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Saw this in Woking last night and it was great entertainment and a lot of fun. Plenty of Monty Hall, a chunk of hypno and a few nice gags. From a "magic perspective" it's a fantastic lesson in how to get huge mileage out of some very basic techniques that we all know. It's early in the tour so there were a few mistakes (bit of a fumble with the TT) and one guy in the audience gave away how one section worked with what he probably thought was a harmless throwaway comment, but actually completely revealed the method. The finale was a bit "telegraphed" but spiced up with some unexpected (and very funny) physical comedy from DB.

Nothing here would have fooled Penn & Teller but who cares, it's a great night out.

Awesome, TheStoner!

Maybe you could write something more about the show? I live in Poland and got some stuff on my head, definitely won't be able to see this live show so any description of it would be great.

Cheers,
Mike

Can we invite all TMers who see the show to pen a few thoughts in this thread?

Yes! That would be great.

I wonder if they plan to record it later in te future and there will be a special for tv.

of course they will.They always do.

Silly me, you're right.

I'm seeing Svengali on Thursday. Will write something about it then (without spoilers)

Am also seeing catching this on Thu (tonight as it happens). Will report back tomorrow. I've heard good things so far from others, magicians and laymen alike so I'm hopeful!!

It was mentioned in the Sun today in someone's column, MacKenzie or something. He said it's not really his thing but still thoroughly enjoyed the show.

Roll on the 22nd May!

Think I'll wait until next year then. When the kinks have been worked out. Anyone seen it care to comment? Better than ENIGMA, Something Wicked?

saw the show last Thursday in Liverpool - and still not sure how I think it compares to the others.

It was the liveliest crowd I've ever been a part of (maybe because it was Liverpool?), so that was fun.

I did enjoy the show, and found it both funny and entertaining, but was slightly disappointed afterwards. Derren does tend to stick with his formula, so I think I was disappointed because he never really suprised me. It was the "please write xxx on a piece of paper", then a light and funny first half, a darker second half, then the suprising finale. Most effects were the same (and in the same order) as in Enigma, just with a change of storyline.

But overall: it's a really good show, and on the same level as the others. I'm just spoilt after seeing him live several times

One part had the potential to be much scarier and creepier, and at that point I really wished Andy Nyman had been a part of Svengali as well.

I agree with the Stoner that if you know your Mentalism 101 the show is an amazing lesson in how to make amazing stories out of basic effects.

Personally I think I enjoyed Enigma the most because of the medallion, and the finale, which were both amazing in their own way.

I saw him live last year for Enigma. Very front row! Absolutely loved it...this thread reminds me that I'm going to have to find some tickets for the Bournemouth show:)

I saw the show last night in Southend. It's difficult to say much without giving away any spoilers, Mandrake is there anywhere those of us that have seen it, and want to, can dissect it in private?

The show was a blast. I had fun watching Mr.Brown, and fun watching the crowd as well.

Sitting in the foyer beforehand there were a number of "Have you seen him before, you'll be completely baffled," and "He'll blow your mind," style of comments. I even witnessed one gentlemen holding a table's attention with his exposition on Mr.Brown's use of NLP and other psychological techniques. I resisted intervening.

Well I wasn't baffled. As has been mentioned the effects involved are apparent to the cognoscenti, so unfortunately my mind wasn't blown.

That aside, the quality of the writing was sublime. The improvised 'reading' when it was needed was elegant, flowing and very believable. There were some moments where I laughed out loud, and others where I realised later I'd been fooled into thinking something other than the truth.

The pick the best subject for the hypnotism from the audience pre induction thing was particularly intense and well written.

As Tiram says, the beginning of the second act could have been darker, although it did disturb some people around me, with comments such as "Ugh, that's horrible," or "That thing creeps me out."

Overall I think Messrs. Brown and Sharkey have done a great job without Mr.Nyman on the team.

Oh one last thing, grab a copy of the tour guide, it's fantastically put together and is a good read.

Anyone who's been, did you fill out a piece of paper, I didn't get in early enough myself, and if so how much information is asked for on said pieces of paper?

Saw it and loved it. Not as strong as Enigma - I mean, how could you beat that ending - but a really good show, and also a good demonstration of how you can take a basic trick and get 30 minutes out of it, whilst still keeping the magicians in the audience entertained.

The opening act used a very basic trick but was presented in such an entertaining way that it derailed my train of thought. I'm usually someone who likes to puzzle it out, but by starting with something so obvious it got me out of that way of thinking and I sat back and enjoyed the presentation. This was a brilliant diversion because I didn't get back into the magician mindset until after the show.

There was a section in the last part where a very basic prop was used, which I know magicians would understand, but also that I figure laypeople would be able to work out easily. But the way it was incorporated into a large scale presentation meant that the focus was never really on the prop. The audience just didn't seem to care there was a trick prop on the table, and the magicians knowledge of the prop explained about 10% of the overall trick by the time he'd finished.

The comments made above regarding the structure being similar to Enigma clicked with me. I felt it was a similar buildup, with all the coincidences coming together. But I think this is unavoidable - the mentalism work needs to rely on coincedence, and also it gives him very little room for error, so the structure and sequence of events means not much can go wrong.

Until the girl from the audience in Liverpool on the Friday, she had to read a number from a piece of paper and for some reason she decided the order of the digits was not important - Derren covered that up brilliantly.