Yes, it's showtime!

I hope the descriptions that I give about the show itself are okay. Designing a show fit for Las Vegas is not something I have any experience of. Mostly, the bits described stemmed from the idea of incorporating a couple of elements from gen 2. When it came to writing it, it turned out that I didn't really have a clear picture of the show in mind. To be perfectly honest, a huge illusion show is not really my thing. I prefer the sort of magic act that is driven by the personality of the magician, but for Vegas I think it has to be a big spectacle.

Bit of magic theory for you here - thought you might find it interesting to see how a magician considers things from an audience's point of view. I mention the 'too perfect' theory, but don't go into details because it is a hotly debated issue amongst magicians. The ideas about 'right' and 'wrong' questions though are very relevant.

I also briefly describe an actual trick here as well - the disembodied head illusion. It's method is already pretty well known anyway. In fact, if you ever go to Alnwick Castle in Northumberland (where they filmed the outdoor scenes for the first Harry Potter film) you can see a version of it and have a photo taken of your freshly removed head.

Hope you enjoy! Myrtle


Chapter Fourteen: Take A Bow

Emily

All too quickly, we moved into our final few days of preparation before the show opened. The illusion where Katie apparently disappeared then reappeared elsewhere, was now fixed on as our closing effect – at least until a more permanent replacement could be found. We made it longer, until it was now much more of a performance piece, with some hastily added music and choreography. It was given a much stronger theme – with Cook playing a devil, intent on sabotaging the show. It was now him that tied me up, before locking Naomi into a cage that suddenly appeared in the middle of the stage. After some dramatic build-up, Cook whipped back the cover to show that I had vanished. Then Katie made her entrance. Instead of stepping out at the other side of the stage, she now appeared at the very back of the theatre, a spotlight announcing her arrival to the audience. With a theatrical gesture, Katie then directed the audiences' attention back to the action on stage. By the time everyone turned their heads, Cook was now the one trapped inside the cage, and Naomi was free to take her bow. Katie then made her way back to the stage to take her bow alongside Naomi.

The heaven and hell theme had sprung from Panda's costume ideas. She had really done a great job for us. Cook was to be decked out with horns and red body paint. I was to wear a white leotard with a sparkly trim, and long silver gloves. It was complemented with the biggest false eyelashes I had ever seen. When Katie made her appearance, she would be dressed identically, except that she would by then also sport a huge set of fluffy white wings.

We had also worked the same theme into a couple of the earlier illusions, with Cook turning up as the devil, attempting to ruin the show. It gave the whole production a more unified feel, and helped the final illusion to really make sense.

"No no no, that's too soon!" Naomi huffed in annoyance. We were rehearsing the newly altered closing routine onstage, and Katie was struggling to get the timing right.

"You show Emily's gone, then I step out, right?" She shouted from the other end of the auditorium. I stepped back onto the stage from the wings to see Naomi rolling her eyes. Katie made her way back to the stage.

"No" said Naomi firmly. "That's far too quick to reveal yourself. It goes against the 'too perfect' theory."

"The what?" Katie came to a stop just in front of the stage. She stood with her hands on her hips looking up at Naomi. Naomi sighed softly.

"The 'too perfect' theory. It's a magic theory that if a trick is too perfect, then an audience has only one direction for their thinking to go – in other words, they can figure it out." Naomi hesitated as she took in Katie's frown. "Look, forget about the theory – it's a load of bollocks anyway. Think of it this way: if you appear at the back of the room only seconds after you apparently disappeared from the stage, the audience will know that there is no possible way you could get there so fast."

"I thought that was the point!" Said Katie, flinging her arms out dramatically. Naomi frowned as she tried to figure out how to make her point clearly.

"Well, yes" she began slowly. "But not when it leads the audience down the right path."

"We've got to get the audience asking the wrong questions" added Cook, walking across the stage to join the rest of us. "If you show yourself straight away, then the audience will be asking themselves: 'how can she be in two places at once?' They're asking the right question, because the answer to it is: 'there's two of you'." Cook sat down on the edge of the stage and dangled his legs over the front. "But if you wait just a few beats longer before you show yourself, they'll be asking themselves: 'how the fuck did she get back there so quick?' Which is the wrong question to ask, because that's not what happened, so they won't be able to come up with an answer."

"Right" said Katie hesitantly. "So, I just wait a bit longer?" Cook and Naomi both nodded, happy that she seemed to have grasped it.

"I think we've rehearsed enough for today" said Cook, glancing at his watch. "Let's talk about more important things: the after-show party!" Katie grinned broadly, and even Naomi seemed to brighten at the mention of it. Only I remained indifferent to all talk of the after-show party, and no-one else seemed to have figured out why so far. They all began talking excitedly. Cook had insisted that it should be an extravagant, over-the-top affair, and was determined to foot the whole bill himself. He didn't even try to hide the fact that he wanted to outdo The Marvellous McLair. Naomi did her best to check some of Cook's wilder suggestions, but only half-heartedly. I suspected that she also liked the idea of outdoing anything Freddie could do.

"I've bought the most divine dress!" Declared Katie. "It's so elegant, and it's…" No one was listening. Everyone was intent on their own hopes and plans for the lavish party. They chatted on, unaware of my lack of interest.

"Oh, shit." I looked up to see Naomi staring at me, a stricken look on her face. "Emily! I'm sorry, I never even thought!" I did my best to give a casual shrug, secretly glad that someone had finally put two and two together. Katie and Cook both stared at me and Naomi, neither of them quite there yet. "You can't both go to the party" said Naomi gently, bridging that gap for them. Everyone lapsed into a guilty, slightly dumbstruck silence.

"It doesn't matter" I said with another shrug. Sure, I would have loved to go to the party, but I had already resigned myself to the fact that I wouldn't be able to.

"Well of course you can go" said Katie uncertainly. "I'll go for the first half, then you can change into my dress and…"

"No, Katie" I said firmly. I had already thought the idea through before now and dismissed it as unworkable. "We'd never carry that off. I wouldn't know who you'd talked to, or what you'd said to anyone." Katie fell silent again. She looked crestfallen. "It's only a party!" I insisted, as I saw a sea of gloomy faces staring back at me. God, why the hell was I trying to reassure them about it, when I was the one not going?


We all stood hidden from view, watching from backstage as the theatre slowly filled with people. Opening night had finally arrived, and I couldn't remember ever feeling this nervous in my life before. I felt like someone had been using my lower intestines to make balloon animals. I cast my eyes around the others. Cook was grinning broadly, bouncing about on the balls of his feet. He looked keen to get out on stage. Katie looked nervous but calm as she muttered her opening lines to herself. Naomi was staring intently at her hands, as she performed her coin roll over and over. She looked up and caught my eye. She gave me a reassuring smile.

"You okay, Em?" She asked. I nodded quickly, not quite sure that I could trust my vocal chords. "You look really nervous" she said with concern. "You're going to be fine, really. We've all rehearsed and you know what you're doing, you'll be brilliant!" She moved closer, and ran her hand soothingly along my arm. That, more than her words actually did have some effect. I took a couple of deep breaths, trying to calm myself down.

"Don't forget, the audience are more scared of you than you are of them" said Katie with authority.

"You're thinking of spiders" answered Naomi dryly.

"Nah, it's bears, isn't it?" Argued Cook.

"Why would bears be frightened of her?" Asked Katie with a frown.

"This isn't helping!" I snapped, getting tired of their squabbling.

"You do look a bit green" decided Cook, peering at me with concern. "I bet you've been pissing shit all afternoon, haven't you?"

I wrinkled my nose, repulsed by the mental image his words conjured up. Naomi realised that he still wasn't helping, so she sent him a death-glare. Cook sauntered off to his dressing room with a shrug.

"Bananas!" He declared as he re-emerged. He held a bunch of bananas aloft above his head. Then he began tearing them from the bunch and offering them round. "Seriously Emilio, they help. Potassium, or something." Naomi nodded her agreement at that, and took a banana. Soon, we were all chewing our bananas in silence.

"Do you think Freddie will turn up?" I asked eventually, breaking through the quiet. I was really just trying to distract myself from thinking about the show we would soon be performing.

"No chance!" Said Cook with a grin. "I paid a couple of mates to be bouncers on the door, watching out for him. If he shows up, they're gonna tell him his tickets are fake, and throw him out." Naomi smiled at him.

"Nice thinking, Cook. I'd rather he didn't see our show just yet. Let him read about how spectacular it is in the reviews for a bit first."

Soon, it was time to begin the show, and we no longer had time for nerves. I watched from the wings as Katie and Cook stepped out first to warm up the crowd. Cook strolled casually amongst the audience, interacting with people, scoping them out. Once he had selected his victim – a well dressed, middle-aged man sat near the front - he got him to his feet. The man was given no chance to refuse as Cook dragged him onto the stage in front of the still-drawn curtains. Cook chatted amiably to the man whilst he moved him about the stage. All the while, he rifled the hapless volunteer's pockets, relieving him of his wallet and anything else that was there. The audience roared with laughter as each item was thrown across the stage and deftly caught by Katie, who placed it all in a large bucket.

I had seen the routine in rehearsal, but seeing it for real, I had to admire Cook's timing. He chose his moments to perfection, doing everything without the volunteer suspecting a thing. He was simply baffled to hear the audience laughing so much. Occasionally, Cook waved a stolen item at the audience, carefully hiding it from view of it's owner. Eventually, the man was let in on the joke, and allowed to return back to his seat with his bucket full of possessions. Cook handled it all with such charm, that even his victim was laughing along.

Time moved swiftly. The show seemed to pass so much quicker than any rehearsal we had done. Soon, it was time for my first involvement. For the first trick I was a part of, Katie appeared to have her head removed and placed in a box by Cook. The box was then placed on a table. When the box was opened, the head could be seen inside, then it came back to life. My role was to play the head. For that, I was crouched on stage underneath the table. It was a cramped space, with no room for movement. I was unseen by the audience, due to two angled mirrors between the legs of the table. From the front, it looked as if you could see right under the table, but in reality, it was only a reflection. Once the box was placed down, I simply had to poke my head up into it from below.

It was a strange, slightly surreal illusion. We had struggled to find the right presentation for it, until the new addition of Cook's devil character. Once that element was in place, it fit perfectly into the whole show. Naomi, normally strongly against any presentation that involved male violence towards women, found herself able to reconcile with it. Since the illusion ended with her putting things back the way they should be, and the overall story arc of the show was that of two women triumphing over evil, we concluded that there was no underlying misogyny to the routine.

As soon as the segment was over, I felt so much better than I had before. I had been on stage, and not fucked anything up. Somehow I felt more confident that I could do so for every performance. I stood alone backstage, feeling my hands shaking as the waves of relief passed through me. All I had to do now was wait for the final illusion, and then it would all be over - at least for the first night.

The remainder of the show went as smoothly as any of us could have hoped. After the big finale, I listened from the wings as the audience roared and clapped their approval. Naomi, Cook and Katie all took their bows centre stage. I felt a small pang of anguish that I wasn't stood alongside them, but I pushed it away. This had been a team effort, and I was so elated that we had done it.

In a bustle of movement, the three of them came backstage.

"They love us!" Roared Cook.

"We were fantastic!" Bubbled Katie. Naomi grinned broadly as Cook wrapped her up in a tight hug. I had never seen her looking so happy.

"Yeah, they really seemed to like it!" she said excitedly. Katie threw her arms around me.

"We're a smash hit, Em!"

"Curtain call, ladies" announced Cook, gesturing towards the stage. Katie bounded over to him and linked her arm through his. As they walked back onto the stage, I saw Naomi hesitate.

"That's your applause as well you know" she told me with a grin. I matched it with one of my own.

"I know, but I can't go out there. Go!" I made a shooing motion, until Naomi joined the others back on stage.

Eventually, there had been enough curtain calls, and the audience was leaving. The four of us stood backstage, grinning ridiculously at each other.

"We really did it!" Said Cook. "Come here!" He pulled me into a hug. Once he let me go, he wrapped his arms around Katie.

"You were great" said a soft voice near my ear. I jumped as I hadn't realised that Naomi was stood so close to me. I turned to face her, and saw that she was biting her lip nervously.

"You did it" I told her. "You're a headline act!" She grinned at my words and moved closer. As she wrapped her arms around my shoulders, I slid mine around her waist. I allowed myself to get lost in the moment, if only for a few seconds. Naomi had her arms around me, and it felt wonderful.


"It'll probably be shit you know." Katie did her best to assure me as she applied fresh make-up in our dressing room. She was getting ready for the after-show party, and her guilt at my absence was starting to make itself felt.

"No it won't!" I told her with a grin. "Don't worry about me, just go and have some fun, okay?" Not the sort of advice that Katie usually needed, but I could see that she genuinely felt bad about the situation.

"You could still go instead" she told me softly, although the look on her face showed that she really didn't want that to happen. For a brief second, my mischievous side contemplated saying 'yeah, okay. How quick can you get that dress off?' – just to see her expression. Instead, I just told her again to go and enjoy the party. Katie hugged me, before picking up her handbag. She opened the door, then turned back to face me.

"We were great tonight" she said with a smile.

"You were great" I answered. "I didn't have much to do." Katie shook her head.

"We were great" she said firmly. "Look, I know you didn't really want to be part of the show Em, but I appreciate it, yeah?"

"It wasn't so bad" I told her with a grin as I hugged her once more. It was true – now that it was all over for the night, I felt ecstatic at the memory of being on stage.

"I'll pop in and see you in a bit, yeah?" Said Katie as she let me go. I nodded, although I honestly expected her to forget in the excitement of the party.

"You really do look amazing in that dress" I told her, before pushing her out of the room. I closed the door behind her and leaned back against it. After all of the recent bustle, everything suddenly seemed so silent. I knew that it would be unwise for me to try getting to my room while there were so many people hanging about the theatre, so I had resolved to spend the evening in mine and Katie's dressing room.

I poured myself a glass of wine, congratulating myself for my foresight in leaving a bottle here, and sank onto the small sofa. I picked up my book and flicked to the right page. I sat staring at my book for a while, but in reality, I wasn't reading from it. My head was too full of everything that had happened today to make concentration possible. I let my mind dwell back over the show. I could hardly believe that we had actually done it. That I had done it. Quiet little Emily Fitch had been on stage in front of hundreds of people. True, I had been posing as my sister, but that didn't alter my mood one bit. I was proud of myself that I had actually done it.

I desperately wished that I could be a part of the celebrations. I knew that it would be tough listening to the rest of them going on about it in the morning. But there was nothing any of us could do, so I resigned myself to a quiet night alone with my book.


Ah, poor Cinderemily. But you don't really think she'll be spending the whole evening alone, right? Of course not. She will have two talking mice to keep her company. Oh wait, that was disney...