REVIEW: Derren Brown
- Posted on May 19, 2008 4:42 PM
- 1 comment
Derren Brown
‘Mind Reader -
An Evening of Wonders’
Garrick Theatre
Review by Adam Walker
With a title like that, Mr Brown had a lot to live up to. The stage dressed in baroque 1930’s velvet curtains and fake foliage, gave way to a small chest like box roped to the tip of the proscenium arch. This later became the focus for what was about to be preceded by two-hours of old skool ‘mind reading’.
Derren emerged to a thunderous applause, in an audience populated by the extremes of generation. And this is where his appeal lies; from the under 16’s to the over 55’s, magic and illusion is a universal intrigue – which might explain this, his second nationwide tour, his residency on Channel Four, and his growing empire of books and DVDs. But for one night, of only thirty-two performances, Derren Brown was our personal master of psychology.
To review the actual show and what happens next would be a tad unfair to any future audiences, suffice to say that going in a sceptic, one is quickly hypnotised into the believability of mind reading. Make no mistake, this show is compelling. Tension, excitement, horror, joy – these emotions and more are felt within the first hour alone as Brown picks out random members of the audience with frisbees and subjects them to games you never learnt in the playground. However, it is during the interval and the subsequent finale that really rips through your consciousness and makes you question your own susceptibility, the morality of it all – but more importantly, how the hell he does it.
Is Derren Brown for real? Or is he a con artist? Is there such a thing as mind reading? Whatever you believe, one thing for sure is his pure genius. No show on the West End at the minute has the power to truly make you think. As for that box, the clue is in the title.
Related links:
Derren Brown tickets.
West End theatre tickets.
Comments (1)
artistLady
I wanted to stop myself but...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23453626@N05/2640456010
Posted on July 6, 2008 12:10 AM
Post a comment
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.seatwaveblogs.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/3005
