Pantomime is magic! Audiences expect to be amazed and entertained by the hard-to-explain happenings in the fantasyland that is pantomime. Storylines are greatly enhanced by the introduction of the unusual – which becomes usual in pantomime!

Pantomime is a world where the impossible becomes possible – a world of fantasy. Script-writers and producers have a duty to create a place of mystery, because panto-land is a magic place the ‘magic’ should be performed ‘matter-of-fact’ as an everyday, normal, occurrence, and not displayed as a conjuring trick.

You will find in this book over forty gags, stunts, illusions and bits-of-nonsense especially collected for use in pantomime. This is not a book to help you to do conjuring tricks or to make you into a magician. The aim of this book is to allow you to put some magic into your pantomime production. This collection includes simple gags, some of which can be made by yourself; some standard magical props which you will be able to buy from a magic shop, and other larger illusion-type stage props which will have to be made by yourself or your props-maker.

'Pantomine Magic' is an ebook downloadable and available immediately in .pdf format. This book can be yours in minutes for only £15.00.

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Book Contents
1 Contents & introduction
2 Transformation
3 Misdirection
4 Black Art
5 Practise makes perfect
6 Stage Illusions
7 Over-the-counter magic
8 Miscellaneous routines

Tricks and Tips
A magical puppet Alchemist’s dream Applause board
Bending flower Boomerang bouquet Boy in a box
Bra trick Breakaway wand Chameleon silk
Children in cage Cinderella transformed Cinderella’s feast
Colour changing rope to silk Dove pan Flash pot
Floating figure illusion (2) Half a bloom Indian rope trick
Liquid tumbler Magic camera Magic hands
Magic Mirror Magic washing line Making a genie appear 1
Making a genie appear 2 Milk pitcher Money maker
Mystic smoke Peter teaches the children to fly. Producing a bouquet
Removing a shirt Rigid rope Self-filling tumblers
Square pig looks round Talking picture The boiling kettle.
The way out! Thumb tip Tied to the mast
Tinkerbell flies around the room Treasure chest production Wendy house production
Wilting flower    

EXCERPT FROM THE 'PANTOMIME MAGIC' BOOK
Chapter 4 Black Art

"Black Art" has nothing to do with the "black arts" of legend. Instead, this is a separate sector of magic. The principle works on the idea that a black object can’t be seen against a black background.

This kind of magic is no doubt the closest to an act of real magic in existence, and one of the easiest kinds of illusions to perform. If the wizard or fairy or other immortal wears a white or bright outfit as the lights go down the audience will see only the immortal. The wizard/fairy can command any desired item to appear, float and then disappear. People, animals, flowers, tables seem to appear, vanish or float at a command. There is absolutely no end to what the performer can do.

The secret
This is field of magic which has largely disappeared in present-day magical performances but is ideal for certain scenes in pantomime., particularly those scenes when the lights are low and the stage is dark. It is relatively easy to perform and thus is ideal for non-magicians to do well.
In the dark, particularly with UV lighting shining on the stage, everything that is black is unseen by the audience. Everything which glows in UV light will be seen by the audience. To make something appear, just have your black-clad assistant carry it onto the stage.

The book can be bought online for only £15.00


Please Note: After making a payment via Paypal you will need to click the link shown by Paypal to return to this site so that you can download the book. Thank you.


John Yates has worked in amateur pantomime for over thirty years as an actor, writer and producer. He has written pantomimes for most of the popular traditional pantomimes and currently runs a Community Drama Group in Cheshire. He has collected thousands of gags, skits, sketches, and comedy routines and has now put these together in a convenient reference book He also writes scripts for puppet plays and local concert parties.

Write Your Own Panto and Pantomine Magic are © 2007 John Yates and may not be copied or reproduced in any form.
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