Hey guys!

I have a project for 2012 to produce my own stage mentalism show. I'm still at the writing phase, but one of the key moments in the show would require a trapdoor. Unfortunately I believe theatres with trapdoors are pretty rare in Sweden, so for you illusionists out there; is there any good alternatives to one, where you can get away from a DeKolta chair for example? Keep in mind that this is a mentalism show using appearently very few props, so I can't have huge fancy platforms or anything else that screams "Illusionist!".

I hope that there is a way because I would really hate to compromise my vision with this show.

Thanks!

I recommend that if you want to do Mentalism don't clutter it with stage illusions. There are plenty of climatic routines you can do in a mind reading act that will play for a stage show. I recommend reading Bob Cassidy's "Fundamentals." There is a good segment in there on character developement. From an understanding of your character you determine your "Powers." Once you have those two things figured out then you can better weed out effects that don't work with your character.

Yes thank you I know that generally speaking it's not a good mix, however what I'm planning to do is actually very aligned with my character. I've been performing for 5 years so (or, looking at some examples of magicians who have been performing for years, I should say "and") I've got that stuff pretty much figured out Although the effect I'm doing uses a trap door, it is a mentalism effect (...ish). Therefore, any alternative to a trapdoor has to be very "innocent" looking. I'm thinking a mirror under a table or something just to get a way out. Any ideas?

In this DVD http://www.penguinmagic.com/p/S10067 by Darwin, he teaches a lot of illusions. Most of them dealing with black art, so there can only appear to be a table on stage, but still be able to do illusions. I believe that there is also a Dekolta Chair-type effect. Plus its inexpensive to build.

Great, I'll look into it. Thank you!