Magic tricks? The use of shadowplay in British expanded cinema

The chapter uses the notion of the shadow, and shadow-play, to make an unprecedented link between early pre-cinematic spectacles such as the phantasmagoria and British expanded cinema of the 1970s. The paper argues that, despite their ‘anti-illusionist’ position with regard to cinema, the use of shadow play and performance by British expanded cinema practitioners brought elements of the spectacular and spectral into their film performances, offering us new readings of their work in relation to previous interpretations (mainly by their peers) and making the case that their use of shadow play was another means of critically engaging with the question of spectacle and illusion, playing it out through practice.