So far the show had been an entertaining mix of magic illusions, smaller sleight of hand projected onto the big screen and some stunts; the styles of these scenes varied from artistic, through comical, to down-right sexy; The magician's assistant, Antonia, seemed to have no qualms about being naked in front of the audience.
Part way through the second half, the magician, Moses, called for a volunteer to be a part of the next act. He added the caveat that there might be some damage to clothing might occur, but promised that who ever came up on stage would be the centrepiece of the evening and be given the money to repair any damage caused.
Of course I volunteered, but then half the women in the audience did. This might not be the climax of the show, but it had become known that the last illusion would require a couple to volunteer, and we wanted to get up close with the magician. While Moses was considering his options, Antonia brought onto the stage a piece of equipment that was a post on a small platform with a crossbar at waist level.
Seeing that there were a great many possible volunteers, the magician called for the house lights to be raised so that he could get a better look. He requested that those that were genuinely interested in taking part in a stunt, that was potentially dangerous and was likely to damage the clothes of the chosen woman, to stand. I'm guessing that this would weed out those that were not as enthusiastic or courageous as needed. The result was there were about half the number of women that were holding their hand aloft; I was one of them. He soon had most of the standing women sitting again; I was among the last five that got greater scrutiny from Moses.
I was saddened not to make it to the final three, but speculated to myself that I was too well dressed, based on the fact that I was wearing a satin gown; a thought cemented in my mind, when the selected volunteer wore a printed cotton blouse with a knee-length skirt, socks and Velcro-fastened trainers.
The volunteer was conducted to the stage by Antonia, who at this stage was wearing nothing more than a couple of pasties and a tie-sided g-string. With the formalities over, we knew that the volunteer was named Daphne and was not averse to removing her trainers. Daphne was soon standing on the small platform which had been positioned towards the rear of the stage; she stood in front of the post and waist-high crossbar. Daphne seemed mildly concerned when Antonia produced a belt, which she threaded through a loop at the top of the pole and secured around the volunteer's waist; making it tight, then using a padlock to hold it closed. Daphne was further attached to the post by having her hands put through rope loops at the ends of the cross-piece which were then pulled tight and held in place by a knot that Antonia tied in the loose ends of the cord; all this was visible to us in the audience via the screen at the back of the stage. The third and final attachment was shackles that went round Daphne's ankles and secured her feet to the platform.
I wondered how I would have coped in the same situation and, thinking wishfully, I hoped that I would have been as calm as Daphne was. She calmly tried out her restraints and, finding them to be unyielding, gave an 'oh well, I'm here now' shrug.
From the opposite corner of the stage, Moses asked, “Do you have any idea what you volunteered for?”
“No,” said Daphne, “but it seems that it involves me standing here and not moving. What are you about to do to me?”
“You have volunteered to be the target girl in my demonstration of my prowess with the bullwhip.” He announced this in a tone that a game show host might tell the winner that they had won the car or the holiday.
Daphne's complexion paled visibly, but she had an answer. “I guess that makes some sense that I got tied up before you told me that. And I can see that if the end of the whip catches in my clothes that it might cause some damage.”
“Both true! Before we get to the main part of this act, I will need to get my eye in; because every stage is different. So we shall be doing a few minor stunts first, then get to the core of the act. Antonio, please turn our volunteer to face sideways to me.”
It was a bit of a surprise that the magician's assistant did not go to the platform and turn it; instead she press a button the remote in her hand and watched while a motor in the base of the platform rotated the top and the volunteer through ninety degrees.
“Please, place the first target, Antonia.”
Antonia produced a long-stemmed carnation and stepped forward. She offered the bottom end of the stem up to Daphne's lips. “Please hold the end in your lips and try to hold it steady. The steadier you hold it now the better his aim will be later and you'll find out how important that is.”
As I would have expected Daphne took the carnation stem in her lips and leant forward as much as her restraints would allow her; so that the target was as far away from her body as she could realistically manage.
“Please, stand up straight,” requested the magician. Daphne adjusted her posture to a more upright pose.
There was a sudden crack noise and the stem sticking out of Daphne's mouth was missing its bloom. Antonia scampered into the wings and returned with the snapped off section. She took out a ruler and measured the section of stem still connected to the flower. “You were two inches too close to Daphne's lips. I knew there was a reason we used carnations at least six inches long.”
“Thank you, Antonia,” he said in a tone that suggested to me that he felt the comment was not helpful to the peace of mind of the volunteer. “Please turn Daphne to face the other direction so that I can gauge the other side.”
The platform whirred and Daphne was soon facing the opposite direction with a fresh carnation projecting from her lips. I was beginning the think that she was braver than me, because I felt sure that I would have screamed when the whip had broken the flower from its stem.
Daphne was reminded to stand straight and then the replacement flower went flying. Upon examination of the retrieved blossom, Antonia told Moses that he was only half an inch off target this time.
Antonia brought forward a balloon with a loop of elastic tied to the end. The loop was soon around Daphne's head, so that the balloon rested on the top of her head. Then the assistant made a spot on the balloon with a marker, before encouraging the volunteer to stand straight and turning her to face away from the whip-wielding magician.
There was a whip crack, a pop, shower of confetti and a squeak from the volunteer. Antonia examined the scrap of thin rubber, once she had removed the elastic, and informed Moses that he was about quarter an inch above target.
Daphne was turned to face the magician and a cigarette was placed between her lips. The assistant kindly advised that she should stand straight and might want to close her eyes. Daphne took the advice. Moments later, there was a crack and the cigarette vanished from the volunteer's lips. Antonia rushed forward and picked up something from the stage, which she showed to the camera; it was a cigarette that was bent in the middle and held together by a few strands of tobacco. Moses looked disappointed, when his assistant turned the cigarette over to show a pencil mark on the cigarette only an eight of an inch from the end, it became clear why.
“Now to test how the calibration went,” Moses announced. Antonia turned Daphne sideways again and placed a strip of paper between her lips. To everyone's surprise, the assistant took the other end of the paper between her own lips and pulled it taut. The noses of the assistant and volunteer could not have been more than three inches apart. After the whip-crack, Antonia showed the camera that the two scraps of paper that remained ended at a line marked on the paper. This was repeated on the other side with a similarly accurate result.
With Daphne once more turned to face away from the magician, a headband with cat's ears was settled on her head, this went flying as the whip cracked again. As a final check, so they said, Daphne was turned to face Moses and a red foam clown nose was put on the volunteer's nose, while she was reminded to stand straight and possibly close her eyes.
I became clear the Daphne was determined to seem brave, by not closing her eyes. There was a crack, as she blinked and flinched back; the nose stayed in place. She was firmly instructed to close her eyes and stand straight again. This time the nose vanished into the air and Antonia darted forward and caught the clown nose. I suspected that this was a trick to help instil a little more confidence in the trussed volunteer, especially as a damaged clown nose landed in my lap and I was sitting in the third row.
“How are things so far, Daphne?” asked the magician. “Because from here on in, things are going to get a little more intense.” his tone implied to me that 'a little' was intended to be a major underestimate.
There was a pause; Daphne was genuinely considering whether she was going to withstand an intensification of the action she had experienced so far. I considered whether I was ready to offer to replace her, if she should decide that she wanted out. I concluded that I was willing about the moment when she swallowed hard, stood straight and said, “Ok, Mister Magician, do your worst.” She suddenly regretted the phrasing and added, “I mean, I'm ready, please continue.”
She did not get to say any more words, before there was another sonic boom from the tip of the whip. Something skittered to a stand still in the middle of the stage, Antonia rushed forward to retrieve it and held up a wristwatch. Daphne's expression of recognition made it obvious that the watch was hers. She looked down at the wrist where it had been and saw that the cuff of her blouse was loose. Had it been like that before? I don't think so.
Antonia ducked behind Daphne and released one of the volunteer's feet. Daphne's immediate sense of relief at being released was quenched when Moses asked her to raise her foot so that her knee was level with her hip. With the support provided by the post she was held to by the belt, she lifted her thigh to the horizontal with her lower leg dangling from her knee. This displayed a white sock that covered her shin. It seemed that Daphne was about to ask what would happen next when it happen.
Another whip-crack, and the sock was down at her ankle. Moses' expression took on a look of frustration as he shuffled a couple of inches sideways.
Whip-crack. Daphne's up-raised foot was bare. Moses raised a hand and a moment later the missing sock landed in it.
Antonia, crouching behind the volunteer, guided Daphne's denuded foot back to the platform and replaced the shackle on the ankle. She released Daphne's other foot and the act of removing the sock on that was achieved in a single stroke of the whip, but instead of being caught by Moses, the assistant had to collect it from the middle of the stage.
The re-shackling of the second ankle was followed by a quick, but unheard, consultation between magician and assistant, which resulted in Daphne being turned sideways and another crack of the whip. It was not readily apparent what happened until Antonia stepped forward to find something mid-stage. The item she found was a hair-tie and when we looked back we noticed that Daphne's ponytail had relaxed significantly for lack of that tie.
The motor whirred to present the opposite side of Daphne to the magician. With the platform stationary again and Daphne remembering to stand straight, there was a volley of three cracks in quick succession. The volunteer's facial expression betrayed that she knew what had happened and wished it had not. The audience were in the dark about what had occurred, until the platform did a five quarter turns in one direction to end with the terrified and embarrassed Daphne unable, due to her hands being tied several inches from her hips, to reach the waistband of her skirt as it descended to rest around her knees.
On the big screen a close shot of where the two buttons and the zip that had held the skirt up where open and the zip down. One of the buttons was dangling on a pair of threads rather than the many that had originally attached it. The warning about damage to clothing had been genuine, I thought; I was beginning to be glad that I had failed in my bid to volunteer myself for this act.
For the next part Antonia stepped forward to the middle of the stage, where she walked into a handstand and stayed there while performing the splits. Together magician and assistant began to count. By the time they had reached ten they were counting in synchrony and began again from one. On three the whip cracked, then Antonia brought her legs together; it seemed that her legs had been lowered to not be in the way of the whip. Snapping her legs to the vertical so quickly gave her a brief wobble, but it was apparent moments later why the speed was required.
Even before most of us had worked out what this crack of the whip was intended to achieve, a skirt dropped from above the stage to land about Antonia's upturned legs. When the skirt had settled to mid-thigh, she rolls from her inverted position to upright, drawing the skirt up to her waist and spending a moment fastening it, before bowing to us, the audience.
By this stage we have noticed the resemblance between the volunteer's skirt and the one the assistant is now wearing. A quick check on Daphne reveals that she no longer has a skirt about her legs. She has also noticed that her skirt is now being worn by the longer-legged assistant; if looks could kill, Antonia would have been on her way to the morgue.
As the applause faded, the platform turns a full circle; presumably to assure us that the skirt that had adorned Daphne's knees was not secreted somewhere.
When Daphne's pirouette came to a stop, Antonia reminded her that it was important to stand straight and hold that pose. Moses stood in a ready pose absently causing ripples to run the length of the whip. There was suddenly a flurry of whip-cracks, I think six, but it might have been five or seven; they were so sudden and unexpected that it was difficult to count.
Again it took some time to discover what these whip shots had resulted in. Some people were quick to spot it and the news was rapidly passed about the auditorium. Daphne's blouse was now hanging open. The picture on the big screen confirmed that the buttons down the front had been undone, although it appeared that a couple were actually missing.
With an almost absurd gentleness, Antonia spread the front of the blouse and eased it from Daphne's shoulders until she could lower no further down her spread arms. This exposed a utilitarian cream-coloured bra that was being worn for comfort and support, rather than to be looked at. Also, her panties were now visible; these were white briefs.
I reckon from her expression, that Daphne was reminding herself that she had enthusiastically volunteered, but regretting that decision. She was at the same time revelling in being the centre of attention. I did not get to see much more of what her face showed of her state of mind, because the platform under the volunteer rotated a half-turn. Once the platform had halted, Antonia stepped onto the platform so that the two women were face to face. To help herself balance on the small space available to stand, Antonia rested her hands on Daphne's shoulders and then leant forward until her elbows was beside Daphne's.
The assistant peeked around the volunteer's head to see if the magician was ready; he was. Antonia counted down and at the point that the might have said 'Go!' there was a set of whip-cracks; this time I am fairly sure that there were seven.
The silence that followed broke in a wave of applause and a few whistles and cheers, when Antonia stepped down from the pedestal, that she had been sharing with Daphne, with the volunteer's blouse on her torso. The assistant quickly did up the remaining buttons; luckily the button level with her breasts was already missing, because if she had tried to do it up, it would probably popped off due to the difference in their bust sizes.
As the ruckus quietened, there was another crack, but this one sounded different. When Moses pulled the handle of the whip toward himself, Daphne bent backwards. Without the aid of the screen we would not have noticed that tip of the lash was wound round the rear strap of the volunteer's bra. Antonia finished buttoning her newly acquired blouse before coming forward to untangle the whip from the bra strap.
After a brief further inspection by Antonia, Daphne was turned to face Moses once more. Moments later there was another crack of the whip and target became obvious, as her bra sagged, because the catch between her breasts had come undone. The next crack unseated one of the bra straps from her shoulder and the one after that completed the job by pulling the other strap beyond her shoulder so that the bra slipped from her chest. A final stroke of the lash removed the bra completely and we never saw it again; and I suspect neither did Daphne.
“Now, we will give the audience a choice,” announced Moses. “Shall we release Daphne now, or would you like to see one final stunt before we allow Daphne to return to her seat? The choice is yours, dear audience.”
The crowd was vocal in what they thought should happen by there was a lack of coherence to how it was expressing it. Moses asked “Do you think that Daphne should be released now?” He paused so that some idea of the level of noise generated by the people that thought that Daphne had probably had enough of the limelight. “Or do you think that Daphne should endure one final stunt before we release her?” The people wanting more entertainment at Daphne's expense roared much louder than those that wanted her freed.
The platform turned to face Daphne sideways to the whip-wielding magician, but mostly away from the eyes of the audience. When the platform halted Antonia stepped backward onto the platform grabbing onto Daphne's tethered wrists for support. While Antonia quietly reminded Daphne that she should be standing straight, Moses showed the rest of us what the innovation of this final stunt was; he unfurled a second whip and tossed the end toward the two women standing back-to-back at the other corner of the stage.
At some signal from Antonia, Moses released a volley of whip-cracks too fast and numerous to count without benefit of video recording. At the end nothing obvious had changed.
Then the platform turned so that Daphne faced us, her attire surprised most of us. She now wore a pair of pasties on her previously bare breasts and her white briefs had been replaced with a tie-sided g-string of the same design and colour that Antonia had been wearing at the beginning of this act. In order to confirm the swapping of the underwear, the assistant lifted the skirt to show the white briefs wrapped round her hips.
Antonia set about the task of releasing the volunteer from her predicament. She was talking but we did not hear what she said. I like to imagine that she was telling Daphne that she should contact the theatre ushers after the show and they would give her her clothes back.
Once released Daphne was led in a twirl to show us close enough to stage and the rest via the big screen, that she was wearing nothing but the costume that the assistant had been wearing at the beginning. It was also noticed by many that despite having been on the receiving end of many whip-lashes, she showed no evidence of welts, cuts or bruises.
Moses encouraged the audience to show their appreciation for Daphne, the brave volunteer, while Antonia conducted her to the top of the steps leading back down from the stage.
As Daphne's foot landed on the top step there was another pair of whip-cracks. It was evident that the ties at Daphne's hips had come undone; presumably as a result of the whip strikes. Daphne's hands went to hold the scrap of fabric in place while she descended the steps. Despite it seeming that most of the people around me seeming to feel that this was unfair, we were all cheering this last demonstration of Moses' skill with a whip.