INSIDE

TOM CASSANI

Sword swallowing – inside and out

Exploring the public/private body and hidden labour intrinsic in embodying an apparently life-threatening act – Sword Swallowing.

Cassani explores how swords being swallowed can be: a private act, an exposé, a lecture, a futile gesture, a demonstration, an obsession, and as a celebration of being alive together. This show deconstructs a skill that is often presented as momentary, fleeting or virtuosic and represents it as an act of corporeal contemplation, exposing hidden internal and external processes.

The audiences is invited to experience this rare act as intricate sequences of movements, learning, and understanding whilst being offered an intimate reflection on dedication, repetition, and transformation. This new work draws on the traditional lineage of sword swallowing and situates it within a contemporary space where magic and illusion meet physical reality. At its core, Inside aims to be a meditation on the body’s potential, an exploration of private and public risk, and a reimagining of what it means to embody magic and danger in contemporary performance.

Premiere: Septembre 2026
Set-up: indoor, front on
Age range: 12+
Language: English
Duration: 60 minutes
Stage dimensions: flexible
Touring party: 2 people
Set: in suitcases
Directed and Performed by Tom Cassani
Outside eye: Ocean Stefan, Florentina Holzinger, Thom Shaw, Tallulah Haddon, Flick Ferdinando
Magic Consulting: Tay Lane, Maxime Weinman
With support of: The Place, London; Sands Ends Arts Centre, London; Screaming Alley, Ramsgate; Théâtre Silvia Monfort, Paris; The Lowry, Salford
Tom Cassani is an award-winning UK based performance maker working with choreography, magic, sideshow, and live art. For ten years Tom has developed a practice and toured performance work that draws on an expanded approach to magic, examining the nature of perception in performance.
Cassani’s illusory texts, imagery and physicality expose the body as an unreliable measure of truth. Tom was recently awarded a practice-based PhD Scholarship from the University of Huddersfield to study performance Magic, focusing on Expanded Magic practice.
Tom is one of the 2024 selected Aerowaves Artists and has performed his shows across Europe and the UK. Tom also works extensively as an outside eye, consultant magician and dramaturg of deception.
Iterations
Black Magic by Kalle Nio and Luis Sartori do Vale (performer)
For more information please contact Axel Satgé:
axel@yelloweverything.com.