The Rose Project, Adam Rose

Reviewed by Tom Denton.


"The Rose Project" is the debut release from the eponymous Adam Rose, and is another project from the guys at Bedeceived. If you read my review of their product "Gone", then you'll be aware that I concluded that maybe they were a bit hasty in getting material released before it was fully developed.

There is no such issue with "The Rose Project", however. From the performances, and the detailed explanations, I can well believe that Adam has worked the four effects in the real world.

The first effect, “Roses Wild”, is a simple, direct card effect in which a joker changes successively to two previously selections. Yes, I know, it's not the most original premise in the world, and most magicians will have been able to reverse-engineer it from the performances. What I like about it, however, is Adam's explanation of the reasons to perform an effect of this type as an opener, in terms of creating visual impact, and drawing spectators in.

Next up is “Gummy Corner”. This is basically a transposition of a piece of chewing gum with a torn-off corner of a card. Again, nothing magician-fooling, and, to be honest, having chewing gum in your mouth isn't a good fit for a lot of performing environments. So, this isn't for everyone. It's a simple piece of direct magic, however, which could work well in apparently impromptu settings.

Then, we have “Soft Spot”, a penetration of a balloon with a piece of chewing gum. As with the last trick, the inclusion of chewing gum isn't going to work for more formal performance spaces, but, as with the other effects the method is simple, direct, and gets the job done without any complicated sleights.

The final trick is “Debit”. This is a transposition of a driver's licence with a debit card. Of course, it doesn't have to be those specifically, but basically any kind of card which you might have in your wallet. There's some preparation which may not be practical for some performers, but, with a bit of ingenuity, I'm sure most people will be able to find a way.

Overall, Adam has created a set of simple, easy tricks which anyone can perform without too much work. Would anyone want to though? I have to stress these are very, very simple and basic effects, and I wouldn't recommend this DVD to anyone except beginners. I would suggest that for a young magician, still at school, these tricks are perfect, though. Adam goes into enough detail in the explanations that it should start inspiring your own creations, and his elimination of any complicated sleights is definitely a plus.


Available at http://bedeceived.com/launched/shop/effects/the-rose-project/