The Great Eyeless Vision Act by Marko

Reviewed by Jamy Ian Swiss (originally published in Genii September, 2005)

Marko (Jose Antonio Gonzalez Campos) is a Panamanian who now lives as a professional magician in Barcelona, Spain. A frequent television performer there, in this excellent manuscript he describes his blindfold routine. This is his closer, with which he regularly concludes his performances of magic (egg bag, cut and restored rope, etc.), not mentalism. The method is classic and only briefly albeit usefully described, but the real value—inestimable value to any performer seriously interested in actually performing blindfold work—is Marko's commercial and entertaining routining and presentation of the effect. Twelve pages may not seem like much, but the author provides extremely practical details and cogent advice about how to turn such a potentially ponderous demonstration into an entertaining and dramatic performance. This is, quite simply, the real work from a pro, and not the kind of advice you'll get from armchair mentalists.