Calculated Theatre - The Derren Brown Experience
On a hot, humid, London evening I sweated my way to The Palace Theatre in London’s West End for Derren Brown’s 2013/2014 live show, Infamous.
 |
| http://derrenbrown.co.uk/blog/db-news/ |
London’s problem, in the midst a heat wave (otherwise known as summer) is it’s disturbing lack of air conditioning, so when I rolled into Shaftsbury Avenue I was dehydrated, delirious and hungry – basically mentally vulnerable to someone in the biz of messing with people’s heads.
Excited by the prospect of box seats I felt a bit posh; however it soon became clear that the description of ‘box’ was all too literal. Before we could attempt to make ourselves comfortable, and to ensure my posh fantasy was completely quashed, many other theatre patrons mistook our box for the bar. Their obvious disappointment did nothing for my state of weariness.
From the outset, I had no idea who this Derren Brown fellow was, and after his show I am none the wiser. Made all the more difficult, I’m reviewing a show that I’m supposed to keep it a secret, so future audiences get to share in the ‘surprise’.
I left with more questions than answers. Or more correctly, the same question applied multiple times: what the fuck just happened?
Brown claims not to be a psychic, but is apparently a maths genius – he’s like Australia’s Adam Spencer on crack (picture a slighter, shorter, creepier version). Spencer has always made mathematics so accessible, yet delivered in a higher than life fashion (see his TED talk), whereas Brown seems to have free-based a few too many algorithms that even the most experienced arthimetist would say ‘oh that shit’s fucked up’. At best I would describe him as an equations junkie meets Simon Baker’s Mentalist, sans the sex appeal (at least to this lassie - he wore two layers of tweed and is quick to inform he bats for blokes).
Brown is vigilant about the probity check of each ‘trick’, making it clear it’s practically impossible to set up them up. He shares card tricks, explains why he is banned from casinos (don’t ask, I didn’t understand that part either...oh wait, that’s right, I’m not supposed to say) and apparently hypnotised a young lad who felt ‘completely changed’ (not sure from what to what). So nothing really revolutionary there, but days after I am still puzzled by his various equations and how they related to various audience members. Seriously, how could he possibly know that American girl had a pug called Pickles?
At the end of the show I was too blown away by what he did to not one but three Rubik’s cubes to applaud. Perhaps it was the dehydration. But I clapped up a storm when asked if there was a bin behind the bar.
Unable to wrap my head around it all, I consoled my mind by concluding that Brown is some kind of extreme savant who, in real life despite his unexplainable brilliance suffers the curse of really, really smart people – he’s a right bastard (of course this is based in nothing but my personal opinion). He might be able to work out my phone number by throwing a dice, but surely he can’t also be nice
Excited by the prospect of box seats I felt a bit posh; however it soon became clear that the description of ‘box’ was all too literal. Before we could attempt to make ourselves comfortable, and to ensure my posh fantasy was completely quashed, many other theatre patrons mistook our box for the bar. Their obvious disappointment did nothing for my state of weariness.
From the outset, I had no idea who this Derren Brown fellow was, and after his show I am none the wiser. Made all the more difficult, I’m reviewing a show that I’m supposed to keep it a secret, so future audiences get to share in the ‘surprise’.
I left with more questions than answers. Or more correctly, the same question applied multiple times: what the fuck just happened?
Brown claims not to be a psychic, but is apparently a maths genius – he’s like Australia’s Adam Spencer on crack (picture a slighter, shorter, creepier version). Spencer has always made mathematics so accessible, yet delivered in a higher than life fashion (see his TED talk), whereas Brown seems to have free-based a few too many algorithms that even the most experienced arthimetist would say ‘oh that shit’s fucked up’. At best I would describe him as an equations junkie meets Simon Baker’s Mentalist, sans the sex appeal (at least to this lassie - he wore two layers of tweed and is quick to inform he bats for blokes).
Brown is vigilant about the probity check of each ‘trick’, making it clear it’s practically impossible to set up them up. He shares card tricks, explains why he is banned from casinos (don’t ask, I didn’t understand that part either...oh wait, that’s right, I’m not supposed to say) and apparently hypnotised a young lad who felt ‘completely changed’ (not sure from what to what). So nothing really revolutionary there, but days after I am still puzzled by his various equations and how they related to various audience members. Seriously, how could he possibly know that American girl had a pug called Pickles?
At the end of the show I was too blown away by what he did to not one but three Rubik’s cubes to applaud. Perhaps it was the dehydration. But I clapped up a storm when asked if there was a bin behind the bar.
Unable to wrap my head around it all, I consoled my mind by concluding that Brown is some kind of extreme savant who, in real life despite his unexplainable brilliance suffers the curse of really, really smart people – he’s a right bastard (of course this is based in nothing but my personal opinion). He might be able to work out my phone number by throwing a dice, but surely he can’t also be nice
Derren Brown's 'not suitable for children under 12' Infamous will be touring the UK and Ireland in 2014. Details: http://derrenbrown.co.uk
.JPG)
0 comments:
Post a Comment