Alex Duvall has carefully fashioned the presentation of the music involved in his shows so as to observe all the legal requirements of Copyright Law. Some of his music he has had specially written; the others are in the Public Domain. So it no surpriose to a reviewer of Alex’s shows that the music becomes familiar.
Alex services a number of venues with his show, and so the reviewer becomes afmiliar with the venues as well. This particular show is given in one of my favourite venues. I have seen the camera pan over the locale and that always adds to the enjoyment of viewing the show. Of course any showman or entertainer panning the camera over the venue and the audience has to be careful to do so with reason and with the consent of members of the audience.
Having said all this, “on with the show” as well as “the thoughts that arise in me”.
The venue and the music I know: what will the show be like? What will it reveal about stage hypnosis as a science and an art? How many volunteers will come up on to the stage? How many of them will be hypnotized? Whoi will be “the stars of the show”?
There does not seem to be a large number of people in the audience tonight; nevertheless, the six chairs are filled quickly. There is always an air of willingness to have family fun together at this venue. It seems to attract a nice crowd and it seems to attract families with well-behaved – even if sometimes noisy – children. And, of course, the proprietor of the establishment seems to be quite personally attentive to making sure that everyone has a good tim,e. In fact he is rarely far away from camera range and he seems always concerned with members of his clientele as individuials.
Alex’s first fan to appear is a little girl with a dummy in her mouth. She wanders off and the proprietor makes an initial appearance. The camera views across a constant stream of patrons going and coming through what appears to be a main entrance to the entertainment area. The general conversation between Alex and his audience shows that everyone seems to be in good humour. A few minuutes is spent settling down the children so that the show can begin.
There are six volunteers, three ladies and three gentlemen. One man seems to be younger middle-aged and somewhat of a serious ‘loner’ type., The other two men are a twenty-something and a forty-something respectively. The three ladies seem to be in their late twenties. One lady is ’smart-casual’ dressed in a tailored black jacket and white top, black belt and light-grey jeans-material short skirt. One lady is dressed in a loose light-pink short-sleeved sweater; and long worn-blue jeans with stylish holes around the knees area. The third lady is conservatiely attired with a high-necked singlet black top and loose grey calf-length trousers.
Only one volunteer has been hypnotized before: the fortyish strong-limbed man in the blue shirt. He can’t remember whether he enjoyed himself or not. Taking bets on the outcome, after the induction of hypnosis and the hands-held out for the initial skit (“piano-playing”); all seem to be lightly hypnotized at least, except for the lady in the high-singlet black top. Somehow or other she seems to be determined to do things her way. She seems to be ‘only going along’ with the hypnotist’s instructions while hesitatingly thinking about it. All three men seem to be at least medium-depth hypnotized with the blue-shirted fortyish man seeming to be deeply hypnotized. The girl in the knee-hole-y worn-blue jeans is deeply hypnotized.
Hardly does the familiar honky-tonk piano music start than the girl in the singlet black top is lost to the show. She seemed to be continually distracted by the people passing in and out the door to the left of the stage, and it is toward them that she looked when she had to leave the stage. In passing, the girl in the knee-hole-y jeans had been slightly distracted by them as well; but she went into deep hypnosis immediately. One was earlier left with the impression that these two ladies, who were sitting together at the left of the row of chairs, were in danger of being unsettled by the continual passing to and fro through that door and across the view of the camera.
In his instructional videos and ebooks, Alex stresses the importance of keeping the stage “tidy” and getting rid of excess chairs as the volunteers settle into the skits. Here he rearranges by ‘wakening’ and shifting the seemingly-shy middle-aged man and the lady in the black jacket and short grey jeans-material skirt. He has to ‘instantly’ induct them again. The lady is hypnotized but not deeply so.
Alex gets quite a bit of mileage out of this skit with its various permutations such as “elbows, tiny tiny piano, back to full size, elbows, ….., etc) until he gives the command, “Eyes tightly-closed! Sit back in your chairs and sl-eeeee-ppp! …. sleep, sleep, sleep, deep down, that’s right …. Now I want you to listen very carefully to me now. You’re all doing extremel;y well; but I need to see how you can all use your imaginations.”
It is time to imagine that they are all seated in a Porsche or a Ferrari. “Hold on to the steering wheel now. Hold on tight ……. “. They all go through with the skit, all except the lady in the short skirt seem to be really into it. She seems to be quite lady-like and used to doing things her way. She just ‘obeys’ her way: not quite into it.
Alex praises them as he puts them to “sl-eeee-pp! Deep deep sleep. Now I really do need to see how well you can use your imaginations.” They are to imagine that on the floor in front of them is an absolutely-gorgeous pet or animal: its clean; its safe. We are about ten minutes into the actual show and this is already the third skit. The first one, the piano-playing, had been quite successfully drawn out; the second one, the Porsche or the Ferrari, had been a little short. Now it is time for the pets.
They pick up their pets and stroke them attentively, even the lady in the short skirt. The shy middle-aged man has a dog, the blue-shirt man has a ‘hausen [indistinct audio]’, the tall lanky slim younger man has a doberman, the knee-hole-y lady has a doggy and the sedate jacketed woman has a cat named “Tammy”. She seems to be participating a little more freely now and is more ‘into it’.
Alex gets a lot of fun for the audience out of this skit: the pets get hugely bigger the more he clicks his fingers and then by the same token they disappear into their laps and come back to normal size. He wakes the lady in the light-=pink top and she is mystified until she hears the laughter from the audience at her amazement at what the other hypnotized volunteers are doing: then she too laughs. This shows that they are award of what is going on around them -seeing everything, knowing everything, hearing everything. While the two men, the blue-shirted one and the lanky white-shirted younger one, are standing trying to reach up to their over-sized pets, he wakes them in turn and they immeditely laugh at what the others are doing. The pets are eventually ’shooed off” with difficulty, “…because they keep coming back. Come on, shoo them off again now! Shoo them off!”
“Eyes tightly-closed! Sit back in your chairs and sl-eeeee-ppp! …. sleep, sleep, sleep, deep down, that’s right …. Now, each and every one of you on the stage, I want you to listen very carefully to me now. I want you to imagine that you are each sat on a horse. I want each and every one of you to hold onto the horse’s reins. Hold on to the horse’s reins. I want you to hold on tightly to the horse’s reins NOW. That’s good. I want you to race your horse to the time of the music. If I should touch you on the shoulder you will wonder what the person next to you is doing; but if I touch you on the shoulder again, you’ll be back rising your horse again.”
Alex has developed quite a racing commetnator’s style and he gives a commentary in fast racing style which makes each competitor strive harder, especially when he tells them that a horse is coming up on the inside: the prize is one thousand Pounds.
All the men are enthusiastically ‘riding’ their horses. So much so that the man in the blue shirt starts bouncing his chair across the stage floor in the direction of the audience. [One of the things Alex always checks out before the show is that the chairs are not too flimsy for the show]
The girl in the hole-y jeans is deep into it. The lady-like girl in the tailored jacket and short grey skirt is quite the figure of dignity while making the best of letting herself go with the flow of the skit. Alex keeps up the anticipation, with his commnents and his isntructions: they are to be posh like royalty with their noses up in the air. They all do this but the irl in the hole-y jeans won’t let it distract her from keeping up to the timing of themusic: she wants to win. It is a photo finish: they freeze with smiles on their facrs, even the sedate lady: she got quite determined to win at ‘the last hundred metres’ up to the photo finish.
At the click of his fingers, he puts them to sleep and then immediately he awakens them “Wakey! Wakey! Rise and shine! Look at me now.” He praises them fulsomely: all doing very well; good imaginations; good concentration. This makes them all even more pleased.
The fashionable lady in the tailored jacket seems very pleased with herself as she ‘wakes’ with a pleasant smile. He finds out that their names are Terry (the shy man), “…” (the blue-shirted man: his less-worn blue jeans have less prominent but fashionable holes in their knees: this had become even more apparent when he had led with hius knees riding his chair towards the audience during the horse-racing skit); “Bob” the tall younger man, “—” with the hole-y jeans” and “—” the lady in the tailored jacket who seems to be beaming with happiness.
He now puts them to ’sl-eee-ppp: ten times deep …..sleep”. He lets the two ladies enjoy their sleep and the relaxation while he gets the three men to stand up on the stage in a line and ’sleep’ standing up.
Before he taps the three men in turn on the shoulder he announces, “The person I tap on the shoulder, I’m speaking to you and only you.” The two ladies remain sitting in their chairs with their heads down looking completely at their ease.
“Looking straight ahead, fill your lungs and Sl-eee-pp! Sleep, you can stand. …Sleep, you can stand.” Their eyes close and their heads hand down a little. He commands their attention. They are to listen very carefully.
They are to imagine that in front of each of them is a little, little sqauirrel. This squirrel is going to make them losts of money because it is a racing squirrel. They are to pick up their squirrel “…now”. They do so with eyes closed and go back to their standing position holding each his squirrel.
“Now you can use your imagination with your eyes open or with your eyes open. I prefer you to use your imagination with your eyes open. So look at me, now. Hold your racing squirrel with one hand (Alex shows how with his hand). “” They are juggling squirrels: they demonstrate by juggling their squirrels. Alex is going to add more and they have to keep going. The more squirrels he adds the more they get annoyed, but they have to keep going. If anyone drops a squirrel they are disqualified . The one who finished gets ten thousand Pound.
He goes three rounds of giving one squirrel more to each of the contestants. He keeps up little remarks towards the ‘;=sleeping’ ladies: “Everyone else just enjoy the relazation.” The more squirrels they get, the more difficult it becomes for the three standing men.
He hands out two each; and then three, making appropriate puffing sounds per squirrel. Then each gets another four swuirrels to juggle. Their pace of juggling gets more and more fast as they receive more swuirrels. The blue-shirted one is looking up at the squirrels in the air as he juggles. He dorps one and quickly retrieves it. They are all intensely into it. He strats to single them out: the younger man gets another one, the blue-shirted one gets another five, the shy man gets another one. Another one, another five (the blue-shirted man), another one. Again, in the same order, another one, another five, another one.
The blue-shirted man drops one. Alex says to him, “Sorry! You’re out.” and points for him to return to his chair.
Now, its another one for the shy man and another ten for the youth. Now the order changes: its the shy man and the youth in that order: another one – another ten. The youth keeps up the faster pace. Another one, another twenty. The young man goes even faster. Another one, another hundred.
This is too much for the youth to cope. Alex announces to him, “Sorry, you cropped it.” The youth returns to his chair giving a good-natured kick towards the dropped sqauirrels.
The shy man is still going. All this time the three men have their eyes open, even in their chairs.
The two ladies are ‘asleep’ peacefully in their chairs.
The shy man in the light grey (with horizontal white stripes) sports shirt is the winner. He receives his ten thousand Pound: Alex instructs him to put in his trousders pocket, as he does. He then gives ‘five Grand’ to each of the other two contestants and praises them “That’s very good.” They rummage around and pujt their five Grand into their pockets.
Throuhgout ths show and especially during the skits, and especially during the last skit; the audience has been most appreciateive and giving out bursts of laughter.
The three men are looking at Alex. He tells them that every time he taps on the microphone the money in their pockets will multiply in value, “Just tell ‘us’ when to stop, will you?” For a while the tapping goes on and the three keep staring at Alex without telling him to stop. They keep adjusting their pockets to cope with the increasing amount of ‘money’. “Just tell ‘us’ when to stop. Is that enough?” They shake their heads.
They look at each other bewildered as they squirm around to cope with their money.
“All you have to do is to tap your knees and that money will multiply.” They start tapping their knees with their hands at a great rate of knots. The blue-shirted one had been standing up to cope. He now got seated in a flash and tapped away until the command came, “OK, that’ enough. Sit back in your seats and sl-eee-ppp!, now sleep!”
All five volunteers are slumped in their chairs. Alex praises them effusively.
“Now I want each and evry one of you to imagine that youa re sat on a roller-coaster.”
It is now about twenty-two minutes into the actual show.
They all buckle themselves in and then react as they go “up and up and up” several times. They are urged not to be afraid to hand onto the person nect to them as they go higher.
An observation: the short-skirted lady had crossed her legs, right over left, when she had been awakened after the ‘horse race’ skit and at the point when she had been asked her name. She had remained seated like this and does so now during the roller-coaster ride. During Alex’s shows the volunteers are encouraged to keep both feet on the ground.
The girl with the hole-y blue jeans holds both hands up to show that she wants to go higher and higher – and even higher. The blue-shirted man leans back so far as they go higher and higher that he is in danger of turning the chair over backward. Alex has to stand behind him as the skit proceeds. Even the sedate lady is leaning backwards.
The audience love it as Alex takes them up and up and up without any apparent top height being reached. Even the hole-y kneed lady drops her hands to cluthc the roller-coaster seat over her tummy. The blue-shirted man, the youth and the hole-y one are now hanging onto each otther. Now they are coming down ………….. “Whe-eeeeeee-eeeee!”. The sedate lady throws her hands up in the air as she comes down and the others lean forward.
The least demonstrative one is the shy man on the extreme right. He tends to coooperate fully but to “paddle his own canoe.” The sedate lady has obviously enjoyed the ride and she keeps holding her hands up when Alex asks who wants to go up again.
All goes as planned. The blue-shirted man is still carried away leaning back strongly in his chair with Alex holding behind his chair. The sedate lady has her hands fully stretched up in the air,. The youth is gritting his teeth and hanging on for grim death (the only one who had had her hands up to go up again had been the sedate lady).
The shy man is curled up with feet off the floor in a fetal position. The hole-y jeans lady is crouched down itno her seat hanging onto the people on each side, until……..
The sepuchral voice of Alex announces in a grave tone, “Ladies and Gentlemen. Something has gone wrong with the roller-coaster. Do not move. Hang on tight. I repeat, ‘Do not move’. One of the screws has come loose.
The sedate lady instantly drops her hands and hangs onto the arms of her chair. The hole-y kneed lady hands onto her crouched down as low as possible in her seat. The blue-shirted man is hanging onto her and onto the youth. The shy man curls up even tighter into a ball. A moment ago the thirty-something lady had been acting as if she were an excited teen-ager again. Now she is a very concerned lady. She is obviously used to being in charge of things.
Alex starts to give even a graver message or two – now through binoculars from the ground they can see ther there is another screw gone. Another one? No another three. Do not move under any circumstances. Oh – I suggest you hang onto the person next to you because we are coming down the other side.
At this, the shy man hangs on tightly to the youth (the youth and the blue-shirted man had accidently changed chairs after the ’squirrel-juggling’ episode)
They are told they are now going down the other side. All are hanging on to the people next to them except for the sedate lady who hangs on tighly to the arms of her chair. When Alex had told them that there were now three screws loose, he had rattled the chair of the blue-shirted deeply-hyp[notized man. He in turn had held on in panic to the others, who in turn showed signs of panic.
Alex now told them that it was a nice smooth ride and that they had come to a halt at the ground. If they did not unbuckle their seat belts, they would be going up again. They all went through the motions quickly, unbuckling their seat belts. The shy man bolted off the stage towards the audience.
The shy man musn’t have gone too far because as he was returning to his seat Alex could reach out to him to get him back.
They were all then put to sleep.
We are now about twenty-five minutes into the actual show. The jacketed lady’s legs had remained crossed during this whole roller-coaster episode.
Alex lavishes praise on the volunteers who are now ‘asleep’ in their chairs. They are to imagine (the key word is “imagine”) that they have a nice cold refrehing drink in front of them.
“Lean forward. Pick up your drinks now. You deserve it after that roller-coaster ride.” They all lean forward and take up their drinks. Alex make lots of soothing suggestions. The drink is cool. It is refreshing. The hypnotist is paying for the drinks and he has just left the room. Get as many drinks as possible, quickly! They all quaff down the first drink and get another one – even the sedate crossed-leg lady. Alex encourages them, “He’s just gone to his car to get some stuff. Quicly!” They oblige, even the sedate lady does.
“OK, he’s just come back into the room, now. It’s all right. Just have a drink on me. Pick up your drink!” They all pick up their drink with relish.
They seem to be taking his words literally now and obeying at once. “Nothing is important to you now. Nothing disturbs you now. All that is important is the music and the sound of my voice.”
“Ladies and Gentelmen, we are just going to have a little break now. These people on the stage are doing extremely well. Good imagination. Good concentration. If you want to go to the toilets or to the bars, please do so now before we go on to the second part of the show”
“
Each and every one on the stage, all I want you to do is to listen to the music, sit back and enjoy your drinks. Sit back and enjoy your drinks. That’s good! Good concentration. Good imagination.”
“Nothing worries or disturbs you now. All that is important is the music and the sound of my voice.”At once the movement of the people in the audience begins: men women and children start coming and going through that door on the left of the stage.
THERE IS A GAP IN THE TAPING OF THE SHOW. The tape resumes at the 30′11” time mark from the very beginning of the video including Alex’s entrance and introduction (for which I had allowed five minutes in timing what went on in the first part of the show).
The tape resumes in the midst of a skit. The sedate lady is no longer on the show. Perhaps she had been conscious of her short skirt. Now there are the four remaining volunteers: from right to left they are (1) the shy slightly-portly middle-aged man in the grey white-striped sports shirt; (2) the tall short-haired lanky ‘youth’ in his early twenties in the white T-shirt over fawn slacks, (3) the blue-shirted man with the hole-y jeans, and (4) the holey-y jeaned lady with the loight-pink short-sleeved top.
They are evidently uncomfortable and squirming or rising from their seats.
Piecing theskit together, it seems that every time someone passes in or out of that wretched door to the left and across the view of the camera, their seats get hotter and hotter. It seems that the four volunteers’ buttocks are hotter and hotter if people pass by them on the left to and from the door. A man in a loud ‘orange’ shirt pases in and out a couple of times. Alex instructs that if someone in an orange shirt passes by their buttocks will get hotter and hotter. The lady in the hole-y blue jeans calls out in alarm. They are all very uncomfortable.
Every time Alex touches the top of his microphone their rear ends will get hotter and hotter. The lady cires out as the tappiung goes on. They are all trying to distance themselves from the chairs: either standing or sitting on the floor. They suffer nevertheless. Alex tells them that everything is back to normal. They sit down. He tells them that their rear ends will be hot again if he taps on his mike. If they want to swear at him they can swear only in the Japanese language (“….. ‘cos there are children here.”).
They suffer with the successive taps on the mike. The youth takes up the initiative and starts shouting ‘in Japanese’. The lady eventually does the same. The shy man and the man in the blue shirt are both suffering and trying to find a position for relief, but they do not call out at Alex. Alex tells them that their chairs have been trnsformed into cool blocks of ice. He tells them to sit down when he tells each one in turn. First the lady, then the blue-shirted one, then the lanky youth and finally the shy man in the grey white-striped short-sleeved sports shirt. As each sits down, the others watch apprehensively. Each one’s face lights with a smile of joy and relaxes back into the chair. The shy man is the last to sit down and he does so very very gingerly until his loud sigh of relief is heard all over the audience.The four volunteers are blissfully enjoying their cool chairs. The audience loves the whole skit.
They are to sit back in their chairs and sl-eee-pp: ten times deep sleep – sleep, sleep, sleep, sleep!Since the hypnotist has been having a bit of a lark with them, they will want to pull funny faces at him - “But don’t let me catch you!”
He clicks his fingers twice, “All right! Eyes open now!”
Alex pretends to be busy sorting out the children around him in the audience. The four start pulling funny faces in his direction, suddenly stopping and disguising their actions whenever Alex looks in their direction. This charade goes on for a while until Al;ex asks, “Who’s pulling funny faces?” Each of the volunteers puts on air of innocence or a sheepish grin; and now it’s “Sle-eee-pp – sleep sleep sleep sleep.”
Alex praises the efforts of the voluntters as they ’sleep’. Alex tells them that when he snaps his fingers they are to imagine that they are all sitting in a class-roopm; and they are all school-kids. They are in an exam and they have their school-work on their laps.
“Don’t let me catch you copying off the person next to you.”
They all play the part well when Alex has his back turned. The lady is particularly good at it, finding reason to bend down to pick something up while getting an eyefull of what is on the lap of the man in the blue-shirtg. The shy man is cheating from the youth and the youth is cheating from the shy man. The man in the blue shirt is cheating from the youth. The lady is cheating from the man in the blue shirt.
“The teaqcher’s coming! The teacher’s coming!” They immediately become model students each minding her or his own work in the exam setting.
“If you cheat, your rear end will get hot. The teacher’s out of the room!” The cheating starts again in earnest: but as they do so their rear ends get hot and they are very uncomfortable – but they keep on cheating before they have to move around to try to cool their rear ends.
“…. And all is back to normal; and sl-eee-ppp! Sleep, sleep, sleep, sleep.”
“When you open your eyes, you’ll give ‘us’ your homework. [click! Click!] All right, open yuour eyes now.” Alex gets the homework and then he demands “Who’s been copying – the answers are the same.” The shy man blames the youth. The youth denies all knowledge. The blue-shirted man points to both the shy man and the youth. He seems good at shifting the blame. For his pains he is sent to stand in the corner over to the right.
The l;ady is the only one left. She looks quite worried with her hand up to her mouth.
To the man in the corner, “Are you goling to be good now?” The blue-shirted one nods enthusiastically. “OK! Go back now.” He returns and sits down happily. The lady looks as if she would like to be invisible. But its “Sl-eee-ppp, sleep sleep sleep …”
They are now to imagine that they are all the world’s grteatest violin-players. They tuckj the violins underneath their chins. They are to stand up and play their violins when the music starts and to have their eyes open “for safety reasons”. They all respond well and are playing the jig and moving to the rhythm.
The youth is left-handed.
When the music stops theyare told they will think that their violin is on their rear end. They contort to the new position as they play their violins. Then the violin is on the rear end of the person next to them. They play in this situation too.
Then Alex wakes the youth and he is to wodner what the person behi dh im is doing as they are playing the violin on his rear end. The other two keep laying while the shy man pureuse the youth around the stage trying to play the violin he imagines is situated on the rear end of the youth.
Then Alex tells them all to sit down: they have ceased playing their violins. He puts them to sleep.
The audience has been most amused throughout these skits. They particularly liked the blue-shirt man being put in the corner and promising to be good. It seemed to be something they knew something about fromt their own experience.
They are now to be the world’s greatest singers. They will take the mike when Alex offers it in turn and they are to sing their favourite song. If they do not know a fvourite song, they will sing a nursery rhyme
“[click! Click!] Eyes open now: don’t forget the prixe money is ten thousand Pound,”
The blue-shirted man is still ‘asleep’. Alex ‘wakes’ him to take the first turn: “Come on now. Sing your favourite song or a nursery rhyme.” The blue-shirted one comes forward on the stage. He croons a love ballad. He is interrupted and told to sing it the way Prince Charles would sing it. He gives a full-throated performanance. The audience applauds. He is sent back to his seat with a word of praise.
The lady is called to the mike. She will sing a nursery rhyme. It is “Baa Baa Black Sheep.” She seems a straight-forward lass and she goes straight into it without any frills. During the violin episoce it was noted that she is wearing a pink belt to go with her shirt.The audience claps along with her nursery rhyme This really brings her to life and she puts a bit of gusto into it keeping eye contact with various parts of the audience.
Alex calls for a roun d of applause and she returns to her chair looking very happy and appreciated.
The lanky youth is called by name, “Come on, Mike. Take the mike and show us what you can do. Sing your favourite song or nursery rhyme.”
He sings a sentimental hill-billy style rock-and-roll song with something about “I think it was in sixty-nine.”. He is told to sing it the way Michael Jackson would sing it. He starts to give a very spirited performance indeed, throwing his limbs in all dierctions and contorting like that particular entertainer.The youth starts to get very enthusiastic. Alex lets him go on to a second little song in Michale Jackson look-alike style. He is then to give the mike to the shy man in the grey sports shirt with the shite stripes.
The shy man becomes very shy indeed and stares in disbelief toward the youth. Alex calls him forward to do his thing as per his instructions. The shy man comes forward hesitatingly.
He starts off to croon “Hey Jude”; and he is showing some hiddeen talent one would not have guessed to be there. Alex interrupts and asks him to move over to the centre of the stage. “Just there, that’s right.” The shy man looks at Alex, again in disbelief. He looks like the sort of person who wants, more than anything else, just to be left alone.
Alex tells him that the more he is bossed about and interrupted, the more angry he will be.
“Go on now! Get on with it!” [or words to that effect] The shy man is already fuming. He didn’
want to sing in the first place and now he just wants to get on with it. He has a reasonably-p;leasant voice too. He is told to start from the beginning. When he gets out just a few words, he is interrupted again and he is told to go “… just a little bit to the left.” He is now more angry thanj ever.
He is anxious to obey Alex, but he is a bit uncertain as to where exactly Alex wants him to stand. A minor exchange of glaring looks at Alex results in his finding ‘the right place’. He gets out ‘Hey Jude’ and pauses expecting another interruption. The interruption doesn’t come. He starts the next words, and then he is interrupted. A debate ensues about what Alex wants.
Alex wants him to “… go down a bit” in height. The shyman bends his knees forward to reduce his height. He stgarts from the beginning and finishes the second line of the song when he is interrupted: “Just a bit to the right and just a bit down.”
If looks could kill! He glares resentfully at Alex – and the camera (magnificent shot: his head and shoulders fill up the whole frame during all this). The audience is highly amused. He moves to the right and entertains the audience mightly as he sinks down towards the floor wqith his knees bent even more towards the front of the stage. He looks desperate as if he is struggling to keep his balance.
He gets out “Hey Jude, don’t be afraid ..” That’s as far as he gets. He had gone too far to the right it seems and he has to start again, going over ther to the left.
Looking back at this unreasonable and demanding hypnotist, he measures out several measuired steps to the left and is told when to stop. He just want to please Alex. He looks utterly miserable. In fact, he croons in rather a pleasing voice completely ad odds with his unhappy appearance.
As he tries again, looking at Alex as he has been commanded, he is interrupted again: “Can you sing a little bit faster?” He has already increased the temp, apparently to get it over with.
Alex keeps telling him to move “…over this way a bit! …over this way a little bit! …” He keeps stepping sideways towards the left on Alex’s commands. The quality of his singing deteriorates markedly, but hekeeps going.
Without missing a beat in his song, he is now made to bob down and to come up again in as many seconds. He runs out of steam and stands there gaping at Alex with open mouth.
“Try to be professional about this. You’re all over the stage. Try and keep still.!”
He folds his arms akimbo with the mike up towards his mouth. He is confused. He starts to sing nonsense syllables and la-dah-de-dah. He is made to bob down with bent knees and then back up again.
He has to start from the beginning. There is a problem with height: he has to bend his knees again and go down. — “Just there! (comes the command as he is sinking from view in the camera)
Ales prompts him, “Hey …”. he starts off again from the beginning, “Hey Jude, don’t malke it sad …”. As he sings he is made to go down progressively and quickly and he sinks down until the top of his head disappears from view in the camera. Then he starts bobbing up and down in and out of view as Alex directs him. The quality of his singing deteriorates into a wail like a siren as he goes up and down.’s hand is seen as he is directed to sway from side to side as well.
Al;ex calls, “That’s good. Give him a round of applause.” The audience responds heartily. The shy man shuffles off back to his chair. Alex goes over to retrieve the mike and gives off a sound as if he is letting off wind through his rear edn. He apologizes profusely and waves his hand as if to dispel the bad smell. The shymman starts to do the same. The simulated noises continue and then all the volunteers are trying to wave the bad smell away.
Alex explains that it was something that he had to eat the previous night. The volunteers are covering their noses. The shy man is curled up in his chair with his back to Alex. The audience sees the funny side of the skit. The volunteers do not seem to think thate is anything funny about it.
The shy man is hiding his nose wrapped in the curtains behind the stage.
When Alex snaps his fingers the smell will no longer be ‘disgusting’: “You will believe that it is an absolutely fantstic aftershave or perfume.. It will be absoultely amazing.
The volunteers seem to be different people as they enjoy the pleasant odour. The man in the blue shirt looks as if he were in his sevbenth heaven. “When I snap myfingers, you will believe that that smell is ten times as pleasant: and you will try discreetly to get close to me.”
The lady is brave and she comes up close standing just behind Alex on the left. Alex sends her back to her chair. Then the youth sneaks forward behind Alex and is sent back. The blue-shirted one is deep asleep (he’s been like this before). Alex stirs him and gives him the instruction again. The shy man is biding his time to approach Alex but he is like a cat watching a mouse and ready to pounce. Finally he makes his move and comes up behind Alex.
Alex ramps it up a bit. He tells them it is even a ten times more attractive smell.
Alex is pretending to praise the volunteers to the audience, but he is interrupted by these surreptitious approaches from behind him. The youth is quite daring. The lady, the blue-shirt and the shy one all make a move; but the smell turns into that of human excrement; and the prowlers behind Alex go back to their chairs in disgust to escape.
The audience laughs long and loud.
“All right, the smell’s gone now. The smell’s gone now.”
“I forgot to tell you: because you are in hypnosis, your tongue is made of rubber. When you try to talk to me, your tongue will be all over the place. You will think it is absolutely hilarious when you hear the person next to you trying to talk with their tongue going all over the place”.
50′19”
He then engages the blue-shirt man in conversation with such questions as, “Are you having a good time?” and “What’s your name?” and “What’s your surname?”
The blue-shirt man puts his fingers to his mouth to sort out his tongue which he cannot get to give an intelligible syllable, let alone an entire word or sentence. The youth thinks this is very funny and the lady starts to see the funny side of the situation as well.
Then it is the youth’s turn. The lady collapses in laughter. The blue-shirt man doesn’t know what to make of it. After several questions directed to the youth, Alex turns to the lady: “What’s your name.” She answers something that sounds like “Anne.” The blue-shirt man doubles with laughter, as if he is happy the tables have been turned on Alex. Alex says to the girl, “Really?” She is upset because the blue-shirt is laughing and rolling about on his chair with amusement at what she is saying.
“Ask him what he’s laughing about?” This makes the blue-shirt to laugh even more. The lady’s speech is now definitely garbled and she is starting to speak more to vent her feelings. The blue-shirt is now convulsed with laughter. She is getting more and more annoyed. The shy man is not in the camera’s field of view. The youth is mildly amused, perhaps bemused. He is certainly enjoying the scene.
Blue-shirt is now stamping his feet on the floor as well as being doubled up with mirth.
Alex tells her to swer at him. Some strange would-be-syllables pour out of her mouth. The blue-shirt is now helpless with laughter. He is thumping his knees and his face has been scarlet and is now getting even more than scarlet from his fit of merriment. The more the lady tries to say, the more the blue-shirt laughs even more beyond control.
We can now see the shy man. He has all the appearance of a deeply-intellectual university professor: now a kind of absent-minded professor since his singing performance of “Hey Jude”. Up until now, he has been a bit more than ‘reserved’ unless Alex has given him specific instructions either personally or along with the others: as in, “Each and everyone on the stage.”
The scene of the others and the uncontrollable laughter has attracted his attention. He is looking on with complete befuddled amazement, his mouth hanging open. His eyes are on what the blue-shirt is doing.
Then, its “Give them a round of applause. Sit back in your chairs. Relax, take a deep breath and ….sl-eee-ppp! ….”
Throughout the laughter from the audience has been loud, clear and sustained. They now applaud heartily.
The instructions to the ’sleeping’ volunteers now, are: they will become the world’s greatest catwalk models. They will parade around the stage as if they were the greatest – God’s gift to the opposite sex. The trigger will be the music.
Alex has the camera and they are continuously being reminded to pose throughout the skit. They are to walk around the stage as if they were Victoria Beckham ….Pose! Pose! …Pose! They pose to the camera: even the shy man warms up to it. They are to pose,… pose, ”’ to the audience. They do so as instructed and each time when instructed. They are evidently quite aware of the audience and of the audiences evident amusement and attention. Then they are to walk around the stage as if they were penguins from the North Pole doing a fashion show. Then as if they had three feet. Then as if they had four feet.
The girl particularly seems to like being applauded by the audience.
Now they are to walk around the stage as if they had four arms and four legs: …. five arms and five legs; ….. and one huge bum; … six arms, six legs and one huge bum; “… and… keep walking …”.
“…. and FREEZE! Keep in that position.”
Alex now stops the music and sends them back to their chairs. “Wide awake. Wide awake. Go back to your chairs now. Excellent imagination.”
Now Alex borrows a long drinking straw from the audience. He is enthusiastic about what is to come next. It is a skit, “The Sleeping Dart”, that he created fifteen years ago: that would mean it was created in 1990 or so since this show is dated 31 August 2005.
Alex explains to the attentive volunteers that what he has in his hand is a sleeping dart appliance. If he points the dart at them and they hear his explosive ‘Puff!’, they will instantly fall asleep. However…. “I will give you a little tip. Do not be the last person.”
“Who wants to go first?” Each and all of them try to get Alex to let them go first and they start to push each other out of the way as they get to their feet to be in front of the sleeping ‘blowtube’. Alex sends them back to their chairs. They start up again and Alex makes them sit back in their chairs as they wave and atry to attract attention at the cost of each other’s chances to avoid being last.
The suspense is mounting and Alex adds to it and draws it out.
Alex ‘puffs’ the shy man first. He falls back into his chair. The remainig three now try to be the first to be ’shot’ by the blowtube. Alex keeps up the suspense as each tries to be the most evident target. The blue-man is ’shot’ and collapses back into his chair. The lady is not happy.
Now it is between the lady and the youth. “Is it ladies before gentlemen? …. or No?” The lady looks very happy indeed at this and nods her head and tosses her head towards Alex away from the youth. She feels sure that she will be the next one to be ’shot’ and she jumps to her feet in front of the youth. Alex keeps up the suspense.
She tries to dominate the firing range of the blowtube. She gets ’shot’ and falls back into her chair. The youth covers his face with both hands in disappointment. He is now the unlucky last. He shakes his head in his hands and looks up at Alex as if to plead for mercy and shakes his head.
Alex: “Doe you know what is in this sleep dart?” The youth shakes his head, leaning forward with his cheeks in the palms of his hands. He shakes his head as he looks uncertainly towards Alex.
“Laughing gas. …. ‘Puff!”
The youth starts roaring with laughter. So does the lady.
This raises a question about how deeply-hypnotized each of the four volunteers really is.
The shy man at times seems to wonder just what is going on and Alex has to repeat his instructions. Then the shy man cottons on as well as any of the others. Even though he participates well, he seems to make it hard work most of the time. He’s a controlled sort of person: a withdrewn type who nevertheless can do what he needs to do and takes it all seriously.
The youth is evidently unconcerned basically and goes along with Alex’s instructions.
The blue-shirted man is deeply hypnotized: so much so that he has become unaware of Alex’s instructions a few times and Alex has to get him to ‘wake up’ sufficiently to pay attention. He seems to go into a very deep trance and become unaware of what is going on around him.
The girl could almost talk intelligibly despite the instruction that she had had a rubber tongue in the skit a few minutes ago. Just like the sedate jacketed woman from the first part of the show, she gives the impression of second-guessing Alex when he puts her under pressure. She really shines when she has the attention of the audience. In general she gives the idea that she will do what Alex wants but she will do it her way. When an instruction pleases her she is into it like a shot. Now she h heard that she has been ’shot’ with laughing gas, even though it was in Alex’s words to the youth.
The youth is roaring with laughter: so is the audience. Alex steps in and puts the lady to sleep in her chair. The youth is laughing so uproariously that the shy man starts to laugh. Alex leaves the shy man go but he ’shoots’ the youth again. The youth redoubles his laughing fit. The shy man laughs quietly but more evidently.
Alex now shoots the youth with a ’sad’ dart. He instantly looks miserable. The shy man keeps quiet. Alex now shoots the youth to make him feel as if he had just won the lottery. The youth shouts for joy.
Alex now gives the command “… and now sl-eee-ppp. Sleep sleep sleep …” The youth falls back deep into his chair. The shy man stirs and gives the impression that he has stopped being involved and that he too has gone back to ….sl-eee-ppp.
Alex now calls for applause and praises the volunteers. The audience has been most amused all the way through the skit.
He tells each and every one on the stage that when he snaps his fingers …. “I’m going to introduce you to Bob the Monkey.”
“Bob the Monkey is very special. He’s actually one of a kind. He’s a muti-millionaire: … and he likes to have a lap-dance.” While saying these words to the sleeping volunteers, he places a chair in the centre of the stage area in front of the volunteers.
Now the thing is, he gives a lot of tips to the person who does the best lap-dance.”
Bob the Monkey has now been brought out by Alex from behind the curtains at the rear of the stage area. Bob is seated in the chair in the cedntre of the stage with his back towards the volunteers and he is facing the audience.
“When I snap my fingers you will all have the chance to give Bob the Monkey a lap-dance.”
“I’m starting the music. He’s a multi-millionarie.”
The youth is called on first. He bumps and grinds with his front waving seductively towards the Monkey whose ears he has fondled seductively. He stands astride the Monkey as he ‘grinds’ and then turns and grinds over Bob the Monkey with his rear end. He strips off his white T-shirt with a come-hither gesture. Alex lets him go and then tells him to return to his chair.
“Don’t forget to put your shirt on.”, he twlls the youth. “I forgot to tell you, you’re not allowed to take off any clothing whatsoever.” The bare-chested youth goes back to his chair where he is last seen putting on his shirt. The audience responds well with laughter throughout.
The blue-shirted one is then sent to do his stuff. He is a strongly-built man of medium height and he goes about things quite confidently and with determination. He more or less does a vigorous but slow-motion ‘bump and grind’ trying to arouse passion in the Monkey without being too domineering.
Alex sends this stocky specimen back to his chair and calls, “OK, Madam. Let’s see what you can do.”
She is more ‘touchy and feely’ with the Monkey, while she gently but persuasively gives him her attention and ‘bumps and grinds’ to Alex’s signature belly-dancing music.
Alex announces that he hs kept the best until last; and he calls up the shy man. He has certianly slected the order of the participation of the four volunteers: he has kept up the suspense keeping everyone guessing who will be next.
The shy man comes up from his chair on the right. He looks as if he knows what he is about and he has a distinctive style all his own. He goes down on his knees and approaches the Monkey, starting at the Monkey’s toes and then going up to Monkey’s head and face progressively, stroking him with long upward strokes to the sound of the music. He then presents his rear to the Monkey; and commences his lap dance with his rear. Alex calls an end to it and sends him back to his chair. The shy man looks more alert than he has done all through the show from the beginning.
He showed no reserve in his participation in this skit. He gave the impression that he knew what he was doing and he had no hesitation aboput how to do it. He came across as ‘the great lover’. Alex called for a round of ap[plause for him. Audience participation had been great all through the shy man ’s performance.
“Bob the Moneky is one hundred years old; and he is worth a million Pounds. So I’m glad that you can hear his heart beat: because, if you couldn’t hear it, you would be in trouble. As long as you can hear his heart beating, you will be OK.” Alex has been beating on the microphone in a simulated heart-beat as he moves on the stage.
He beats away as the volunteers ’sleep’ in their chairs. The beat starts to get momentarily a little irregular and then stops. The heart-beat cannot be heard.
Instantly, the lady looks up in alarm. The Monkey is in his chair facing the audience. The youth reaches forward and drags the chair towards him and places his ear to the chest of the Monkey. The shy man looks on in helpless interest. The blue-shirt man does the same. The lady is more alarmed and concerned. The youth starts to give mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
The lady leans forward and tries to help by beating on the Monkey while the youth pumps on the Monkey’s chest. Suddenly the heart-beat is heard again. The shy man leans back in his chair with relief; but he looks still concerned and holds his right hand up over his own heart. The youth props the Monkey back up in his chair.
The blue-shirt seems a bit lost. Then the Monkey’s heart-beat stops again.
The shy man takes over: he puts the Monkey down on the floor and kneels beside him. The lady tries to arouse the Monkey by loud clapping. The shy man has taken the Monkey from the fratic slappings by the youth and the blue-shirt. The shy man seems to be quite confident of his ability to handle the situation. He is no fool.
As he is about to apply his mouth to the Monkey’s mouth, helped by the youth; a horribly ‘offensive’ sound erupts from the Monkey – a loud slow drawn-out explosion of air from the poor brute all the world sounding as if it had come from the Monkey’s rear.
The shy man leans back on his haunches in horror. He tenderly places the body of the expired Monkey back in its chair. As he does so, the heartbeat starts again. The shy man puts his right hand on his heart as if he himself has missed a heartbeat in shock. He staggers back into his chair keeping his hand on his heart. Then the most distressing sounds of irregularity and expiring air are heard from the Monkey.
The shy man clutches his heart more tightly. The blue-shirt leaps to his feet over the Monkey and starts to pump on the Monkey’s chest as it is collapsed back into the chair.
“Any sounds you heaert: you will believe it is the Monkey talking.”
“Get off me!” is the very loud cry in a distressed tone from the microphone. The shy man grips each arm of his chair in panic. The blue-shirted man doesn’t let this sink in. He keeps on pummelling the Monkey’s chest.
“Get off me! Do you hear? Get off me? Gimme some air will ya?” comes the strangled anguishned cry ‘from the Monkey.’
The cry is repeated twice more in quick succession. “What are you lookin’ at?” cries the Monkey angrily as the blue-man looks down at it uncertainly. By this stage he is taking notice that the Monkey is yelling at him. He pauses as he leans down. The lady’s hand draws him away towards his chair, touching him gently. The Monkey’s stream of abusive words follow the blue-shirt to his chair. The Monkey after the blue-shirt, “What’s wrong with you?”
The lady is keeping a safe distance. The blue-shirt is stunned and bewildered. All he did was try to help. The youth reaches forward and straightens the angry Monkey back up, sitting up straight in its chair. The shy man is quite stunned and lost. There is quite a contrast between the two stunned men: the shy man knows a lot but doesn’t know how to start; the blue-shirt knows how to start but doesn’t know much. Between them is the ’straight guy’: the youth who has all the confidence of youth. In contrast to them all is the womanly presence of the lady in the light pink top, light pink belt, worn blue jeans and the fashionably-hole-y jeans. She is a woman of the the world but she is her own woman even more so.
“The hypnotist will not become invisible. Anything he carries you will see. Anything you hear you will believe to be the Monkey talking.”
The Monkey’s chair is now moved next to the shy man. The Monkey stands up and confronts all three men: “Hello!”
The three stare back and nod toward the Monkey uncertainly, giving it their full attention (we cannot yet see the lady). Next the Monkey comes close to the face of the shy man. “Hello!” The shy man mumbles “Hello.” unconvincingly. The shy man seems to like the Monkey speaking to him.
Next the Monkey sits on the youths’s right knee, “Hello!” The youth is game for anything and he cheerily replies to the Monkey, “Hello”. “What’s yer name?” The youth mumbles something. The Monkey repeats the question angrily. /the youth shouts back his name. The Monkey spits a couple of times in the youths\’s face. The youth eventually head-buts the Monkey. The Monkey slaps the youth in the cheek.
An all-in fight ensues. They punch each other. The youth seems to be a capable street-fighter. He bites the Monkey in the cheek. He throws the Monkey down on the floor and pummells it,
The shy man looks on in amazement but with deep interest. What goes on in that man’s mind? When he is out of his depth he comes across as a mumbling, stumbling fool: but when given a challenge, he takes it up and when he takes over he is supremely confident.
The youth dumps the Monkey on the floor and lets it go. ….. “And sit back in your chairs and sl-eee-ppp, sleep, sleep, sleep.” The audience applauds. Alex praises the volunteers: good imagination.
“Now, when I snap my fingers, you have ten seconds to find out where my chicken has hidden your winning lottery ticket..”
Alex snaps his fingers and then continues, “This chicken! It’s a bit mischevious. Its hidden your lottery ticket.” All the volunteers are looking with interest at Alex. Alex goes behind the curtains at the back and the sound of a chase emerges. Alex is shouting at the chicken. Then Alex emerges with the chicken by the neck. “You’ve got ten seconds to get the lottery ticket. As the time gets shorter, you will get less and less patient with the chicken.”
The youth is called up first. He is to stand so that the volunteers can all see what he is doing.He gets rough with the chken fromn the start. Alex puts the mike in front of the youth’s mouth. The youth shouts and threatens and shakes and thumps the chicken, kneeling down with on the floor towards the end; bumping the chicken’s rear end on the floor and threatening to choke it. At the end he shakes his head in despair. Alex had told him that the chicken is deaf and needs to have the whole thing explained: this drove the youth to try harder.
The shy man is now given “ten seconds to make this chicken talk”. This should be interesting. We haven’t heard the shy man say anything: all we heard him do was try to sing “Hey Jude” while Alex was making things impossible for him.
The shy man lumbers over slowly from his chair. “What’s going to be your method? Oh, you’re going to be nice?”
Alex puts him in a good position for the camera: a kind of a close up. The shy man holds the chicken like a baby in the crook of his right arm. He begins quietly but insistently to question the chken, “Where id you put my lottery ticket?” he is allowed to swear only in ‘chiucken language.’ The chicken languge starts to flow. Given a chance, the shy man will do all things well.
He does it well all right. He starts to shake and choke the chicken, punching it and Alex makes him swear only in chicken language. He had been swearing well and truly in English – unprintable language at that. He ends up throwing the chicken down and kicking it like a football as Alex counts him out.
Now here is a real contarst. Alex acts as if the remaining two volunteers have a choice as to who will go first. He solves the dilemma by giving the chicken to the blue-shirt.
“It’s not really a lottery tiket. It’s a square egg. It’s a golden egg. You’ve got to get it to lay. You’ve got to convince it now.”
As the count-sown continues, the blue-shirt, who is a reasonable man who would like no trouble, starts to persuade the chicken to lay the square egg. Alex chimes in with, “It’s not actually a square egg. It’s a round egg. It’s worth ten million Pound.”
At one second to go,k he starts to shake the chicken. Alex urges him over and over, “Harder, harder!” The shaking gets a bit wild: the blue shirt keeps shouting “Egg!…Egg! … Egg!”
“Keep shouting at it, ‘cos it might come out!”
The chicken is being shaken now almost at the speed of light. Alex says, “Louder! Lkouder!”
The blue shirt is now screaming over and over, “Eggggg! … Egggggg! … Eggggggg!”
“OK! Shake it in slow motion!”
Blue shirt obliges: in contrast to the shy man, he doesn’t seem to be a thinker: he’s a doer not a thinker.
“…and shout it in slow motion>”
“Eeeeee-ggggggg-gggggg.”
“… and swear at it in chicken language in slow motion.”
The blue shirt does not succeed.
Now, Alex calls up the lady: “Looks like you are going to get all the money. It’s worthten million. What’s going to be your method?”
“BE nice.”, she says decisively as she gives all her attention to the chicken. The stage is all set for her to win.
She sits the chicken on the hand rail at the edge of the stage. She searches it as if it were a baby. She starts talking about the egg. Where is it? She keeps asking louder and louder. Then she starts to twist its arm. She is told she can only swear at it in chicken language.
She does a good job of wild chicken noises: she is no longer being nice. At ‘five seconds’ she is p;ulling its legs; then “four” … “three”: she has not looked roughly inside its beak and screwed into its eyes. She is now banging the body and head of the chicken onto the floor holding it by the legs.
The chicken is now on the floow and she is thumping her leg down, stomping on it.
She is sent back to her chair.
He tells them all that they are now going to become quite concerned about the chicken: because theyare all animal lovers and they are quyite concerned about the protection of birds.
He starts being a bit roguh with the chicken. The volunteers yell out their objection.
The youth gets up and advances on Alex when he continues to thump down the chicken with its rear end on the hand raiul. The shy mnan is shouting out to stop it; while the blue-shirt is stirring.
Alex throws the chicken at the wall. The lady is shocked with her hands up over her mouth in hsock. She has screamed. The blue-shirt is on his feet to rescue the bird. The shy man joins him. Strange companions in misfortune are these two contrary characters.
“Is it alive?”, cries Alex as the blue-swhirt carries the unfortunate bird back towards the others. “Is it in shock?” They hover over it listening to its vital signs.
Alex comes forward demanding to have the bird to examine it. The blue-shirt protects it in his arms and the shy man waves Alex away, “No!” They are a good team: each has the qualities that the other lacks. The blue-shirt escapes while the shy man stands with his back in front of Alex; and holds his arms out to stop Alex from coming round between him and the blue-shirt. The blue-shirt makes it to the girl who takes the bird and hides it behind her chair as she screams out to the blue-shirt to give it to her.
Alex says “Stuck” and the shy man is frozen in place with one arm stretaching out to the left. Then the youth who has come out determinedly to deal with Alex is ’stuck’. Then Alex moves in behind them to the chairs and ’stucks’ the blue-shirt in position of trying to get to his chair. He ’stucks’ the aldy too and reaches around to get the bird.
“You’re free” calls Alex as he huyrls the chicken against the far wall again. The youth has sprung into action and can’t stop Alex from throwing the bird. He rushes over to the bird as it lies on the floor. The lady, sitting her chair, screams and holds her hands up over her temples.the three men are on their feet. The youth is the power and the shy man is the brains; the blue shirt is the brawn. The lady is in shock but she has enough sense to keep out of the rough stuff.
Alex priomises he won’t do it again; and he starts to demonstrate all the terrible things he won’t do to the chicken by actually doing them: swinging the chicken roung by the neck and the like. But I won’t do this!” he shouts as he kicks the chicken toward the wall with a high kick.
Instantly, the lady screams. The men are on their feet and blue-shirt runs after the chken and brings it back to the others. Alex tells them, “Tuck it somewher safe where I’d never go fot it. On yourself.”
The lady takes over. She sits on the chicken on her chair. Then she tucks the chicken up the front of her light-pink sweater.
Everyone, including Alex, is highly amused; and its “Sl-eee-ppp. Sleep sleep sleep.”
Alex calls for a round of applauds.
Alex praises the volunteers for what they have achieved during the show.
He speaks to the sedate lady who did not continue through to the second part of the show. He indicates that her body language when shw was on the stage indicated that she was not entirely comfortable. He suggested that wearing a jacket with a short skirt made it very likely that that would what would happen. This was all said in a jovial fashion and it was evident that that lady and the rest of the audience were taking all this in good part.
Alex also acknowledged in passing the other lady who had stayed on stage till the end. Alex asks the audience now to applaud each one as we wakes them. They have all been fantastic.
“Now, each and every one of you on the stage. I’m going to touch you on the shoulder. When I touch you on the shoulder, you’ll be wide awake. All my commands will be cancelled. You’ll feel healthy and refreshed; on top of the world; better than you’ve ever felt before in the whole of your life. You’ve had a really good time. You’ll feel that you have really enjoyed yourself here this evening.
The shy man is ‘woken’ first. Ther is great applause. He realizes that it is for him and he stands up and takes a bow. He allows himself a controlled grin and is evidently in controlled good humour. He is the sort of man who looks before he leaps.
Next, the blue-shirt is woken to applause. He takes a moment or two to come out of it and sits there as if wondering what is coming next. Then it is the youth’s turn. He bounces out of it with a huge grin and is aware of the applause. Maybe he is a bit shy to be in the limelight and he looks at the blue-shirt next to him who is till rubbing his eyes with the palsm of his hands.
The lady is next. She comes to quickly and quickly pulls the chicken-doll from beneath her top and puts it quickly and self-consciously behind her chair. Her applause is mixed with much laughter.
How many minutes do they think they have been sat on the stage? The lady, “Five.” The blue-shirted man, “Ten.” The youth has no idea. The shy man doesn’t really know but he thinks it was for five minutes.
Alex tells them that they have been on the stage for one hour and 25 minutes or more. The youth looks as if he really cannot comprehend this. The lady, who is not really very demonstrative of her real feelings unless she is put under pressure by circumstances: she eventually shows that she is surprised; but she immediately studies her watch before she looks up surprised. I get the impression that she is an enthusiastic person on her own terms who does not rush heedlessly into anything. She had gone into fairly deep hypnosis quite quickly at the beginning of the show.
To the great amusement of the audience the shy man starts consulting his watch and gesturing.dd
What was their experience of being hypnotized this evening? The lady, “Just relaxed.” She could hear everything that went on. The blue-shirt man is a man of few words, Dreawing his finger across his throat, he said, “Just ‘choked’.”: he shakes his head in bewilderment as he speaks. The youth: (“Wee bauple” (heard indistinctly): he seemed to be speaking broad Scots: Alex understood what he said and repeated it out loud . The shy man felt “utterlys stoned ….”. {“Perhaps he said, “I’ve never been so utterly-stoned in the whole of my life.” This was greeted with laughter by the audience and also by the volunteers, particularly the lady. The shy man really unfroze and gave a wide undisguised and uncontrolled smile. He remained this way. He was a different man to the over-cautious volunteer who had had to be forced to show the wilder side of himself.
Alex said in reply, “Why do you think I became a hypnotist?”
Alex identified and praised the volunteers as being ther eal stars of the show. He praised their efforts. He presented each of them with a complimetary 1mb CD disk about his shows and hypnotism in general. DVDs of the present show were available.