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Duet

Jack Kent Tilar

Learn-Rite Press

(Based on 1 review)
The EASY way to entertaining two-person mind reading.

This is required reading for the mentalist who wants to do corporate or high-end social party mentalism. It's filled and brimming over with brilliant and original routines!


  • No tedious codes or painful memory work!


  • No electronics or impression devices!

  • No apparatus or equipment required!

  • No stooges or hidden assistants!

  • Everything from impromptu parlor routines to full evening stage second sight acts and classic thought reading routines!

This is your passport to enjoy the wonderment of the two-person mind-reading world. Includes the complete acts:

  • "Fantasy Impromptu"

  • "That's Impossible"

  • ... and much, much more!

Over thirty effects, routines, and acts, plus sixty years of wisdom and grease paint!

"...another great magic mind!"
- Teller

"It's no wonder you have such a sterling reputation."
- Ken Weber, author of Maximum Entertainment

"Anything Jack Tillar creates is absolutely first class."
- Milt Larsen, co-founder of The Magic Castle

"The great strength of Jack Tillar's writings, unlike so many of today's innovators, is that he gives you a great variety of styles and presentations so you can fit any performing venue or audience."
- Leo Behnke

Pages 156 - Softbound

Reviews

Christian

Official Reviewer

Jan 26, 2009

Duet by Jack Kent Tillar is a paperback book with 156 pages. The concept of this book is to create a two person mind reading act without any arduous memorization work. Jack has covered a great deal of material in the book and is full of interesting ideas.

Part one of the book is a complete 30 minute 2 person impromptu act. It consists of a blindfold act where the partner on stage calls out random items that the sender picks up as he walks though the audience. The next effect is a clairvoyant routine where items have been collected from the audience and placed in a paper bag. Your partner stays clear from the bag and one by one calls out items that are inside. You take them out one by one to show that she is correct. We now move to a type of design duplication with a very clever method. Jack also gives you the step by step blocking that will make this work.

Next is a bit of comic relief using two people from the audience. It is a cute psychic compatibility routine that allows for some fun and makes a cute couple in the audience the stars. The act finally ends with a challenge that was set up before the show. Items that have been sealed before the show and held by the owners the entire time are identified by the mentalists under what appears to be impossible conditions.

This takes you up to page 27. I won’t go through the whole book there is simply too much material. For me the material ranged from “Wow, that’s very clever!” to “Not quite sure that is going to work in the real world.” Jack’s thinking is definitely outside the box on many routines. I liked the fresh thinking on many of them.

Many of Jack’s routines use a bit of preshow work. Not the dangerous kind that requires a dual reality kind of tiptoeing but solid, straight forward, “I would like to use you in the show so . . .” The preshow person will be just as surprised as the audience. The only drawback to some of these routines is that you will not be able to use them in every show but when you are able to they will be killer.

Some of Jack’s routines are a bit fuzzy. I wish he would have gone into greater detail on some of the methodologies of the effects. If you are at an intermediate level or higher you should be able to ascertain his concepts. However if you are not well versed in mentalism you could get lost in some of his vague explanations.

There is a certain boldness in some of Jack’s routines. They will not be for the faint of heart. I am quite sure that some of these routines should not be attempted unless you have real performance time in front of live audiences.

Jack also values routining. As I read through his “acts”, I was impressed with how he put them together. I think this is one of the strengths of the book.


If you are considering a two person act, Duet is definitely worth looking into.
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