... His name? Derren Brown.
From that moment on, I made a point of watching him on TV whenever I knew he was on. The Mind Control specials; the Mind Control series; Russian Roulette...everything I saw him perform amazed me even more, so I was excited when I learned of his UK tour and convinced ... Read review
Advantages: Amazing show, reasonable prices. Disadvantages: Disliked the Palace Theatre as a venue for his London run.
...it right now. His name? Derren Brown.
From that moment on, I made a point of watching him on TV whenever I knew he was on. The Mind Control specials; the Mind Control series; Russian Roulette...everything I saw him perform amazed me even more, so I was excited when I learned of his UK tour and convinced some friends to come with me to see his show in Glasgow.
The big day arrived and my friends and I made our way into ... ...of the show was for Derren to correctly guess the coloured shape that a member of the audience would pick. Then, he appeared from his hiding place behind stage and the audience really went wild.
He instructed us all to stand up, holding a pound coin behind our backs. We'd all to pick a hand to place it in and then he announced whether the lefties or the righties had to sit down. I was left standing. Then we'd all to do it again. Once ... more
If I rewind about 15 years or so I can remember sitting cross-legged on the floor with my sister, waiting patiently on my dad. A man with a colourful case approaches us, puts it down and proceeds to produce a coin from behind my ear. It couldn't have been the first magician I'd seen, but its the first time that the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end, every nerve tingling with excitement. It was the first time I knew I was being tricked, but was finding that there was a unique pleasure in it.
If I take myself back to a few years ago I'm channel hopping and find myself watching a small, demonic looking man on channel four. As I watched each item on his show I felt that old familiar feeling again. My nerves were tingling and I was watching wide eyed. Just like that magician burnt himself into my memory when I was four, this man was burning himself into it right now. His name? Derren Brown.
From that moment on, I made a point of watching him on TV whenever I knew he was on. The Mind Control specials; the Mind Control series; Russian Roulette...everything I saw him perform amazed me even more, so I was excited when I learned of his UK tour and convinced some friends to come with me to see his show in Glasgow.
The big day arrived and my friends and I made our way into the auditorium. One of the friends I took along was as avid a fan as I was, but the other was rather disinterested in him. I was convinced she was going to leave this show converted. We found our seats and settled into them. We were three rows from the front and I was in the aisle seat, so I started mildly panicking that I would get dragged up on stage. Unnerving music was playing out of some speakers on the stage, and as people filed in, the atmosphere of excitement and anticipation started to develop.
Suddenly an etheral voice boomed over the speakers. We all recognised it instantly and responded noisilly as he told some poor woman to get on stage and throw a paper ball that was lying on a table out into the audience. The first trick of the show was for Derren to correctly guess the coloured shape that a member of the audience would pick. Then, he appeared from his hiding place behind stage and the audience really went wild.
He instructed us all to stand up, holding a pound coin behind our backs. We'd all to pick a hand to place it in and then he announced whether the lefties or the righties had to sit down. I was left standing. Then we'd all to do it again. Once again, I was left standing. I started to get a bit woried and decided that the next time I was going to sit down no matter what, but before I'd had time to even settle this idea in my mind he jumped off the stage and started wandering up and down the auditorium, carefully perusing all these 'willing volunteers' and trying to pick his next victim. I tried to make myself melt into the floor using purely focus and willpower, but failed miserably and soon I was painfully conscious of him standing next to me.
Luckilly, he eventually moved on and picked another poor wee soul. Phew! The poor woman he'd dragged on stage had to repeat the coin trick with him guessing what hand she had the coin in, and eventually he asked her if she wanted to play the game with the chance of winning a cheque for £500. Unsurprisingly, she took him up on the offer and ended up so thoroughly confused and manipulated by the end of the first half that she walked away with only a picture of Derren's pet parrot, much to everyone's amusement!
He also performed such tricks as hypnotising a man and then getting him to 'mentally project' a number across to a woman, while the woman used automatic writing to write down the correct number; reciting numbers, addresses and such like out of the Glasgow phone book at the demand of audience members; and correctly guessing what an audience member had drawn.
All the while he chose audience members at random using frisbees thrown both by him and audience members, so people couldn't suggest that he'd planted stooges in the audience.
The second half was a much darker part of the show. He asked the audience not to tell anyone what happened in the second half so as not to ruin it, but since the run of the show is now over I suppose it's safe to say that it was quite similar to the seance he held on channel four, although far more frightening when you're in a darkened auditorium actually participating. For this reason, though, he did state on his website that the show was not suitable for under 12s. He also only mentioned the fact that we were using a ouija board and performing a 'seance' just before the interval. This allowed people who objected to it to not return, but I felt it was slightly unfair as people had paid for the tickets and if they did object to this and felt they couldn't watch the second half, then they would get no refund on their ticket price. However, I can understand why he didn't state there would be a 'seance' and use of a ouija board on his advertising as it would have ruin the surprise somewhat.
He rounded off his show with a magic square that had everyone going wild and he left to a standing ovation. It was also announced that he would be available for signing autographs in the foyer after the show.
My friends and I left the auditorium in awe, and decided to check out the merchandise stand. However, for some reason this hadn't been set up yet and there was a lot of confusion over when it would be available. We ended up just buying programmes, but T-shirts were available for just £10 and Derren's DVD and VHS "Inside Your Mind" were available for reasonable prices, too. The programmes were under £5, which I felt was good value for money considering that programmes are often extortionate at events like this.
We then decided to join the autograph queue, which was huge by this point. We got stuck right at the end because we hadn't been planning on staying for his autograph, but the queue moved relatively quickly at first, before slowing down. By the time he got to us he'd signed a vast amount of merchandise, but he was still cheery and friendly even though he must have just wanted to get out the place and have a rest! He told me he liked my T-shirt which induced me to start giggling like a school girl, drawing me some funny looks off the boys behind me in the queue. *sigh* I can't help it if the bloke has that effect on me!
All three of us went home very happy girls, so I jumped at the chance to see him perform in London when another friend asked if I would go down there with her. He was performing at the Palace Theatre in Shaftsbury Avenue, but I felt the venue was a bit dingy and crampt, especially compared to the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall which has always been a favourite venue of mine. The show had lost its sparkle for me, somewhat, as I'd already seen it all before, but at least I got a chance to consider how some of this tricks were done the second time around. There were no announcements made of him staying behind for autographs at the London show I went to, but even if there had been I wouldn't have stayed. I did take the opportunity to buy a T-shirt this time around, though.
The show was amazing, especially first time around, and its great fun to be humbugged again just like when I was a little kid being astonished by the coin coming out from behind my ear. Unfortunately, his tour is over for 2004, but I've heard another tour is planned for September 2005.
The tickets for the Glasgow show were between £15 and £17.50, while the London tickets were between £25 and £30. Details of any forthcoming tours or TV appearances should appear on his website.
Advantages: More entertaining than the first tour, value for money, very clever Disadvantages: NOT suitable for under 12s, This review does have small spoilers.
Derren Brown - Something Wicked This Way Comes Tour
21st April 2005 - Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham
Before I start my review I'd like you to do something for me. I'll explain why later.
· Think of: a yellow flower, a jungle animal and a very simple shape. Go with your instincts. The first thing that comes into your mind and most importantly, DON'T CHANGE IT.
· Leave a comment to this review with what you've thought of. Before you read the rest ... ...later.
If you've seen Derren Brown's Mind Control on Channel 4 or E4 you'll have an idea of how the night is going to run. If you haven't, let me explain. Derren is a psychological illusionist. He uses a mixture of magic, misdirection, psychology and showmanship to pull off his 'tricks'. It's all very, very clever and you don't know how he does it.
--Act 1--
Derren opened by saying that he believes that his audience is split into the following: ...
juliaf1 22.04.2005
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Derren Brown Live Tour
Advantages: Great entertainment Disadvantages: Not suitable for children
INTRODUCTION
Derren Brown is a performer who aims is to control people's behaviour, and make them believe the unbelievable. He has an uncanny ability to put ideas into people's heads, which he combines with classy showmanship. The man is smooth. He has a very successful series on Channel 4, which I have thoroughly enjoyed and a new series, "Trick of the Mind" starts tonight. In the show he does things like getting people who answer a ringing public ... ...every time, and even though Derren claims that no stooges or actors are used in the show, there can remain that tiny element of doubt (by old cynics like myself). At £18.50 for a ticket, it wasn't cheap, but the show is a solid 2 hours of entertainment, so I think that it was worth it.
I will give a brief outline of some of the "tricks" that were performed in the show, but I am not going to reveal everything, especially about the second half, as ...
Ali1000 15.04.2005 (14.01.2006)
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Derren Brown Live Tour
Advantages: Original act, Simply amazing to watch, Even better live than on TV Disadvantages: Very few...but more tour venues would have been good so more of you could get to see him
...you saw a programme called Derren Brown: Mind Control. For those of you who didn’t, you may well have caught one of the three original Mind Control shows that were broadcast between 1999 and 2001 (and there is a fairly good chance you did, as they rated in the top ten most viewed shows of C4 in the months they were aired). And if you haven't seen those, you almost certainly saw the publicity for Derren's latest stunt, playing Russian Roulette live ... ...this fuss is about. Derren Brown has an act quite unlike anything else around. He started his career as a magician, but then began to follow his interests in how people think and behave to develop a new kind of entertainment – I suppose the nearest description to it you can get is that he is a psychological illusionist. As he himself says: “I slowly left behind the props and sleight-of-hand to work with the psychological techniques that are the real ...
Collingwood21 16.04.2003 (08.10.2003)
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Derren Brown Live Tour
I went to see Derren Brown on Friday at the Congress Theatre in Eastbourne. It was a really good night out.
(For those of you who maybe don't know, he's the mind control illusionist. His shows are on Channel 4 and he did the Russion Roulette.)
The show started at 7.30pm, and unlike most performances, there was no warm up act, which I found a refreshing change. The whole show lasted about 2 hours.
The first half was fairly similar to what you see ... ...envelope which had the shape Derren predicted the bloke to choose.
Then the whole audience had to stand up and hide a coin behind their back and bring out both hands keeping the coin hidden. If you had it in the hand he sad you were out of the game and sat down - I was still in at this point. Then he did it again and I was still in the game. He came out into the audience to pick someone. Being in the front row I thought "oops, it's going to be me!" ...
scuzz 12.04.2004
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Derren Brown Live Tour
Advantages: Very very entertaining and impressive Disadvantages: None
Derren Brown Live
Ever since I was little, when I first saw Derren Brown appear on television, I was astounded. I had always been interested in magic, but this mixture of magic, psychology, and mind control was something very new and revolutionary.
If I asked you to think of the first vegetable that came into your mind - you would say what? Carrot? - That is the most likely response and is a very "in a nutshell" idea to how he performs a lot of ... ...and see it all myself. Derren Brown is the sort of person that performs tricks which make you say "I will only believe if I see it."
Well, after seeing the show, I did believe it. This "psychological illusionist" performed many, many different tricks which all were a huge success with the audience. The show was made of two parts, the second we were told not to talk about with anybody else, so respecting his wishes I will not mention what it was ...
werdnajas 13.02.2005
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Derren Brown Live Tour
