casual and fun. The 'host' didn't contribute that much honestly, although I never felt like he got in the way either.

You get behind the scenes stories of TV production, stage shows, and close up work. You'll hear how Paul deals with situations where things go wrong. You'll hear how he's developed his character and how he turns small tricks into stadium sized blockbusters.

If you are a full time or part time mentalist, this is a must have crash course to keep on your iPhone or iPad and listen to regularly.
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