Shared Uncertainty (Part 2)

I'm slowly getting a chance to dig through the video from The Uncertainty Project back in June. Here is the next part

For those who are curious, this is a blend of material from The Vernon Chronicles Volume 1 (Stephen Minch, L&L Publishing, 1987), Vortex (Tom Stone, Hermetic Press, 2010) and Tricks (David Ben, Squash Publishing, 2003).

I hope more will follow soon but we have a lot of video (every night, with multiple cameras for some nights) and the files are huge and a pain to work with.

James Alan Uncertainty Project Poster

Shared Uncertainty

Part of the problem of a show called The Uncertainty Project is the necessity of remaining tightlipped about its contents. It was extremely important for the show to force people int a position to "expect the unexpected"* with all the discomfort and excitement that comes with that state of mind. At the end of the day magic revolves around reversal of expectations. We expect our watches to stay on our wrists, shuffled cards to stay out of order and empty hats to remain rabbitless. It's a fine line, trying to walk outside the boundaries of a traditional magic show but without degenerating into total randomness and Family-Guy-Manatee humour. On the other hand, I routinely blindfold myself with duct tape on stage and do magic with thimbles, so a show on the eve of World Pride demanded a certain amount of extra unexpectedness.

Enjoy Part One of The Uncertainty Project!

The Uncertainty Project was presented June 18-21, 2014 at the Wychwood Theatre in Toronto with additional unexpectedness by Lavender Blonde.

Not sure yet when Part Two will become available or how much of the show I'll be willing to post publicly. I guess the future really is uncertain.

*It's not actually the contradiction in terms that people normally assert that it is.

Photos from The Uncertainty Project

At the Wychwood Theatre, June 18-21.

Mooney on the Uncertainty Project

The Uncertainty Project was reviewed by Mooney on Theatre.

I highly recommend this show to anyone with even the slightest interest in magic. It provides a fun alternative to traditional theatre or a night out at the movies. James Alan: The Uncertainty Project is funny, interesting, and will leave you thinking afterwards. Seriously though, HOW DID HE DO THAT???

The full text of the review can be found here.

Uncertain Confessions (Part 1)

My new show, The Uncertainty Project is approaching very fast (June 18). While I am keeping very tight lipped about the contents of the show (what good is a show about uncertainty if you know in advance what's going to happen?) I wanted to share a bit about what's behind the show: where it came from and how it developed. Randomness and probability have always held a deep fascination for me. When I was younger, I was introduced to the Infinite Improbability Drive of Douglas Adams and also to Chaos Theory as described by the inimitable Jeff Goldblum in Jurrasic Park (Even when I'm supposed to be learning about velociraptors, I still somehow gravitate to non linear dynamics.)

My love of randomness — that sounds a bit perverse, maybe "interest" is better — is coupled with pathological indecisiveness. Under no circumstances should you try to present me with any kind of options like "What movie would you like to go see?" It's not pretty. So in order to escape from the black hole that is decision making, I invoke random chance wherever possible. This means that unless I'm performing in a show and the order of the tracks actually matter, every music-playing gizmo that I own is set to shuffle on a permanent basis.

Unfortunately, that means this exact scenario actually happened to me once:

Buy tickets to The Uncertainty Project here. Or, if you're the guy this happened to, contact me and I'll arrange a free ticket for you.

More uncertainty coming soon....

Contest for The Uncertainty Project

Over at the Canada's Magic Blog, there is a contest going on where you have the opportunity to win tickets to The Uncertainty Project, June 18-21 at the Wychwood Theatre in Toronto. The contest is based on a random draw, so anyone can sign up for a chance to win. There are four pairs of tickets up for grabs which will be distributed on May 30. So go try your luck. Enter now.

Regular tickets for the show are available at www.uncertaintyproject.com/tickets.