Howard County Fair 2011: Breaking the Rules
In 2011, Matt and Peter Wood will be Breaking the Rules at the Howard County Fair in West Friendship, Maryland.
Come to their all-new show, and you might just see:
- Blatant swindling of money from children
- Ridiculous straitjacket escapes
- Magic with forbidden alcohol
- Fire
- A peek backstage
- And more!
Check out the photos on Facebook!
WARNING! Show-Spoiling Behind-the-Scenes Secrets and Trivia:
- The card which Matt catches on fire is custom-built, and made of several layers. The outer layer, tissue paper coated with nitrocellulose, burns very quickly and leaves very little ash. The first playing card is actually inkjet printed onto this thin paper by Peter, requiring a new one for each performance.
- For last year's Renaissance Magic, Peter built the green-topped wooden table for use in several routines. This year Peter built a second table, which was especially helpful at the finale of the Multiplying Bottles.
- Multiplying Bottles is indeed an old trick; the idea of two tubes, with a bottle and glass that switch places, dates back to the mid-1800's. Traditionally, magicians have made 8-10 bottles appear, but Matt and Peter discovered a way to have a record 18 bottles appear onstage.
- The giant Three Card Monte is based upon a routine by Harry Anderson, both an actor (Night Court, Dave's World), as well as magician. The one-of-a-kind set used by the Wood brothers was custom-printed, based upon actual Bicycle playing card artwork.
- Matt & Peter's "Magic Box" routine evolved from the idea of letting the audience see backstage, where sometimes Matt does more of the magic than one might imagine. From there, the brothers developed the notion of a box which responds to magical commands, all the while revealing to the secret to the audience.
- "Straitjacket Dual" utilizes two identical straitjackets, made of canvas and leather, and required more rehearsal time than any other routine the brothers introduced this year.
