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Absurd Cups & Balls Routine!

Posted: December 9th, 2012, 3:39 pm
by Magic Newswire
Yann Frisch's winning cups and tomatoes routine is getting attention outside the magic community with sites like Gawker taking not of the video of his winning performance at the 2012 International Beijing Magic Festival getting more than one million views. Though some may call it juggling, it sure looks magical to me! MORE :: http://bit.ly/YannFrisch

Re: Absurd Cups & Balls Routine!

Posted: December 9th, 2012, 8:58 pm
by Carl Seiger
Wonderful!!

Re: Absurd Cups & Balls Routine!

Posted: December 10th, 2012, 1:00 pm
by Jonathan Townsend
please, it's got several vital roots.

not sure about the pacing/breathing but it's a remarkable performance.

Re: Absurd Cups & Balls Routine!

Posted: December 10th, 2012, 1:53 pm
by JHostler
You'd be hard-pressed to find a more potent balance of technical skill and theatrical creativity. Yann sets a benchmark, for sure. Just unfreakinbelievable.

Re: Absurd Cups & Balls Routine!

Posted: December 10th, 2012, 7:03 pm
by Magic Fred
JHostler wrote:You'd be hard-pressed to find a more potent balance of technical skill and theatrical creativity. Yann sets a benchmark, for sure. Just unfreakinbelievable.


It's good. But it's not that good.

Re: Absurd Cups & Balls Routine!

Posted: December 10th, 2012, 7:18 pm
by Steve Hook
Magic Fred wrote:
It's good. But it's not that good.


From one FISM winner to another...
;)

Re: Absurd Cups & Balls Routine!

Posted: December 10th, 2012, 11:41 pm
by Michael Kamen
Cardini was tipsy, and very understandable. I found myself asking what ailment our main character suffers from in this vignette.

Re: Absurd Cups & Balls Routine!

Posted: December 11th, 2012, 12:23 am
by Steve Hook
Michael:

"Frustration as he fails to control/stop these odd occurrences perpetrated by what should be inanimate objects"?

Re: Absurd Cups & Balls Routine!

Posted: December 11th, 2012, 12:34 am
by Michael Kamen
Yes, frustration I agree, to an extent that seemed borderline psychotic. That I think detracted from the magic, whereas Cardini's good nature about the whole thing seemed to enhance it. For Cardini's character, magical things were happening. Yann's character seemed to resist it at every moment. The drama of that struggle, I think, detracted from the drama of the magical effects themselves imho.

Re: Absurd Cups & Balls Routine!

Posted: December 11th, 2012, 11:01 am
by Richard Kaufman
So what if it seems "borderline psychotic"? It's an incredible theatrical presentation. If you don't like theater in your magic, then it's not for you.

Re: Absurd Cups & Balls Routine!

Posted: December 11th, 2012, 11:21 am
by P.T. Murphy
I love this! It puts me in the mind of Krapp's Last Tape. Well done Yann.

Re: Absurd Cups & Balls Routine!

Posted: December 11th, 2012, 9:08 pm
by Michael Kamen
Richard Kaufman wrote:So what if it seems "borderline psychotic"? It's an incredible theatrical presentation. If you don't like theater in your magic, then it's not for you.


Perhaps so. I do appreciate the skill of the performer, but I do not find the skit effective dramatically or magically. Dramatically the character seems hollow -- there is no empathy built up for me, no backstory to why the character is in this extreme state over what is occurring. The obvious skill employed detracts from disbelief suspension needed for the dramatic elements. On film, with suitable plot development, and special effects appropriate to that plot, this would make sense to me. That it won a FISM award indicates that Yann knew what this audience would appreciated. No criticism of him intended here.

Re: Absurd Cups & Balls Routine!

Posted: December 11th, 2012, 10:43 pm
by Michael Kamen
Just showed it to my wife and she loved it. What the hell do I know.

Re: Absurd Cups & Balls Routine!

Posted: December 11th, 2012, 10:59 pm
by JHostler
Yann's act is no less logical than most others in our genre. Why do any of us do the weird things we do? There's not much of a back story for most close-up or stage magic - and precious little character development. I wonder to what extent Mullica's cigarette buffet was analyzed when it first appeared...

Re: Absurd Cups & Balls Routine!

Posted: December 12th, 2012, 12:25 am
by Bob Coyne
I thought this was amazing, and a real work of art! It's rare to see something in magic that feels truly new on all levels.

Re: Absurd Cups & Balls Routine!

Posted: December 12th, 2012, 9:51 am
by P.T. Murphy
Michael Kamen wrote:What the hell do I know.


Michael-

I think you know more than you think you know! If Yann was going for what I think he was, you NAILED it in describing your reaction to the video.

Maybe I am reading too much into this BUT...

There was a great book titled: "Theatre of the Absurd" by Marin Esslin, that was required study when I was at theater school. I believe Esslin coined the term in reference to playwrights like Ionesco, Beckett, Albee.

College was almost 30 years ago, so...I had to let my Google fingers do the walking to reacquaint myself with the subject and I came across a few things:

This is from a website that sites Esslin's work: "Esslin regarded the term Theatre of the Absurd merely as a "device" by which he meant to bring attention to certain fundamental traits discernible in the works of a range of playwrights. The playwrights loosely grouped under the label of the absurd attempt to convey their sense of bewilderment, anxiety, and wonder in the face of an inexplicable universe."

This is from Wikipedia:

"The Absurd in these plays takes the form of mans reaction to a world apparently without meaning, and/or man as a puppet controlled or menaced by invisible outside forces. Though the term is applied to a wide range of plays, some characteristics coincide in many of the plays: broad comedy, often similar to Vaudeville, mixed with horrific or tragic images; characters caught in hopeless situations forced to do repetitive or meaningless actions; dialogue full of clichs, wordplay, and nonsense; plots that are cyclical or absurdly expansive; either a parody or dismissal of realism and the concept of the "well-made play".

I don't know if Yann purposely set out to create an "asburd" piece of theatrical magic, but that is what I read into it. "Hopeless", "repetitive", "meaningless", were words that came to mind while watching this. To me, he looks like Krapp or one of Beckett's characters out of "Waiting for Godot."

Re: Absurd Cups & Balls Routine!

Posted: December 12th, 2012, 9:55 am
by Dan LeFay
His mimics remind me a little of George Carl (the one with the microphone stand).
I love this act and it is amazing how much it has evolved in barely two years time!

Re: Absurd Cups & Balls Routine!

Posted: December 12th, 2012, 11:13 am
by Jonathan Townsend
Even Lucky's "think" has a setup and some breathing

Learning from Godot

There's a TV interview with Bill Irwin where he recalls that part and the start of that speech.

Re: Absurd Cups & Balls Routine!

Posted: December 12th, 2012, 11:25 pm
by The Slow One
Wow - what a routine! Wonder how that would look written down?

Re: Absurd Cups & Balls Routine!

Posted: December 19th, 2012, 6:22 am
by Jonathan Pendragon
I crossed the border years ago, I love his routine. I worked with George Carl many times and Yann's character does remind of George's manic energy which he was able to sustain on stage longer than one might imagine. Tom Stone sent me a link to Yann's performance awhile back (Cabaret Du Monde) when it was sans facial hair. The addition demonstrates his intent, theater.