Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Mitchell Kettlewell
Cover Design by José Prager
Copyright © 2018 by Mitchell Kettlewell and E-
Mentalism
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be
reproduced in any form without written permission
from the author. For television rights and further
information, please contact:
Mitchellkmentalism@gmail.com
Introduction:
Spectator as a mind reader has to be one of my favourite plots/
presentations within mentalism. If you can give the spectator
the ability to replicate what it is that we are doing, they will be
made to feel special and unique, which, for me atleast, is a huge
part of what I aim for whenever I perform.
Mitchell Kettlewell
London
2018
Effect:
The performer begins to read a participant, picking up upon a
name or other specific piece of information. Just prior to the
reveal, the performer turns to a different person present, and
states that he knows how they are trying to intuit what the
information is as well… their thought is found correct when
both spectators announce the same thought aloud and the
performer reveals the information.
At this point you lean in and whisper into the ear of spectator
who has been intuiting the thought too.
The context for what you are about to whisper is set up here,
leading the rest of the audience to believe that you are about to
whisper an instruction, along with the information that you
were receiving from the thought sender. The outward reality
created depends upon this line.
At this point you lean in and whisper into the ear of spectator
who has been intuiting the thought too.
Now, when you count down from 3, and snap, both spectators
will say the thought at same time. This sort of revelation is very
powerful, reflecting that theatrical moment of a traditional
drawing duplication in which both drawings are turned and
revealed to match.
As a safety measure, and to get a potentially further reaction to
reinforce that you also got the information correct, it is best to
write the reveal yourself too. This way, should the spectator for
some odd reason say the wrong name (which is very unlikely as
they won’t want to look silly, and you have authority so they will
take your impression as true), then the routine won’t fall flat as
you still have a revelation.
The reaction from the new reveal will be perceived on the whole
by the rest of the audience as if it is to both pieces of
information. This way, if anyone was to ask about the star sign,
it has already been outwardly revealed and it is very unlikely
that anyone will say anything that will shatter the reality. The
realities now blend together nicely, so all is secure.
Gathering The Info:
Within the industry of mentalism, there are several ways to
gather information. Peeks, impression devices, anagrams,
observation, research in advance, and other propless methods
of garnering information are all examples of ways to gather
information for reveal.
In terms of gathering information for this routine, it is gathered
and then needs to be stored, the performer not revealing that
they know the information until it is needed for use as an out.
There are a variety of ways to do this, which will be explained
below.
Information that I personally feel is suitable to use can include:
previously written or thought of names; star sign; date of birth;
pin code, or even a previously selected playing card that the
performer dismisses. Personally, I’m in the belief that a pin
code for their phone is too powerful a reveal, and should be
used on its own as a solitary piece. However, if you can gather
their code in some way (observation, or a peek) and don’t wish
to outwardly reveal it then you are able to use it here.
Information techniques are as follows:
Peek and Dismissal:
Having your spectator write down the information that you
wish to gather, before peeking the information by whatever
means you wish (Quadrant Peek; an Impression device; Centre
Tear; or even a general peek), then dismissing the information
and segueing off into another effect is a definite option to use in
order to garner whatever information that you mean to utilize
here.
A center tear can often go unjustified, with the process seeming
odd - why would a piece of information be written down just to
have it ripped up before reveal? Of course some performers are
happy to utilize a center tear to gather information, I am not
saying that there is anything wrong with it and I have seen
mentalists totally rock a set using a center tear. However, with a
dismissal of the information there, the ripping totally makes
logical sense, and also brings the spectators guard down about
the tearing s it seems to be less suspicious.
Psychologically, the information and process is dismissed, so
later, when you come to reveal that information, it is much
more difficult to backtrack.
This is a concept known widely (I believe), however i would like
to credit Fraser’s ‘Fundamentals of Mentalism’ episode, where
this is highlighted, as well as Michael Murray for his ‘Thought
Unlinking’ concept from ‘A Piece of My Mind’, and Mark
Chandaue’s ‘Scrap It Principle’ from ‘Harpacrown’. I would
recommend you pick up these if possible - they are well worth
the investment!
Additional Information Billet:
An additional information billet can be given to the spectator to
have them fill out, in order to gather two solid pieces of
information - one of which is revealed, the other/others of
which are stored for later use.
An additional information billet would look like this:
Your thought:
_________
Also, please write down your star sign here as a bonus:
________
The spectator will be handed the billet and instructed to “gather
your thoughts and completely fill out the card,”
Thought Backtracking - Mitchell Kettlewell
This is a basic method stumbled across when considering ideas
for gathering information. It is used to covertly gather
information from a spectator, it’s my favourite method to use in
order to gather two pieces of information from a spectator, but
they are only directly aware of one. I’d go as far to say that it is
so covert that often the spectator will not remember it at all and
will be very unlikely to even be able to backtrack anything. I
won’t lie, I’m pretty proud of this.
Simply, a spectator is given a billet, and instructed to write their
star sign. After a second, the performer changes his/her mind
and states:
“In fact, cross that out, forget that. I’d like you to
please take a moment to focus upon and write down
what animal that you believe that you would be, if
you were to be one. Take time to consider this… then
commit your thought to paper.”
The participant is left enough time to write the first 2 or 3
letters of their star sign, before being instructed to cross it out,
and forget that process. Due to the fact that they haven’t
completed the writing process, it is dismissed psychologically.
They are instructed to forget the sign and writing as well,
deeming that writing of the star sign as unimportant, aiding in
the dismissal process. It is important that you leave enough
time for the spectator to write two letters, so that it becomes
easier to determine the correct sign, as there is some crossover
in first letter. Therefore, I allow them time to what I feel would
be three letters, this way you get a minimum of two letters
written. Spectators only ever put a line through the information
that they have written, making the writing readable.
Occasionally someone may really scribble, however this can still
be readable, but if it is not then you do not have an issue as the
animal is still written out for you to reveal. Another one of the
methods for gathering a piece of information for later use will
have to be utilised. However, this very rarely occurs.
When you come to peek the whole piece of information that
they have written, you are essentially getting a double peek - the
dismissed information and the focused target thought. In
essence this is a form of additional information billet, with a
potentially more natural seeming process. With this in mind,
there is absolutely nothing wrong with a standard additional
information billet, they certainly serve their purpose and work
in places that this technique couldn’t.
Any piece of information can be written as the target thought
that the performer changes their mind to go for, however I
purposely choose to have the spectator consider which animal
that they believe that they would be. The reason why, is because
it allows you to utilise a neat little reading system for you to
give a reading to them from their thoughts. I have found this
especially useful when practicing delivering a reading.
In writing what animal that they believe they would be, they are
giving details about themselves to you. By reading and
describing aspects about the animals nature, you are describing
how the participant perceives themselves! Accurate readings all
around! Examples of readings will be included at the end of this
section on the technique.
Being the target piece of information, the animal itself is
revealed. Even though the animal is revealed, as long as the
billet with the star sign and animal written on is not retrieved,
the spectator will have no reason to believe that the performer
has indeed looked at the information, and to them, will not be
able to have knowledge of their star sign.
The letters that you will see, with a line through, will be one of
the following:
Le = Leo
Pi = Pisces
Ge = Gemini
Vi = Virgo
Sc = Scorpio
Ca = Cancer/Capricorn
Ta = Taurus
Li = Libra
Aq = Aquarius
Sa = Sagittarius
Ar = Aries
Looking at the two letters that the spectator has written, then
crossed out, you will instantly know their star sign (unless they
are a Cancer, or a Capricorn, in which case you have to utilize
the ‘CUPS principle’ by Michael Murray as one way to
determine between the two).
Star signs are not the only information that it is possible to
gather of course. Imagine having the spectator think of the
name of someone important to them, writing their name down
(partly) on a billet, then they are instructed to stop and cross it,
forgetting about it, then writing a word that summarizes the
person (or even something totally unrelated as if the performer
has totally changed their mind on what is to be revealed). In
peeking the first few letters of the name that are on the billet
prior to the alternative target information, a fairly accurate idea
of what the name actually is can be gained. Utilizing the
methods discussed in Fraser’s works, you can very accurately
nail a name that the spectator is thinking of. It is best if a time
delay between peeking the letters and revealing the name is
used, as it will make the routine more deceptive. In order to
ensure that the same name is stored within the participants
mind, a specific line of scripting is used for the dismissal:
“In fact, cross that out, forget that. Just put that
name to the back of your mind for later when it’s to
shift back to the front.”
Later, the callback line is spoken:
The script softens the blow that they aren’t completely correct,
but aids in them confirming that they were in fact correct in a
few moments time.
The performer leans in and whispers:
“Did you get a hit on the male? You were correct then
as I said?”
The use of ‘actually’ makes the rest of the audience perceive the
statement to be genuine when they confirm, fully completing
the perfect reality that the spectator read another’s mind. The
spectator here will not want to look silly, so will refrain from
embarrassing themselves and answer with a ‘yes’. This
participation is also boosted in working by the secondary
question. The second question is easier to answer as they know
the answer to that - and it’s treated as a reiteration if your
original question, simplifying it. Therefore, they will answer
‘yes’ to the fact that they hit on details.
This specific ploy will take a little practice in finding someone
who will cooperate with you, but it is basic spectator and
audience management really. I have confidence that after just a
few test runs on members of the public, it will be working for
you and your character. It’s all about finding the correct way of
saying the statement to have them agree with you without you
seeming suspicious. At the end of the day, they won’t want to
admit that they got it wrong, so any chance they are given to say
they got it correct (as with this ploy - saying if they got the
correct gender, then they are correct), they will jump and take
it.
Other Bits and Bobs:
This began as a spectator as a mind reader subtlety, using it
alongside Fraser Parker’s reverse pin guess ‘I fall to pieces’.
Peter Turner’s reverse guess in his At The Table Live Lecture is
also fantastic.
In this routine, the secondary spectator will get a 4 digit code in
mind, a digit at a time, with none of the process that the other
spectator has to do to intuit the code. The method is exactly the
same - the same scripting and all.
For the first few phases, they touched whatever card I named
for them to find. On the third phase, before I got to name the
card for them to touch, they touched one. I began to explain
that if they didn’t know what they were looking for then how
did they know if the card felt correct to them to select. They
wouldn’t give in and touch another card, so I simply asked
them:
At this point, I genuinely didn’t know what the card was. The
cards were borrowed so I had no knowledge of the card to even
attempt to psychologically force the card upon them. The card
was turned over... and found to be the three of spades.
*A small tip for this... I wasn’t going to include this but why not.
This is what I sent to the person who asked me to predict it
multiple times: ‘3, 11, 16 or 17, 26, 32. I’m not sure on the 16 or
17, you decide upon whatever feels right to you. There will be
another number too obviously - I’m really not sure so please do
choose a number yourself.’
This did fail - two numbers were correct, but overall there were
no winnings. The person asked again to which I replied: ‘Keep
these numbers in mind and at some point when you feel the
urge to do so, put a single ticket on if you can do it without it
affecting you economically, with those numbers. At some point,
something will come up’
If you email me with the word ‘Titan’, then I will send you a link
for some bonus material - only for those of you that have
purchased this and emailed me at:
mitchellkmentalism@gmail.com