The master mentalist is back in the West End and he’s here to mess with our heads. Those already smitten with Derren Brown’s eye-catching brand of “psychological illusion” — and they whooped in their hundreds on opening night — will find plenty to love in this slick production. For others, such as myself, who remain equivocal about his ability seemingly to hypnotise audience members en masse, there is much to wonder at.
Brown sensibly requests that viewers keep details of the show a secret. It’s spoiling nothing, however, to say the format is a series of ever-more elaborate mind games that involve, variously, the Complete Works of Shakespeare, a complicated poker trick that I simply couldn’t follow and Brown knowing everything about everyone. He picks his willing victims via the engaging tactic of hurling Frisbees into the auditorium and is admirably intent on including punters from all levels of seating.
Brown and director Andy Nyman have worked hard on the performer’s stage persona; he is far less bombastic than when I saw him last and the poignant subtext to a stridently named show is that magic was a way of this confused gay outsider gaining acceptance.
Until August 17 (0844 874 0789, nimaxtheatres.com)
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