overyourhead

Derren Brown...
A few weeks ago we went to see 'mentalist' Derren Brown do some of his magic tricks at the Gordon Craig Theatre in Stevenage. The Gordon Craig was the location of my first professional engagement as an actor. I starred (no really) as Wang The Water Seller (no tittering at the back!) in Bertolt Brecht's The Good Person of Szechwan. Anyway, back to the Derren Brown...

We were seated just about as far back as possible in the auditorium as it was possible to be and right in the middle so as to avoid being picked on. We were far from safety though we didn't know it. Even the back row wasn't safe as we came to discover!

The show was OK I suppose - 'mind reading' mainly. And Mr Brown is a reasonable showman. But being a 'magic' show naturally we spent the whole time trying to work out how he did everything! And when we did work it out it was, how can I put it, disappointing to say the least. Take it from me it's best to not know how it's done. It ruins it. True of any 'magic' show I guess.

At the end of the show he asked that no one should give give anything away about the 2nd half of the show. So I won't...

..except to say there are TWO naked ladies in the bath, the elephant falls through a TRAP-DOOR and doesn't FLY and the mouse was dead BEFORE he stamped on it :-)