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Derren Brown Mind Reader - An Evening
of Wonders.
May 2007
A Review
by Mark Elsdon
With
this, his fourth national theatre tour, Derren once again confirms his status as
the UK’s premier wonder worker. Like his previous shows, it was split into two
very different halves: the first half consisting of some of the strongest
mentalism that you will ever see anywhere, the second being a more theatrical
“act”. For the sake of those who are yet to see the show, I will not be
outlining each specific effect, but in the context of what I liked and disliked
about the show I will offer some examples.
The integration of the hand-held camera from the last tour, as well as a huge
projector screen, allowed for a variety of effects that simply would not be
possible otherwise. The technology was used wisely, always to amplify the effect
rather than accomplish it (with one exception).
In the first half of the show, group readings, bananas, playing cards, boxes of
money, mobile phones, banknotes and more were all used to completely fry the
audience. One thing that didn’t work for me was his use of the screen to make
instant stooges of the whole audience during a playing card mind-reading effect.
To me this implies trickery of some kind and the final payoff of this routine
was very much diluted as a result. Excellent in this half were a “20 Questions”
style routine (a la The Grey Man), and some incredible demonstrations of ‘Change
Blindness’. As we have come to expect from Derren (and his cohort Mr Nyman)
there are many moments of genius which will have you chuckling in appreciation
and wishing that just once, you too could be that clever. The highlight is the
absolute best magician-in-trouble type routine that you will ever see. Yes, it’s
that good.
One more thing about the first half before we move on: there was an almost
complete lack of premise to any of the routines. No explanations, no claims of
esoteric skills and almost no justification of how he was doing any of it. And I
have to say I approve this bold move. Surely nearly every layman who attends
Derren’s shows must already be a dedicated fan, having already seen his series’
and specials and likely a live performance or two. So they already know his
premises and claims. When working for his (paying) fans he doesn’t need to
repeat what they already know, he simply needs to show them what his skills can
accomplish.
The second half was a very mixed bag for me, as well as several laymen friends I
chatted to after the show. Firstly, there were some demonstrations of the
ideomotor principle and then a floating table. These came across as both
disjointed and hurried. Derren’s use of some standard magician’s props (both
here and in the first half) stands in stark contrast to his usual role as a
champion of no ‘visible compromise’.
Then Derren performed what he described as ‘The Oracle’ act, which was basically
a Q & A routine taken to extremes! This part of the show went on far too long
and the audience was growing restless as Derren revealed ever more impossible
facts about audience members. Even to the non-magicians in the audience there
was only one possible way this could have been accomplished.
Up until this point, the second half of the show came across as hugely
self-indulgent, lacking the tension and finesse of the ‘theatrical’
second-halves of his two previous shows. Fortunately, the climax of the show
reverted to the wow factor of the first half. I won’t table any further details
other than to say that it was a great finale with multiple moments of
astonishment and some great call-backs which ended the evening on a real high,
with Derren performing at full throttle and fully deserving of his standing
ovation.
Overall, then, despite my reservations about the second half, it was a
thoroughly entertaining show and a pleasure, once again, to watch a
master showman at the height of his powers.
©
Mark Elsdon, May 2007