10 posts for 10 years of Vincent Gambini
N.3
‘The Chore of Enchantment’
This was the show that came about from that god-awful sense that things were beginning to implode, courtesy of Brexit, Trump, and the growing awareness of global ecological collapse. Between 2016-2020 I developed The Chore of Enchantment: a show-within-a-show-within-a-dream kind of performance.
Aside from political ill feelings (and massive second album syndrome), there was much joy in assembling this magic show about a magician in crisis: ‘isn’t there enough deception going on in the world?’ I admonished the audience, in a mock Stewart Lee way: ‘Surely you don’t need me to provide you with more? So now my job is entirely redundant…’
The show script turned blank, untied shoe laces tied themselves as I played with what was and wasn’t part of the show, magician canes kept appearing, and I recounted the ghost of Paul Daniels appearing in a dream, advising me on how to distract the audience with magic, thus allowing me to secretly indulge my newfound doom-scrolling habit. There was a reveal at the centre of the piece: that the floating Yodas you see in Trafalgar Square are all magicians who have given up on their craft: they sit there all day, sleeping on their suspended platforms...
Various work in prog showings around the UK led to a 3-week run in Edinburgh, all produced by Sally Rose, and then a 2020 tour produced by Steve Goatman.
The show largely consisted of me describing the struggle to make the show (oh a familiar trope), including the various titles I went through: The Ills of Illusion, The Woes of Wonder, The Dismay of Deception, The Trials of Trickery, The Misery of Magic, The Wistfulness of Wizards…
With thanks to the performance’s supporters, especially Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts, Shoreditch Town hall, Cambrige Junction, ARK Stockton, and University of Sussex.
Precious dramaturgical input by Deborah Pearson and Greg Wohead.
Top photo by Rosie Powell, bottom photo by Hugo Glendinning.
N.3
‘The Chore of Enchantment’
This was the show that came about from that god-awful sense that things were beginning to implode, courtesy of Brexit, Trump, and the growing awareness of global ecological collapse. Between 2016-2020 I developed The Chore of Enchantment: a show-within-a-show-within-a-dream kind of performance.
Aside from political ill feelings (and massive second album syndrome), there was much joy in assembling this magic show about a magician in crisis: ‘isn’t there enough deception going on in the world?’ I admonished the audience, in a mock Stewart Lee way: ‘Surely you don’t need me to provide you with more? So now my job is entirely redundant…’
The show script turned blank, untied shoe laces tied themselves as I played with what was and wasn’t part of the show, magician canes kept appearing, and I recounted the ghost of Paul Daniels appearing in a dream, advising me on how to distract the audience with magic, thus allowing me to secretly indulge my newfound doom-scrolling habit. There was a reveal at the centre of the piece: that the floating Yodas you see in Trafalgar Square are all magicians who have given up on their craft: they sit there all day, sleeping on their suspended platforms...
Various work in prog showings around the UK led to a 3-week run in Edinburgh, all produced by Sally Rose, and then a 2020 tour produced by Steve Goatman.
The show largely consisted of me describing the struggle to make the show (oh a familiar trope), including the various titles I went through: The Ills of Illusion, The Woes of Wonder, The Dismay of Deception, The Trials of Trickery, The Misery of Magic, The Wistfulness of Wizards…
With thanks to the performance’s supporters, especially Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts, Shoreditch Town hall, Cambrige Junction, ARK Stockton, and University of Sussex.
Precious dramaturgical input by Deborah Pearson and Greg Wohead.
Top photo by Rosie Powell, bottom photo by Hugo Glendinning.
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