Ring and Rope Trick – Scripting The Magic

We recently had a VERY popular Live Event at Conjuror Community where our resident ring and rope trick expert Shawn Mullins lead the group through all the ins and outs of one of the most commercial, effective close-up/stand-up tricks in magic.

At Conjuror Community, we see again and again that when you take a few moments to choose exactly what words you want to say during a trick, and even more important, exactly when to say them – it becomes hard NOT to perform the trick because you’re so confident and prepared to perform.

So for all our members who raved about the Ring and Rope Roundup, here’s Shawn Mullins himself to introduce and share his simple, powerful presentation for the Ring and Rope trick Routine. Enjoy!

– Aaron Fisher

I learned how to script from Pete McCabe’s super awesome book “Scripting Magic.” Since then, I’ve read additional information on scripting but I like the simplicity of this style. It’s “basic” but it’s easy to read, gets a sense for how it will look and allows me to think in an audience’s point of view.

The important thing about a script, it’s what you want the audience to remember. This is what I want it to look like to my audience when I perform. Notes about method and blocking are in a different section.

Remember, the only good form of writing is rewriting. When this was originally typed out it was very wordy and took up three pages. Now it fits on about a page.

ENJOY! And if you haven’t tried this yet, go for it.

SCRIPT

Setting: Stage/ Close-up, standing center.

(Shawn takes out a piece of rope.)

Shawn: “Alex, take a look at this rope. Anything sneaky with it? No?”

(Shawn hands the rope to Alex)

Shawn: “Magic and puzzles ARE different but sometimes they feel the same. I’m going to show you something interesting and it’s your job to silently decide which it is. Right now, this could be anything, if I add a 6 inch gold ring to the rope, it starts to look a lot more like a puzzle. You can look at the ring too Alex. Like any good puzzle or magic trick we need a goal. The goal, here, is to get the ring off the rope, without using the knot.”

(Shawn ties the rope with a gold ring onto it.)

Shawn: “In this case I’m going to tie the fulla-bologna knot. Hold onto the ring.”

(Shawn makes a magical gesture toward the ring Alex is now holding and the ring melts off the rope.)

Shawn: “I like that one too (Smiles).”

At this moment you are probably thinking puzzle but…

(Shawn tosses it at the knot and the ring is back on the rope)

Shawn: “You need magic for that. And these. *Shicka*”

(Shawn holds up his fingers like scissors. Then cuts the rope magically. The ring lands with a loud thud.)

Shawn: “(to Alex) would you hold this? Careful they’re sharp. 

So this is the question… Is it magic? Or is it just a puzzle?”

The two pieces of rope fuse together

Shawn: “One last thing, for you to think about. You can tell yourself it was real magic or you can spend time trying to figure it out like a puzzle. If I put the ends into my pocket.

Can I have my scissors please?”

(Shawn takes his scissors back from Alex)

Shawn: “How the hell do you explain this? *Shicka*”

(Shawn magically cuts the rope)

Shawn: “Personally? I’ll just enjoy it.”

(Shawn slowly pulls the freshly cut rope and the ends fused in his pocket then hands the rope to Alex)

Shawn: “Alex, you can hang on to that until the end of the show. If you find anything, keep it to yourself”