the shakespeare experiment instruction manual

7/25/2019 The Shakespeare Experiment Instruction Manual

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T H E

S H A K E S P E A R EE X P E R I M E N T



Copyright 2008 The Miracle Factory

All concepts and materials included with

The Shakespeare Experiment are copyrighted. All rights reserved.

Unauthorized use of the design and techniquesof The Shakespeare Experiment will be vigorously pursued.

Special thanks to Michael Weber for his generous advice and suggestions during the completion ofThe Shakespeare Experiment and to Andy Nyman for his superb thoughts on routining.

My gratitude also for valuable feedback from my friends Ron Aldrich, Andrew Dakota, Bruce Gold,Patrick Heitkam, Joshua Kane, Levent, Jonathan Levit, Marv Long, Max Maven, and Greg Otto. — Todd Karr

The Miracle Factory 1909 S. Harvard Boulevard

Los Angeles, California 90018 USA www.miraclefactory.net



CONGRATULATIONS!

You now own of one of a thousand copies of The Shakespeare Experiment, one of thecleverest mind-reading props ever devised…and one of the most elegant!

The Basic Effect A spectator chooses a book from a stack of richly bound volumes. It’s The Complete Works of William

Shakespeare. Your volunteer flips through the book. All the pages and words are different as he turns the pages. He

stops anywhere and concentrates on a word. You divine the word, describing it with vivid imagery.He concentrates on another word and you slowly announce the imagery you are seeing in your mind,

then state the exact word he is thinking of. You have the spectator turn to an illustration. After precisely describing the image, you also tell him a

nearby word he’s concentrating on.Finally, the volunteer turns to one of the plays, and wherever he stops, you recite a beautiful

Shakespearean passage. You’ve just created not only a magical mindreading routine, but also brought Shakespeare’s literary art

to your show and your audience.

Why I Created The Shakespeare Experiment I love books and I love Shakespeare. I’ve read since an early age (my sister swears I was reading the

newspaper at four), and written, edited, and published millions of words.I’ve experienced first-hand the impossibly complex arrangement of words in books, which may

explain why I’ve always loved forcing books and book tests: mind-reading effects in which the magiciantelepathically sees into the spectator’s mind and announces the word he’s thinking of.

Not that I saw that book tests many growing up. I remember Orson Welles’ endlessly random phonebook routine on a David Copperfield special, and my lightning calculator pal Arthur Benjamin doing adictionary divination at an Abbott’s Get-Together.

The first force book I saw was a gimmicked Sherlock Holmes volume Rabbi Samuel Gringras gaveme when I met him at the 1978 S.A.M. in New York City. What a cool secret device! For me, it was likesomeone handed me a Dick Tracy decoder ring or Batman’s Bat Utility Belt.



In Bill Kuethe’s collectors’ magazine The Magic Cauldron in the 1970s, I read Bert Pratt’s list of forcebooks throughout history: the gaffed poetry books of Stanley Collins and T. Page Wright, Himber’s Bible,and Martin Gardner’s Mother Goose. In the historians’ circles, I heard more about guys who specialized incollecting force books, which sounded fascinating. As collectibles go, force books seemed like an exotic,exciting object, like James Bond’s secret weapons devised by resident inventor Q, much more dangerousthan, say, magicians’ bookplates (yep, I still have my three albums of them).

A mind-blowing revelation was finding out about force books that had been actually published forbookstores, on sale to the public, who were unaware that the books contained repeated words at specificlocations. How incredibly devious! I think my teacher Milton Kort showed me one of Martin Gardner’sbooks that had been written this way.

Over the years, I’ve seen other force books and read about many book tests using both specially printedbooks and ungimmicked ones. The ungimmicked book tests generally involved forcing a known wordusing other props such as cards, dice, or changing devices. Others used markers such as a postcard insertedin the book. Some used no extra props but depended on ploys like marking words in the book in some way, peeking at a word, or flipping through the book yourself to choose the page, all legitimate methodsbut not my cup of tea.

None of these have ever seemed clean enough to me, although I have seen performers work wonders

with simple techniques. I did like some of the more subtly gimmicked routines. Meir Yedid’s W.O.W. booktests used a very practical solution with real books and cue sheets hidden in full view. Another populardevelopment was Larry Becker’s Flashback, with key words you could subtly glimpse. But to me, each haddrawbacks: unfamiliar books, the need to know the page number, or handling the books yourself.

A few years ago, I thought I’d solved all my problems with The Da Vinci Zone, a book test with anungimmicked copy of the popular book The Da Vinci Code. It uses a cue sheet built into an ordinary-looking object, so the book can be borrowed; you can perform it at almost any friend’s house or in theaisle of your local bookstore. I thought the routine was killer, but I was surprised to receive concerns fromcustomers wondering where the specially printed book was! As clever as the routine might have been,people still want the fun of the crafty book.

The magic market has reflected this, with a recent vogue of gimmicked force books. In looking at these

books, my concern is always whether they fulfill my requirements for a professionally sound prop.Here’s what I don’t like:1. Phony-looking books make your job harder.2. Handling the book yourself is suspicious.3. Additional props detract from your routine.4. Guiding to the longest word is weak and risky.5. You don’t want to be limited to a single word.6. Anagrams can be unconvincing.7. Unfamiliar titles and authors detract from the effect.8. Merely announcing a word is boring.

9. Knowing the page number weakens the effect.10. A slim book makes people think you’ve memorized it or have a cue sheet.

Let’s look at each pitfall and how I’ve tried to correct it in designing The Shakespeare Experiment.

1. Phony-looking books make your job harder.The whole deception falls apart if the audience doesn’t think it’s a real book. I’ve seen books designed

with word-processing software, resulting in amateurish self-publishing jobs that most intelligent audiences would immediately spot as fake.



I’ve tried to make the Shakespeare book look like a professionally produced volume, with carefultypesetting and layouts. I studied various editions of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare and heededthe suggestions of various Shakespearean afficionados (like actor-magician Joshua Kane) to include linenumbers and other authentic printed elements.

2. Handling the book yourself is suspicious.Touching the book allows smart spectators to trace a plausible route to a solution, even if they’re

wrong. Why weaken your effect if there’s an option? You don’t have to handle The Shakespeare Experiment book at all. Mail it to your party host ahead of

time if you like.

3. Additional props detract from your routine.If you could really read minds, why would you need cards, dice, little slips of paper, a bag, a calculator,

or, like Orson Welles, a giant block of ice? Props can be distracting and can suggest that the free choice isin fact not so free.

You can perform The Shakespeare Experiment naked. We’ve included a bookmark and a portrait ofShakespeare, but you won’t necessarily need them.

4. Guiding to the longest word is weak and risky. When the performer guides the volunteer to choose the longest word on the page, he has to come up

with a good reason why he has to focus on a lengthy word, since it’s such a limitation on the spectator’schoice. If the book has a generic book title and author, there’s all the more reason for the spectator to besuspicious.

Further, if the person doesn’t understand your instructions, he could miss the word somehow andconcentrate on a different one, a lot to risk during a professional performance.

The Shakespeare Experiment deliberately avoids depending on the spectator making major judgmentcalls for the effect to succeed, and you’ll get instructions and techniques to get the spectator to land at veryobvious points on each page.

5. You don’t want to be limited to a single word.Limited choices mean less flexibility in your routine.The Shakespeare Experiment lets you divine several words on a single page, or various words from

different pages. You can also slant your presentation to comic, dramatic, or romantic words.

6. Anagrams can be unconvincing.Progressive anagrams are used in routines where the key words differ by a few letters, so the performer

can call out letters until he arrives at the right word. It’s an intellectually clever approach, but many ofthese effects require the performer to get one of the letters wrong so he knows the selection. They always

remind me of a spelling bee.Unless you really want to call out individual letters, The Shakespeare Experiment sticks to full wordsand sentences.

7. Unfamiliar titles and authors detract from the effect.Generic book titles and authors no one’s heard of? Not very convincing. Almost every English-speaking adult in the world has heard of Shakespeare, perhaps even seen a copy of

a version of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Not only will the book seem legitimate, audiencesmay also recognize some of the lines you read.



8. Merely announcing a word is boring.Removed from the context of literature, a word on its own brings little interest to the audience. Why

should spectators care if you announce the word lumberjack when you don’t explore the word, its meaning,roots, or the sentence in which it appears?

The Shakespeare Experiment tries to provide a stylish, literate context for your routines. You can talkabout the word, its meaning in an entire sentence or passage, or the Shakespearean play around it.

9. Knowing the page number weakens the effect. You can disguise the reason you need to know the page number, but it’s a weakness in the effect. A

smart spectator might suspect you have a cue sheet of some kind. You can perform The Shakespeare Experiment without having any pages numbers stated aloud. If you

really want to incorporate pagination into your routine, though, the book is designed to use the pagenumbers to your advantage.

10. A slim book makes people think you’ve memorized it or have a cue sheet.In this case, more is better.Shakespeare’s works are almost universally synonymous with voluminous writings, a multitude of

pages, and never-ending words.

THE BASIC TECHNIQUEThe initial secret of The Shakespeare Experiment is the use of ambiguous concepts. The spectator can flip through the book and all the pages look different from page to page, but the

same concepts appear in the same place on every page.On every left page, for example, the first word is something to do with love and peace; very Sixties, I

know, but also very romantic. When the volunteer looks through the book, he sees different words in that position on the left page,

but they all have the same meaning of “love and peace.”

So whatever page he opens to, you can tell him, “I see two hearts joining together, two people rejoicingin their affection for one another. In their hearts, they’re truly at peace.” That reading applies to all the words — married, peace, hearts, love, and Valentine — so whatever page it is, the spectator will say thatyou’ve accurately divined the word.

Best of all, each word appears only on certain pages with other words you know. So when you give yourgeneric reading and ask what the exact word was, the spectator announces the word, instantly telling youall the other key words on that page! More details about the word groups will appear below in the section“The Basic Order.”

THE BASIC STRUCTURE Aside from the front informative pages and the back section of Sonnets and the glossary, the mainsection of the book consists of three 240-page banks, each featuring a single play: Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. But the same words and concepts appear in the same locations, nomatter what play you’re looking at.

Why does this pass for a real Shakespeare collection, even though there are only a trio of plays? First,there are no headings to indicate different plays or their titles; the only title page is a decoy at the very frontof the book. Second, you don’t give the spectator the opportunity to freely search through the book lookingfor his favorite play; he’ll leaf through it in his own hands, but always following your instructions.



On each page are two columns of text. Each column has been constructed by combining two separatepassages from the same play. The top passage begins with the required key word; the text then continuesto about halfway down the page. Here, a new passage begins, ending in the word required at the last spot. At times, the line ends abruptly so the column ends in the right word, and sometimes a single word or afew words opens a column.

The mid-column transitions will go unnoticed, as well as the lack of continuity between the end of onecolumn and the beginning of the next.

This means that if you were to continue reading from the top of a page to halfway down the column,or to read an entire line where a word appears, a Shakespearean expert would have to agree that the passage was entirely accurate Shakespeare. It’s all actual Bard, just cleverly rearranged to suit our magical needs.

THE BASIC WORDSHere are the basic words from the three plays and where they appear.Don’t worry if this looks difficult to remember: I’ll share some nifty mnemonic devices with you, and I

explain the three different cueing methods included that you can use if you’re worried about rememberingeverything.

Finally, please note that there are slight variations in some of the words, mainly in singular versus pluralforms of nouns and verbs. In Romeo and Juliet, the word is fights and in Hamlet, it’s fight. Don’t worry ifyou’re off by a single letter, as it’ll make your reading seem more genuine.

Left Page Left column, first word Meaning: Love and peaceWords: Married, peace, hearts, love, Valentine

Left column, last word Meaning: Fighting

Words: Enemies, swords, weapon, battle, fights

Right column, first word A complete passage appears in this location. Each play has the same passage on every page. More about

this shortly.

Right column, last word Meaning: A slightly risqué body partWords: Womb, tongue, breast, behind, bosom

Right Page Left column, first word Meaning: A winged creatureWords: Ravens, birds, fairy, dove, angel

Left column, last word Meaning: A dirty or suggestive-sounding word; for appropriate adult situations only Words: Vary from play to play



Right column, first word Meaning: PassionWords: Lovers, desire, passion, kiss, lips

Right column, last word Meaning: A four-legged mammalWords: Mouse, horse, dog, cat, beast

THE BASIC ORDER As I mentioned earlier, each word appears only on specific pages with certain other words. There are

ten basic pages. In the main section of the three plays, each two-page spread (left and right page) has adifferent set of words, making five sets in all. These sets of words continually rotate throughout the book.

Pages ending in 0 or 1Words: Married, enemies, womb, raven, lovers, mouse

Pages ending in 2 or 3Words: Peace, swords, tongue, birds, desire, horses

Pages ending in 4 or 5 Words: Heart, weapon, breast, fairy, passion, dog

Pages ending in 6 or 7 Words: Love, battle, behind, dove, kiss, cat

Pages ending in 8 or 9 Words: Valentine, fights, bosom, angel, lips, beast

THE TRIPLE CUETo give you maximum flexibility, you can either memorize the words or else use one of three cueing

devices provided with The Shakespeare Experiment.In a moment, I’ll explain some ways to memorize the words. First, though, here are the three places

you can look to secretly consult the lists of words.

1. The Bookmark The printed bookmark provided (not the sewn-in ribbon bookmark) has all the basic words and

additional information for the various routines built into The Shakespeare Experiment. Before beginning your reading, you can remove this bookmark and consult it as you turn your back, oryou can casually place it on your notepad as you jot down your prediction or notes, or sketch a picture ofyour impressions. Your motivation is seemingly to simply get the bookmark out of the way of the spectatorso he can flip through the book.

2. The Portrait On the back of the printed portrait of William Shakespeare included with your Shakespeare

Experiment, you’ll find the word lists and other cues, discreetly placed at the bottom under the Shakespearechronology.



Have the portrait tucked into your Shakespeare book, remove it, andtalk about Shakespeare, then prop it up on an object so it remains in fullview of the audience. Your apparent motive is to keep the Bard’s face ondisplay, but you have in fact positioned the cue sheet so you can read it

from the back if you need to refer to it. A small illustration on the card contains mnemonic images of each

word group if you prefer to use them to cue yourself. Thanks to Michael Weber, who suggested the idea of having a Shakespearean cue sheet of this type in full view.

You can also pick up Shakespeare’s portrait and pretend to be listening to Shakespeare whispering theanswers to you, though you’re actually glancing at the cue lists secretly.

3. The Illustration Credits If you need a last-second brush-up, you can look in the front of the book. On page 7 in the

“Stacks of memories” AT D AISY W HITE P LEASURE P ROMENADE

8 K INGS , #3102

(795) 124-1611

G ALAZZO

01: Married Enemies WombRaven Lovers Mouse

23: Peace Sword TongueBirds Desire Horses

45: Heart Weapon BreastFairy Passion Dog

67: Love Battle BehindDove Kiss Cat

89: Valentine Fight Bosom Angel Lips Beast

Romeo and Juliet (pp. 10-239): 1 nppl., 3 prck., 5 btt-shft.,7 whr., 9 cck.

Hamlet (pp. 240-469): 1 bnghl.,

3 cck., 5 as., 7 whr., 9 prck.

Midsummer Night’s Dream(pp. 470-699): 1 lv-jc.,

3 as., 5 sckng., 7 lv-shft, 9 cck.

Love Left, Beauty Right

(pp. 703-789)

“Birds Battle Alcohol Mammal” (pp. 793-816)



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illustrations credits are the basic words. The last digit of the pages listed, such as “Pages 710-11,” indicatesthe pages where these words appear (in this case, page numbers ending in 0 and 1). Other information inthis section will be described later.

MEMORIZING THE WORDSIt’s not hard to memorize the basic words for The Shakespeare Experiment. You can use the cue sheets, but the effect will be much cleaner if you can work without them. The

other performance bonus is that as you pinpoint the word in your memory, your concentration will lookconvincingly as if you’re reading the spectator’s mind!

Following are five surrealistic mnemonic pictures I’ve designed incorporating each group of words.Each is a ridiculous image that is so outlandish that it’ll be unforgettable. Just study each one and commitit to memory; before you know it, you’ll not only remember the words, but you’ll also know them in order! After describing what’s in the picture, I’ll provide a way to remember the page numbers associated witheach group of five words. This method not only helps you trigger the first word of each group, but you canalso use the page numbers if your routine incorporates them.

The number associations also remind you of the order of the word groups, which lets you know what

group of words is on the previous or following page from where the spectator has opened the book! Onceyou know which group the spectator is looking at, you can, for example, have him turn the page, and thengive him accurate readings for those words.

Pages ending in 0 or 1Words: Married, enemies, womb, raven,

lovers, mouseWhat’s shown: A frowning bride and groom

(Married) have crossed arms as if they’re fighting(Enemies). They are inside a Womb-shaped spaceformed by the wings of two Ravens who are a

perfectly matched pair of Lovers. Their wingsbalance precariously on a Mouse.

Associating the page numbers: When a couplegets Married, they form a perfect circle (0) and asingle unified entity (1). You can also rememberthat the first sound of “one” sounds like the w ofWomb.

Pages ending in 2 or 3Words: Peace, swords, tongue, birds, desire,

horsesWhat’s shown: A Peace sign rests on two Swordson the tips of a pair of Tongues. Under the peacesign is a flock of Birds, who fly and form a heartshape (Desire) around two Horses.

Asssociating the page numbers: There are two wedge-shaped forms at the top and bottom ofthe peace sign (2), and the peace sign has threelegs at its base (3).



Pages ending in 4 or 5 Words: Heart, weapon, breast, fairy, passion,

dog What’s shown: A heart-shaped formation

of Hearts swings a battle-axe (Weapon) onto askeletal breastbone (Breast). The rib cage sits onthe foot of a Fairy, who makes a Passion flowerappear from her wand, and the silhouetted Dogtries to catch the flower like a Frisbee.

Asssociating the page numbers: The humanheart has four (4) chambers.

Pages ending in 6 or 7 Words: Love, battle, behind, dove, kiss, catWhat’s shown: Artist Robert Indiana’s classic

“Love” image is sending a battleship (Battle) intothe Behind of a figure with its muscular system

exposed. The figure’s head is brushed by the wingof a Dove, which sends a Kiss down onto the headof a wide-eyed Cat.

Associating the page numbers: The middle of1967 (6/7) is often referred to as the Summer ofLove.

Pages ending in 8 or 9 Words: Valentine, fights, bosom, angel, lips,

beastWhat’s shown: Cupid (Valentine) shoots an

arrow with a boxing glove on the end (Fights) into a woman’s Bosom. Out of the lady’s hair emerges an Angel who holds a trumpet to her Lips, directingher music to the lips of a wildebeest (Beast).

Associating the page numbers: Nine rhymes with Valentine.

If you’d rather have a sentence to memorize,you can invent one using the first letters of thekey words, such as:

0/1: M.E.W.R.L.M. (Married Enemies WombRaven Lovers Mouse): Remember “Me worelamé” (ME WoRe LaMé). Picture a man proudly

wearing a tacky gold lamé suit. 2/3:P.S.T.B.D.H.(Peace Swords Tongue Birds Desire Horses): Remember “Past Buddha” (PaST BuDdHa).

Imagine yourself walking past a giant Buddha.4/5: H.W.B.F.P.D. (Hearts Weapon Breast Fairy Passion Dog): Remember “How beef paid” (HoW BeeF

PaiD). Envision a bull standing at the grocery checkout line paying for his groceries with a little changepurse.



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6/7: L.B.B.D.K.C. (Love Battle Behind Dove Kiss Cat): Remember “Lobbied K.C.” (LoBBieD K.C.).Picture a lobbyist wining and dining a fat-cat Kansas City politician in a swanky restaurant.

8/9: V.F.B.A.L.B. (Valentine Fights Bosom Angel Lips Beast): Remember “Very Fat Ball Boy” (VeryFat BALl Boy). Imagine a rotund ball boy running across a tennis court at the speed of light, picking upballs.

SELECTING A SPECTATOR While a Shakespearean scholar can of course confirm that the text on any individual passage is accurate,

he might notice that adjacent passages are not in the correct order. So although you should have thatexpert verbally confirm the words being read aloud from your Shakespeare Experiment, you’ll want to havesomeone unfamiliar with Shakespeare actually handle the book and choose the words.

Magician Bruce Gold came up with a great way of quickly finding out not only who to choose butalso who not to choose. You can say something like, “Does anyone here like Shakespeare? Raise your handif you do. Any of you consider yourself Shakespeare buff or maybe an expert? The gentleman over there. Well, you’ll all find the next experiment very curious.”

You now know not only who’s familiar with Shakespeare by observing who raised their hands, but you

also have identified the spectators you want to choose because they’re not overly familiar with the Bard.Important: Try to select someone wearing glasses; if not, someone who seems youthful and healthy.

The text in the book is printed in a small type size, and you do not want to fumble with the wasted time ofgetting a volunteer from the audience only to find that she has poor eyesight and isn’t wearing her contacts,or have her hold up the proceedings by searching for her glasses. Someone already wearing eyeglasses isgenerally going to have at least reading-strength lenses, ready to participate in your routine. Thanks tomaster mentalist Ron Aldrich for first bringing this tip to my attention.

SELECTING THE BOOK When you begin your routine, you can simply display your Shakespeare Experiment book and emphasize

the sheer volume of words that Shakespeare wrote: “I love Shakespeare. William Shakespeare composed 37plays and more than 150 sonnets and poems, and in all, this book contains almost a million words.”

Otherwise, you can give the spectator a choice of two or three books and guide him to your Shakespearevolume with equivoque.

For two books, you can show the Shakespeare book and another similarly sized one, then say to thespectator, “Please remove one of these books.” If the volunteer picks up the Bard, you’re set. If he picks upthe other, you can continue, “…leaving us with Shakespeare’s collected works, an excellent choice for ourexperiment since there are so many different words inside.”

For three books, you can use the following ruse, which Max Maven and Eugene Burger have discussedover the years in their works. Say, “Please remove two of the books.” If he leaves the Shakespeare, you’re

done and can state, “The one you’ve chosen to leave us is an excellent choice.” If he picks up the Shakespeareand another book, you continue, “And please hand me one of them.” If he hands you the Shakespeare,you can say, “Thank you. This happens to be a favorite of mine,” and continue with the routine. If hekeeps the Shakespeare, say, “You’ve chosen to keep a very challenging book to work with. This should beinteresting!”

As with all the lines suggested here, feel free to tailor the words to your own style. An expensive solution is to have two or three copies of The Shakespeare Experiment. Simply miscall

the titles without showing the spectators the covers and state that you have The Complete Words of WilliamShakespeare and, say, The Iliad, and James Joyce’s Ulysses. Hold up the books with the back covers facing



the audience and have the spectator point to one of them blindly so the choice is supposedly completelyrandom. Stash the other two and continue with the chosen Shakespeare.

SELECTING A WORD

Now comes the point when you must carefully watch your words and the spectator’s actions.Before you even hand the spectator the book, don’t state what you’re going to do. If you tell the

volunteer ahead of time that you’re going to divine any word he chooses, he’s liable to open to a page,concentrate on a word, and end up severely confused as you explain that he needs to focus on a differentplace on the page.

Your first task is letting the audience know all the pages are different and apparently normal. Althoughyou don’t need to touch the book at all, you can first leaf through the pages and show the color frontispiece,and continue through the table of contents, portrait, text of the plays, the engravings in the Sonnetssection at the back of the book. Otherwise, hand the spectator the book and ask him to flip through thepages and stop anywhere.

You’ll want to make sure he ends up in the main text section with the three plays. If he does right away,great.

If the volunteer opens to one of the front pages or the rear sections, you’ll generally be able to see itclearly and you can say, “As you can see, there are pages with illustrations, pages with information aboutthe book, poems, sonnets, thousands of words on every page. Let’s make this really difficult and openanywhere with a lot of text.”

On the other hand, you may wish to keep your routine improvisational by doing a reading whereverthe spectator opens the book. The Sonnets and glossary are gimmicked, so you can just go into a readingin those sections if you like. If he ends up in the front sections, though, you need to direct him to delvefurther into the heart of the book.

The spectator now has two text pages facing him. Tell him not to turn the page since you need to lockinto your mindset and not get confused by too much input.

You still have not stated that you want the spectator to choose anything or that you’re going to do a

mindreading effect of any kind. If you do, the spectator may go to a random word.The rawest way to get the spectator to a word is to have him (or various audience members) state

whether he wants the left or right page, the left or right column of that page, and finally the very first word or the very last word of that column. You can now give a general reading for that word, followed bya specific word reading for another location on the page, selected in a similar way.

As Michael Weber pointed out to me, some performers justifiably feel that mentioning left and rightpages is not very subtle routining. Instead, you can make the locations seem less structured and moreunfamiliar to you.

You can say, “Please place your finger on the first line. I’m going to ask you to trace it down the columnpage so I can follow the progress of your mind.” If the spectator begins on the right page and not the left,

you can go with it and just instruct him to go to the left page after he’s traced his way down the right page’scolumns.Now, you want the spectator to avoid concentrating on the header at the very top of the page that

says, “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare.” You wouldn’t want to do your reading and then havethe spectator say his word was The. So you can say something like, “Books usually have a line at the topof every page with the book’s title. This one probably says something like ‘The Complete Works of WilliamShakespeare.’ Those titles are always the same on every page, so it wouldn’t be very amazing to work with.Ignore that and make sure you’re on Shakespeare’s words.” Act like you’re not intimately familiar with thedetails of the book.



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When he begins with his finger on the first line, ask him, “Do you want to stop there?” If he does, say,“I want you to concentrate on the very first word in that line. There may be just one word.”

If he says he wants to move on, tell him to glide his finger down the page till he gets to the bottom ofthe column. “Do you want to stop there?” If he does, have him concentrate on the last word and do yourreading.

If he wants to continue on, say, “Now, there are three columns on each page? Oh, right, two columns.” Again, act like you’re not overly familiar with the exact layout of the book, as if you just pulled if off yourbookshelf on the way to the show. Let the spectator correct you. Thanks to Andy Nyman for this valuablenuance.

“You’re at the bottom of the first column. Slide your finger to the second column on that page, all the way to the top. Do you want to stop there?” Depending on the response, either do a reading for the first word on that line or have the spectator continue to the last line, and have him concentrate on the last word. If he wants to keep moving, have him go to the opposite page and let him trace down those columnsuntil he decides on a location.

When he does, you give a generic reading for that location. If it’s the “passion” words, you describeseeing two people embracing, heat rising, a passionate moment. You ask the spectator the exact word. When he tells you, you know the other key words and can continue with more specific readings.

If the spectator ends up with the complete passage (left page, right column, top word), the risqué word(left page, right column, last word), or the dirty word (right page, left column, last word), see the section“Handling the Locations” below for some special notes.

JUSTIFYING THE LOCATIONS When the spectator has chosen a line, you have him concentrate on the first word (if it’s the top line)

or the last word (if it’s a bottom line). After he is focused on the word, you can mention your justification,something like, “The reason why first and last words are perfect is because it’s easier for me to ventureinside your mind if I see white space around the letters.”

Note that you don’t ask the spectator to choose a word with a lot of white space around it. He might

misunderstand and pick an entirely different word somewhere on the page.

CHOOSING A SECOND LOCATIONOnce you’ve done your generic reading for the initial word, you can conclude by asking something

like, “Was that accurate? It was. And what was the word that inspired all these images?” The spectatortells you the word, for example, Valentine. You now know that the other key words on the page are Fight,Bosom, Angel, Lips, and Beast.

You can now guide the spectator to another word a little more directly since he has correctly followedyour instructions with the first reading and understands the parameters. You could say, “Let’s look at the

opposite page now. Touch your finger lightly under the first line. I’m seeing two wings in flight, somethingsoaring through the air, really magnificent. I’m seeing an angel.” Another possibility is to just have the spectator go to the other key word in the same column. If the

initial reading was for the last word in a column, for example, you can have the person concentrate on thatcolumn’s first word for the next reading.

GUIDING TO SPECIFIC LOCATIONSThe Shakespeare Experiment has the unique feature of different types of words for different audiences

and presentations. The “love” words work great for any audience, but especially for a wedding, a gathering



of spiritual practitioners, or an anniversary party (even your own). The “war” words are for more seriouspresentations. The risqué and dirty words are perfect for a good laugh for the right audience.

If you want the spectator to end up on a certain type of word, you can simply direct him there verbally.Have the spectator run his finger down the first column as you envision the pages in your mind, then traceit down the second column, over to the second page, down the first column, up to the top of the next,and…stop. You tell him to halt there and concentrate on the final word because you’re getting a strongimpression from his reaction to that word.

The process seems fair not only because you’ve focused on the spectator’s reaction, but also because he’sopened the book to any page and you can’t see the words. But I’m certain you’ll come up with more subtleinstructions as your own routine evolves.

AVOIDING CERTAIN LOCATIONSLet’s say you’re performing for a dignified audience that would definitely not be amused by the risqué

and lewd words. With good judgment, you decide to make sure the spectator doesn’t end up choosing thesuggestive words at the bottom of the left page’s right column and the right page’s left column. (Incidentally,these words were positioned there so they would be difficult to glimpse.)

If you’ve given the person a free choice of ending up anywhere on the page, and he lands on a locationyou want to avoid, have him continue past it. If he’s on the risqué word and you don’t want to embarrasshim, you could say, “Now continue on to the next page. Start at the top. Stop!”

As long as you haven’t made the instructions seem like an obvious force and you’ve varied your methodsand revelations, this slight deviation from absolutely free choice won’t look suspicious.

Again, use discretion and please don’t go for the cheap laugh with the cheap, suggestive words. They’refunny among friends and select audiences, but for most performers, lewd material is a fast way to loseprofessional jobs!

HANDLING THE LOCATIONS

The Risqué Word

Depending on the type of audience or volunteer, you’re going to want to be careful with the risqué word. Perhaps you don’t want to embarrass the volunteer if it’s a woman. Maybe the spectators are spiritualpractitioners.

Use good judgment and don’t humiliate anyone for a cheap laugh. It’s not worth it.On the other hand, the risqué word is ripe for a good laugh in the midst of a fairly serious routine. You

might express shock, saying something like, “I’m seeing, um, how do I say this politely? Your thinking ofsomeone’s torso. Your word is…bosom?”

The Dirty Word The lewd words are different for each play. Search as I could, there just weren’t five good suggestive words in the three plays. So there’s a different set of five words for each play.

If you don’t want to memorize these fifteen words, the easiest shortcut around knowing the exact word is to feign embarrassment as you concentrate and say, “Is that word really in Shakespeare? Gee, Idon’t think I can say that word out loud! What’s the word?” The spectator then says the word aloud. Youstill look like you’ve seen the word in your mind, since you’ve correctly stated the general character of theexpression.

Otherwise, you can either use a cue sheet or memorize the words for each play.



6

Argh. Here’s an important ERRATA NOTICE for the “Publisher’s Note” cue sheet printed on page 6in the book. Now, the list here is to be used only for reviewing before your show or an emergency refresherif your mind goes blank, so you won’t be looking at it much in performance.

But: 1) The order of the plays should be Romeo and Juliet, then Hamlet, then A Midsummer Night’sDream, and 2) The order of the words for A Midsummer Night’s Dream is shifted by one and should belv-jc., as., sckng., lv-shft, cck.

Here are the words and a mnemonic way to remember them (Over 18 only; adult guidance suggested):

Romeo and Juliet Words: Nipple, prick, butt-shaft, whore, cock Remember N.P.B-S.W.C. as “iN a P.B.S. W.C.” by thinking of Romeo and Juliet in a W.C. (the initials

mean water closet and are found on most European restrooms) watching the PBS channel on a TV.

Hamlet Words: Bunghole, cock, ass, whore, prick Remember B.C.A.W.P. as “Bee C [See] a WhiP” by thinking of a bumblebee dressed in Elizabethan

garb like Hamlet (“To bee or not to bee”!) looking through a giant magnifying glass at a long black leather whip.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Words: Love-juice, ass, sucking, love-shaft, cock Remember L-J.A.S.L-S.C. as “L.J. AS a LaS-C [Lassie]” by thinking of U.S. President Lyndon Johnson

asleep, having a “midsummer night’s dream” that he’s dressed in drag as a woman (a lassie), wearing ablonde wig and a dress.

The Long Passage

Each play has its own complete passage that appears on every left page of that play’s 240-page section.It’s at the top of the right column on the left page.

You should memorize these passages, at least the first few lines of them. It will be supremely impressiveand classy when you can recite an extended speech instead of just individual words.

In fact, the passage may be the way many of you will want to conclude your routines, since it’s sotheatrically powerful.

If you don’t want to memorize the passages, the first few lines appear on the bookmark cue sheet andon the back of the Shakespeare portrait.

But how do you know what play the spectator has stopped on? Here are a few possibilities to suitvarious performance styles:

1. Ask the first word of the passage. Clunky but does the job. Just say something like, “The first line ofthat column begins with a very short word. Yes? What is that word, please?” O is Romeo and Juliet, And isHamlet, and Love is A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

If you like, you could turn the answer into a joke. If the person says, “O,” you could say you want the whole word, not just the first letter. If he says “And,” you can look puzzled and respond, “And…I want youto tell me what the word is!” If the person says it’s “Love,” you can say, “Yes, darling?” or whatever funnierline you’ll undoubtedly think up.



2. Visually note where the spectator opened the book. You can usually spot if the volunteer has openedto the front section (Romeo and Juliet), the middle (Hamlet), or the end (A Midsummer Night’s Dream). Youmay want to position the ribbon bookmark between two of the sections so it’s even more obvious whichpart the spectator has opened to. Michael Weber suggested that you could have the ribbon bookmarkdivide Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet and have a prediction envelope divide Hamlet from A MidsummerNight’s Dream. Or you could have the ribbon bookmark and the supplied cue-sheet bookmark divide thesections.

3. Cleverly divine the first word. Here’s Andy Nyman’s great idea for detecting the play and adding abonus divination to your routine. This tactic is especially useful if the spectator’s opened to a place thatis so close to the dividing line between two of the plays that you can’t tell for sure which play he’s lookingat.

If it’s a toss-up between Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet, you have to find out if the word is O or And. Askthe spectator to think of the first word. Instruct him to tell you right away if you’re correct.

Intently concentrate, then exclaim, “Oh!” If the spectator is in the Romeo and Juliet section, he’ll thinkyou’re saying the word O and will tell you that you’re correct. If he’s in Hamlet, he won’t say anything, soyou continue after saying, “Oh!”: “I see it now! The word is And!”

If the gray area is between Hamlet or A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the word will be either And orLove. Have the spectator think of the first word on the line. Slowly and dramatically say, “And!” Pause. Ifthe volunteer says you’ve got the word right, it’s Hamlet. If they say nothing, continue: “The! Word! Is!Love!”

The exclamation points here denote how Andy Nyman (a successful dramatic and comedic actor)delivered the sentence. There’s a pause after the “And!” as you concentrate, then you continue, if needed, with the rest of the sentence in the declarative and slightly possessed way Andy pronounced it. If the persontries to say, “No, you’re wrong,” after you say “And!”, just shush them and continue with the revelation.

REVEALING THE WORD

You can tailor your revelations to your own style.Perhaps you’ll want to create elaborate verbal images relating to the word, before finally revealing the

word itself. Or, you could sketch a basic image of the word on a pad. For some words, you could resort tocalling out letters, and then the final word.

Remember, you can combine several different styles of revelations to add variety to your routine: verbalrevelations followed by a sketched image, general imagery followed by a specific word, etc.

For some words, you might evoke certain sensations. Andy Nyman thought it would be interestingfor the “love” and “passion” words, for example, to say you’re feeling a sudden temperature change in theroom.

Before doing your reading, you’d be wise to heed Andy’s suggestion to say to the spectator something

like, “It’s really easy to make me look stupid by lying. You can say I’m wrong if I make a mistake, but ifI’m correct, tell us honestly.”To avoid the uncomfortable situation of a spectator fibbing when you’ve named the right word, you

may also wish to have the spectator show the word to the person next to him. You also need to be clear about your premise for your routine. Are you claiming you’re seeing through

the spectator’s eyes? Are you reading his thoughts? Have you memorized the entire book? Are yousupernaturally attuned to Shakespeare’s words? Are you at one with the vibes in the air?



8

USING THE PAGE NUMBERS As noted earlier, the word groups are connected to specific page numbers. The group “Married Enemies

Womb Raven Lovers Mouse,” for example, appears only on pages ending in 0 or 1.If you want to perform a routine where someone calls out a page number, you’ll immediately know the

words on the page by the last digit of the number. The traditional objection to having the page numberannounced is that it suggests you’ve either memorized the book or have some kind of complete cue sheet.Because of the massive scale of The Shakespeare Experiment book, that’s less of a problem if you really wantto go that route.

The number set-up will also allow you to incorporate the book into any existing routine you have thatinvolves numbers.

If you need to know the page range of the various sections, they’re listed on the cueing devices.

OTHER NOTES ON THE PLAY SECTIONS1. The word battle in Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet is actually a hyphenated diminutive of the original

word battlements. Just thought you should know in case someone calls you on it.2. The only play with a front page is Romeo and Juliet.

3. The odd word in the “love” words is peace. Again, a lack of proper words to use. The word marriage was in all three plays but it would have conflicted with married. So peace seemed an acceptable compromise. Just make sure to mention in your reading that you see “a peaceful scene” or something similar. AndyNyman suggested using the word peace as the last word of your reading, and if the word actually is peace,you can act surprised at your apparently precise divination of the word. (In fact, you may want to includeone or more key words in all your readings so if one’s a hit, it will seem amazing!)

4. As noted earlier, in some places, the lines have been divided so the right word appears at thebeginning or end. A Shakespearean expert would notice the odd divisions but could not argue that the words are in the wrong order; they’re just as Shakespeare wrote them, but the lines end abruptly at times.(This is especially true for many of the Sonnets as well.)

5. The tiny line numbers in the margins have no meaning and are just decorations to make the pages

look more convincing, but you can make use of them if you want to direct the spectator to various specific words and phrases outside of the main key words.

THE SONNETSThe Sonnets section contains the actual 151 sonnets written by Shakespeare. I’ve just divided them so

the last word on each page is either beauty or love.If the text is on the left page, the last word on the page is love. If the text is on the right page, the last

word is beauty (or, in a few instances, beauteous ). Just remember “Love left.”To perform a reading with the Sonnets, have the spectator turn to that section. You tell him to look

for the illustrations toward the back of the book. Ask him to trace his finger down the text page and stopat the very last word on the page. Tell him that if there are two columns, he should go to the last columnand look at the last word there.

As the spectator looks at the text and traces his finger down, you’ll easily be able to figure out if he’slooking at text on the left page or the right page.

You could also have him pass his hand over the text, as if feeling the vibrations of the words. Again,this will visually cue you if the words are on the left or the right.

Now you can divine the word. If you get one of the variants of beauty, it’ll lend a convincing not-too-exactness to your presentation.



THE ENGRAVINGSThe Gustave Doré engravings have also been arranged for your use. Although at first glance they

look different, all the illustrations on the right-hand pages show a man and a woman, and somewhere inthe picture is a peacock. On the left-hand pages, the images all show a woman with beautiful hair and aflowing robe of some kind, with a large key. Some of the images are repeated, but they’ve been distributedfar apart so as not to be noticeable.

Michael Weber thought of the brilliant idea of layering an obscure common element into all thepictures, in this case a peacock or a key.

After you’ve correctly determined the last word on the opposite page of text, you’ll know if the image isa man, woman, and peacock (remember that the man and woman are in love ) or if it’s a beautiful woman with a key (beauty).

You can follow the text reading with the illustration divination by saying, “Now, opposite the poetry,there’s a picture. I see a scene of great beauty. There’s a woman with flowing hair. Near her is a key.” Addany details you want, then have the spectator confirm you’re correct.

You can also begin your Sonnets routine by having the spectator open to a picture and pass his handover the image. Depending on the page where he makes the motion, you’ll know if the image is on the leftside (woman with key) or the right side (man, woman, and peacock).

THE GLOSSARY The last sixteen pages of the book are a Shakespearean lexicon. I’ve arranged these words, too, for

further divinations.The final definition of each column (the bottom entry) and its meaning is an individual concept:

Left page Left column: Ends with a definition having to do with a birdRight column: Last entry involves weaponry, injuries, or fighting

Right page Left column: Final definition involves alcoholic beveragesRight column: Concludes with a word about a mammal

You can have your spectator either choose a page and column, or you can have him trace his finger upand down the columns, having him stop at the last definition. Again, your logic is that the surrounding white space makes it easier to divine.

You should familiarize yourself with the pronunciation and definition of these words so you won’tsound awkward during an actual performance.

OTHER BUILT-IN EFFECTS

Gothic Mindreading The final word on the Romeo and Juliet front page is blood. This has been especially arranged in case

you want to do a spooky presentation. For example, you could have a prediction envelope there with animage of two crossed swords. You can guide the spectator to pick one of the “war” words in the plays orglossary, have him look at the last word on the page where the envelope is inserted — the word blood —and then as a climax have the spectator open the envelope and show the drawing.



0

The Kingdoms of Hearts Sonnet 70 actually ends in the phrase “Then thou alone Kingdoms of Hearts shouldst owe.” I’ve

capitalized the words Kingdoms and Hearts so they’re more apparent. You can use this sentence for card revelations. For example, you might have the spectator hold a

prediction envelope and use the book as a table as he selects a card. You force the King of Hearts, and whenthe spectator opens the envelope, he finds the cryptic numbers “742-13.” You have him turn to page 742of the book, count down 13 lines, and read the line aloud…the very similar wording makes it sounds likethe Bard found his card!

Andy Nyman suggests forcing the King of Hearts, then failing repeatedly to find the spectator’s card. You get first a Seven, then a Four, a Two, an Ace, and a Three. You can jot these failures down on a pador leave the individual cards in view. Finally, you realize it might be a code, the values representing actualnumbers. The spectator turns to page 742 (Seven, Four, Two), counts down 13 (Ace, Three) lines, andfinds his card’s name hidden in Shakespeare’s prose.

FURTHER EFFECTS

Combined Readings You can combine different parts of The Shakespeare Experiment for your own original routines. Perhaps

two spectators both end up silently concentrating on a “war” word, one you’ve forced from the plays (bysimply verbally directing the spectator there) and one from the glossary; your prediction drawing of twocrossed swords proves correct for both of them.

You could make a spectator select love from the Sonnets, and another volunteer ends up with one ofthe “love” words.

Many other possibilities abound!

Non-Key Words There are thousands of random words in The Shakespeare Experiment aside from the key words. If

you look through these, you may find interesting words or phrases that are relevant to the occasion you’reperforming for, your hosts, another routine, or a sponsor’s product.

Note the play or Sonnet, and the page where the word or phrase is located, perhaps using the linenumbers. You’ll have to guide the spectator to the correct play. If he’s not there already, you can verballydirect to the front of the book to vary the procedure, the back of the book to get far away from the first word, somewhere in the center to be more random, etc.

You then direct the spectator to the right page. Do an initial reading; when you determine the wordgroup, you’ll know if you’re on the right page.

If not, you’re never more than a few pages away. You can, for example, ask the volunteer to turn to thenext page, concentrate, and then ask him to turn one page further. He ends up on the correct page and

you can proceed to guide him to the word or phrase you want.

Five Outs Andy Nyman suggested that you can have five outs ready for one of the word sections, such as individual

envelopes in five separate pockets. Each has a card inside with, say, one of the “animal” words.The brilliant part of Andy’s routine is that you can remove the envelope and set it on the table before

the spectator has even seen the word. He recognized that once you know one word, you are immediatelyseveral steps ahead of the game because you know the other words, and they’re terms you haven’t evenaddressed in your presentation. You thus have extra time to play with this knowledge and set things up toyour advantage.



You do your first reading and the revealed word tells you the other words in that group. Now you know which “animal” envelope to remove; you take it out of your pocket and set it on the table or have someonehold it. A little later in the routine, you direct the spectator to the “animal” location. He concentrates onthe word, and when he opens the prediction, he finds the correct word is found inside…after the envelope’sbeen in plain view for quite a while.

If I’ve made an error, if I’ve omitted something, if you have a better procedure than what I’ve suggested,please send me an email at [email protected]. I will be keeping all purchasers up to date on any newinformation I receive for The Shakespeare Experiment!

— Todd Karr

the shakespeare experiment instruction manual

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