Monday, October 05, 2009

imposters and illusion

Went to an amazing roundtable discussion at The Philoctetes Center over the weekend put together by Mark Mitton. The focus was Laney Salisbury's book Provenance, about one of the greatest art forgery scams in the history of art forgery scams. But Mark also had a government criminal financial investigator up there and Mark himself is a world-renowned magician, so the conversation turned to the psychology and mechanics of the conman, something I always think about when I'm teaching acting or watching a show.

I always tell students that the audience already wants to believe, so the less effort you put into pretending, the happier they are. It's like when you walk into a store already intending to buy a shirt and the salesman starts pissing you off by trying to sell you a suit. And sometimes you wind up walking out of the store without the shirt just to get away from the guy.

Our MMMQ keeps to the theme:

What does Roy Orbison not use in his song Casting My Spell on You?

1. A black cat

2. A cave bat

3. A green snake

4. A dog's jaw

2 comments:

Ann said...

So I'm sitting at my desk, trying to look semi-professional while muttering these lyrics to myself... I'm sure the overall impression was of a well-dressed insane person.
A black cat
A cave bat
A green snake
A dog's paw

I miss Roy Orbison.

Rosemoo said...

Dog's?

That is my answer.

I love the image of Ann muttering to herself.