Starting a few years ago, Alexander George made a splash when he began hosting small shows at which he demonstrated his ability as a “mentalist”: a performer who can read people’s minds through careful observation of their body language, tone of voice and other physical cues.
George, a longtime professor of philosophy at Amherst College, would meet with a small number of guests at the Iconica Social Club in downtown Northampton, where he’d demonstrate his perceptiveness through an array of card tricks, other demonstrations and a good bit of dry humor.
As he explained to the audience at one show at Iconica, where he conducted his exercises with at least one person at a time, his performances were based “90% on body reading and the rest on following a hunch. We don’t realize how much we give away through body language.”
So what to do when the pandemic prevents meeting in person? Is mind-reading still possible over the internet?
In a recent phone interview, George, who first developed an interest in magic tricks as a boy, said he has refashioned his show for Zoom, adding different and interactive elements, such as the history of spiritualism, that put the focus on participants rather than himself. He’s also added simulations of the “psychic powers” of the various mediums of spiritualism.
When COVID-19 arrived in March and he was forced to cancel his remaining live demonstrations, George said was at first thrown for a loss. But then, he said, “I thought it would be a cool challenge if I could develop a virtual show that could be both entertaining and mystifying.”
“Strange Powers,” as it’s called, is a shorter show — about an hour — than his live performances. Audience size is limited to 12, and George says the show is built on a “narrative arc” that weaves in stories of spiritualism and profiles of magicians and mediums; he also uses slides and historical images in the presentation.
There’s a local link as well: Lake Pleasant, a village within the town of Montague, was a major center of spiritualism in the U.S. in the late 19th century, George notes, with a railroad station that brought in magicians, mediums and people interested in the occult (as well as vacationers).
He says audience members in the two shows so far have been interested in learning more about the history of spiritualism, which in the U.S. was once seen as a real alternative to the country’s prevailing “gloomy Calvinism,” as George puts it, and its emphasis on predestination.
“The spiritualists believed that humans could perfect themselves and communicate with past loved ones,” he said. “It was a more optimistic way of thinking.”
Coming presentations of “Strange Powers” are scheduled at 8 p.m. on Saturday and Oct. 31 (Halloween) and Nov. 7 and 14. Tickets are available on a sliding scale from $10 to $30. More information is available at hereadsminds.com/strange-powers.
Steve Pfarrer can be reached at spfarrer@gazettenet.com.
