fri 19/04/2024

Derren Brown: Svengali, Shaftesbury Theatre | reviews, news & interviews

Derren Brown: Svengali, Shaftesbury Theatre

Derren Brown: Svengali, Shaftesbury Theatre

A great showman who can stun the audience into silence

Derren Brown: Witty and urbane performer who never humiliates his on-stage subjects

Derren Brown is witty, urbane, clever and a keen student of what makes humans tick - which must come as a huge advantage when you are developing an evening’s entertainment based on kidology. He makes it clear he’s not a psychic or clairvoyant and that there is a rational explanation for everything he does in his two and a half hours on stage, and indeed describes himself as “Illusionist, mentalist and sceptic” - I imagine emphasis is on the sceptic.

Derren Brown is witty, urbane, clever and a keen student of what makes humans tick - which must come as a huge advantage when you are developing an evening’s entertainment based on kidology. He makes it clear he’s not a psychic or clairvoyant and that there is a rational explanation for everything he does in his two and a half hours on stage, and indeed describes himself as “Illusionist, mentalist and sceptic” - I imagine emphasis is on the sceptic.

‘The finale is astonishingly, brain-hurtingly complicated and thrillingly presented’

Share this article

Comments

I have to disagree with you on this. After seeing him in the New Theatre in Oxford in April, I left disappointed. I saw through the majority of his stunts and found the finale a bit of an insult to my intelligence. I am certain he uses stooges, if not in the first half, definitely in the second. (When he gets the guy to stick a needle through his hand, he doesn't ask him to sign a consent form like he does with the paintball people...) I'll admit that he's a funny guy and is arresting in his performance style but beyond that, I think he's lost his touch and is fast running out of material.

@Jen no stooges ae used in any Derren show. That is all.

Add comment

newsletter

Get a weekly digest of our critical highlights in your inbox each Thursday!

Simply enter your email address in the box below

View previous newsletters