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I
still to this day believe that you can never see enough Magic.
 My
friends Jade, Tammii Twister, Tim Ellis and Sue-Anne Webster may
disagree slightly after the last week – I’m not sure. There is one thing
they might all agree on, however, and that is: You can see too much of a
magician who has done too much magic – if that makes any sense? It may
not. I’ve had about 10 hours of sleep in 3 days, so I might not be
entirely clear. It’s 10:30pm Thursday night and my wife is filing for
divorce if I’m not asleep by 11pm. I may be looking for alternate
accommodation soon – as my typing has now degenerated to 2 fingers, and
one of them is falling asleep. It’s been that kind of week. I’m excited,
elated and above all exhausted, but I guarantee you the aforementioned
magicians are more so – or should be.
 Why?
(I hear you ask in whispered anticipation) Well, they’ve been
fundamental in the performing, organising and maintenance of “The
World’s Longest Magic Show” – a feat of human ingenuity, stamina and
sleep deprivation. I was lucky enough to see all of them at their best,
and worst during my early morning, afternoon and evening appearances.
Now, before I move
on to an analysis of the founding member of the Sleepless Magicians –
Australian Contingent (SMAC for short) I must mention some of the
strange things I’ve seen during the last few days:
·
Max and Michael Sullivan– repeatedly
exclaiming (usually in chorus) “You’re killing me” and “No F$%* way!” at
unbelievably loud volumes at equally unbelievably early hours of the
morning.
·
The reporter from the Today show suffering
for his art – or our art actually. I mean really suffering. Tim and
Sue-Anne had him bending over backwards for a story and I swear he must
have spent the rest of the day at the chiro.
·
The hot dog left for an unknown amount of
time on the bar, which had transformed to an oily-rock-and-rubber
consistency, and was later used in a card revelation by Tim and Michael
Sullivan. It just goes to show that anything can be used as a magic
prop.
·
The mystery of the Mic’s. Was it the
batteries going flat in 5 seconds? A faulty cord that just seemed to
translocate from place to place depending on who was on stage? A sun
flare of immense, and unfortunate size and timing? This may remain an
unsolved Mystery – who knows?
·
Jade’s fixation with rabbit hunting and his
fingers – you’ll just have to pluck up the courage and ask him. I can’t
describe it.
·
The world’s worst placed aerotechnic
device, and the look on Tim’s face when it went off under the stage…
Now, to the SMAC:
 Let’s
just focus on Jade for a second, shall we? Here’s a guy who stayed
awake, it seems, for the entire 72 hrs. (At least, no one saw him
asleep, and he always seemed to be there) Ok, that’s pretty impressive,
but not momentous. Consider, then, the fact that he managed to keep
track of every trick done by every magician in order to ensure we didn’t
repeat any in the allotted time. Add to this his 4 hours and 20 minutes
of performances (usually in the wee small hours – the hardest gig,
believe me) and add again his MC work and countless finger exercises,
and even the most sceptical of us have to consider that he may be the
holder of supernatural anti-narcosis power. The true measure of his
degradation over this period (despite his outwardly energetic, almost
manic appearance) was his acceptance of the role as Cath Jamison’s
‘Whipping boy’ – no kidding! He was that strung out….
 Now
to the other founding member: Tim Ellis. Think you suffer for your art?
Try sleeping on a thin mattress, on a concrete floor, in a commercial
kitchen/change room/thoroughfare, 2 feet from the stage you perform on
over the duration of 72 hours. I left one day at some ungodly hour, only
to come back at 5:30 the next morning to find him emerging from the
kitchen ready to start again for another day. People assured me he was
getting some sleep – though with Michael, Max and Paul working over
night, I find that debateable. The point is – he managed to pull of over
14 hours of magic over the 4 days, and much of this was high-energy and
on stage. Mind you, he didn’t do it without suffering some side effects…
I walked in at
lunchtime on the last day (after doing a stint in the morning, going to
work, realising I wasn’t going to concentrate, re-organising my day and
then nicking off) only to find Tim standing side-stage, all alone,
laughing. I approached him with a questioning look. He simply pointed at
a lump of bread on the counter and chuckled “Half a roll!” then turned
around and walked off shaking his head. All you can do in these
situations is back away slowly, and avoid eye contact – then go get some
Red Bull. Sue-Anne knows what I’m talking about. I’m still buzzing from
the one she convinced me to have this afternoon.
(Note: I’m now
typing with one finger, but it’s ok, I can hear my wife is asleep from
here, so I can tell her I was in bed 10 minutes ago – don’t tell her I
said that, ok?)
At the end of the
day, I guess I’ve learnt some things from the last few days:
·
Chocolate coated coffee beans (or the lack
thereof) are solely responsible for my less than fantastic results in
VCE
·
Red Bull may not give you wings, but it
will get you home on 3 hours sleep.
·
If you have a copy of 101 easy card tricks,
then the world is your mollusc.
·
A Losander table should always be carried
on and off stage by a burly-looking, good actor – or Tim, as a fall
back.
·
Lack of sleep + Street Performer = epithets
of opprobrium. (It’s a great phrase – you can use it!)
·
The risotto will always be better than the
gnocchi
·
No matter how good they say it will be,
never have a cheese, bacon and beef pie out of the pie-warmer. Ever.
And last, but not
least:
·
If your belief in the work that you do, can
transcend the bounds of professional rivalry and pettiness, then some
pretty amazing things can be accomplished together.
I hope to see you
all at the convention in June, but it will depend on me sufficiently
placating my wife – who, I now realise, is standing behind me. It’s
12:04. Goodnight.
Or good morning –
whatever.
-
Mat Unwin
Tim
Ellis & Mat Unwin at the very end of the 75 hour magic marathon
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GALLERY
Sue-Anne seems way too happy as she and
Brian strangle Tim
Paul dazzles with another card trick
Simon
delights Rose with his impression of a mouse
Anthony
checks…
only
another 73 hours to go and already out of card tricks…
Sue-Anne
does a straitjacket escape for the TV crew
Star
doing what she does best
Sue-Anne
and her floating table
Kikkii
the Klown even performed!
Michael
lived at Luna Park for the entire show
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