This past Monday night, magician Christopher Carter performed feats of the mind in the Union Ballroom. His self-proclaimed goal was to "freak you guys out" and display seemingly supernatural abilities.
The performance required vast amounts of audience involvement because every task demanded Carter not know the person with whom he was working. This resulted in an informal approach to the show, as Carter was constantly speaking and joking with individuals from the audience.
For about the first half of the show, Carter was elaborately blindfolded with coins and tape over his eyes. With his vision sufficiently inhibited, Carter was able to identify objects that volunteers brought on stage. Next, he supplied index cards and asked each audience member towrite down his/her name and several personal details. The cards were then shuffled, and Carter, still blindfolded, read off names and answered questions that had been written on the cards.
Some of the tasks he performed involved a certain degree of danger. One of these involved several volunteers and several staple guns, only one of which was empty. Claiming to use his mind to influence a participant's decisions, the participant was asked to choose a volunteer who was holding one of the staple guns. Carter played Russian roulette, giving himself a fifty-fifty chance that a volunteer would staple into his hand.
The task was successful, but Carter told the audience a story about how he failed once and ended up with a staple in his forehead.
The feats that Carter performed were certainly impressive and "freaky." The show was lacking only in showmanship. Carter, while attempting to create an informal environment, ended up diminishing the grandeur of his demonstrations. His act requires more mystery and eloquence. Carter's modesty on stage resulted in relatively modest applause and amazement on the part of the audience. Yet overall the performance was engaging and thought-provoking. Carter is either a talented illusionist or truly has some supernatural abilities.