Billet Masterclass (Online Instructions plus Materials) by Alexander Marsh and The 1914
"Your work on billets, the rationales etc are brilliant and your clear bowl Q&A at the end is totally worth the price of the entire product. Loved it."
- Marc Spelmann
"Outstanding! I haven't been this excited about a mentalism video for ages... The thought behind, and the motivation of, your billet peek make it perfect. It's probably one of the best peeks out there. Your Bowl of Billets is simply wonderful, you've provided such a great structure and variety of effects and reveals, it's fantastic, very well done. It's great thinking."
- Marc Paul
"Thank you for releasing material you've actually performed in front of real audiences and in PR situations under the eagle eyes of journalists. I love your peeks and especially your Q&A, which has a great structure."
- Harry Lucas
Mastering billets transformed Alexander Marsh from a self-confessed mediocre mentalist to the HEADLINE ACT for one of the world's largest touring magic shows!
And now he's going to teach you EVERYTHING he knows.
But what even is a billet?
The word Billet is mentalist-speak for any small slip of paper utilised during your performance.
They appear innocent to your audience, but once you learn Alex's billet handling secrets, you will possess the knowledge and power to use them to create television-worthy displays of mind reading and mind control AT A MOMENT'S NOTICE!
Broken down into bite-size sections, each lesson builds upon the previous, meaning value will be found for every skill level. If you're new to billets, this is a perfect place to start; you'll be reading minds after the first three lessons alone.
If you're a seasoned billet worker, you're going to fall madly in love. This is a project you will keep coming back to. Not only are you going to learn the greatest peek since Acidus Novus, Alex is going to give you his ENTIRE, hour-long Question and Answer (Q&A) act as performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2014 (and it uses nothing more than some pens, some billets, a clear bowl and some envelopes).
Here's how this project came to be:
During the 2020 lockdown, Alexander Marsh filmed a two-hour billet lecture in his kitchen and sold it directly to magicians from his personal website.
It was SO GOOD, two of Britain's most celebrated mentalists immediately endorsed it; Marc Paul and Marc Spelmann (Magician X from BGT).
But Alex limited his self-shot seminar to just 100 copies.
We have received countless requests to create a billet course, so we begged Alex to let us release it to a wider audience. But he said no; he wanted to honour his initial promise of only 100 copies sold.
So we made him a deal.
We offered to re-shoot the entire lecture with multiple cameras over two days at The 1914 studio; We asked Alex to cover even MORE content; And we offered to EXPAND it even further with valuable contributions from fellow billet-connoisseur Lewis Le Val.
Finally, he said YES.
What started out as a two-hour lecture quickly doubled in size (and some) to a FIVE HOUR, MONSTER MASTERCLASS!
To date, this is our largest release ever.
This really is the DEFINITIVE video guide to billets. Never has there been a more comprehensive, detailed, in-depth examination of this cornerstone of mentalism.
Here's what's covered:
You will learn the classic centre tear and why it's flawed. Alex will then teach you his devious improvement along with a fun, commercial routine to apply it to which involves divining your spectator's secret cocktail ingredient, which can be literally anything (unicorn tears, anyone?).
You will learn an array of classic and contemporary billet switches including the Annemann Switch, the Al Baker Switch and Alex's very own Unfolding Switch which requires ZERO misdirection whatsoever.
You will learn how to make a secret billet switching envelope on the fly. You'll also learn how to construct a more robust switching envelope with some prior preparation for an extra layer of deception.
Alex will teach you how to read stolen billets and will provide you with many routine ideas with the help of master mentalist Lewis Le Val. Between them, they offer contrasting presentations for the same effects; perfect inspiration for mystical performers like Lewis, or more buoyant personalities like Alex.
Alex will then disclose the secret to his very own, outrageous billet peek. If you're a fan of Acidus Novus, you will LOVE this. It can be executed directly under your spectator's nose, even as they're burning your hands.
You'll then learn even more, powerful effects including Alex's rendition of Bob Cassidy's Fourth Dimensional Telepathy; an engaging routine for both close up or stage where three spectators have their thoughts divined, one at a time, in a theatrical manner.
And finally, Alex pieces together everything you've learnt to teach you an entire stage act! By the end of the course, you'll be able to provide an hour's entertainment to a full-house theatre, using barely any props. This is Alex's simple-yet-beautiful Q&A act of Edinburgh Fringe fame.
There really is so much more to gain from this course but so little space to write it. Access now to see for yourself just how powerful your billet work can become.
Forget the latest gizmos and gadgets. This is the PUREST form of mentalism.
Master billets. Master the art.