An Evening of Wonders
"Derren Brown is at his best live and raw on stage"
So with an air of excitement and a belly full of tapas we entered the theatre to watch Derren Brown’s 2007 Live Tour entitled “Derren Brown Mind Reader - An Evening of Wonders”. Having seen his previous two live shows, and being a bit disappointed with his current tv series Trick or Treat, I was hoping the show was going to be as impressive as it has been in previous years.
I was not disappointed.
As we took our seats we noticed a box with a key hanging from it suspended from the ceiling; we didn’t know, but could have guessed, it was going to contain the final prediction of the show (in fact it was a Malloy Prediction box, and used with great effect to an open mouthed audience).
The first half began with a video test of our concentration and focusing skills with Mr Brown off stage (similar to his first tour). By the time Mr Brown came on stage left the crowd were warmed up and eager for more. Now my aged brain isn’t going to try and recall the whole of the act, but as usual he had us all eating out of the palm of his hand in no time. What I love about Derren Brown is the way he takes pretty standard tricks and presents them in his inimitable way that takes the trick to another level. The most obvious example of this to me was when he used a pretty standard svengali deck routine and presented it as a 10 minute slot where he “taught” a member of the audience to how to read peoples minds and tell them the card they had picked. He even had the cheek to pretend to hypnotise her into forgetting the technique he’d taught her. Brilliant stuff. The first half was packed with the standard mentalist shenanigans we come to expect. During the interval, we were asked to write questions in sealed envelopes and pop them into a goldfish bowl. They would be used in the second half.
The second half began with some standard Victorian parlour tricks: swinging pendulums, and table tipping. He then proceeded to perform a (rather familiar) floating table trick that he claimed had fooled Arthur Conan Doyle. A nice nod to the magicians amongst us was that the psychic had supposedly lived on Losander Avenue in London. The crowd were speechless, you could hear a pin drop. He moved onto performing a flawless 1930’s presentation of a traditional Victorian mindreader act, using a mind-boggling array of mentalist techniques. Despite the Victorian feel to the act, some quite high tech. devices were employed. The act built to the usual crescendo, finishing with two seemingly “forgotten” and astonishing endings.
You can keep your episodes of Trick or Treat, Derren Brown is at his best live and raw on stage. With most theatres full with ex-Soap stars and Lloyd-Webber junk a show like this makes you realise how exhilarating a live performance really can be. If you have never experienced live magic before, head along and see this wonderful show.
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