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I've just heard about this one. It's called "Beyond Belief" and it seems is a team of mind magicians who have gotogether to put on a show.

The blurb is as below, however as it is in Felixstowe, I am sure there will be a crowd of us from the Ipswich Magical Society that end up going...

"Alan Hudson, Alex Crow and Kennedy team up to present a brand new theatrical production that promises to take audiences on a journey through the powers of the paranormal. "From Kennedy's deadly game of Russian Roulette to Alan Hudson's comedic mind reading and magic to Alex Crow's paranormal experiments with Ouija and séance.

If you were bewildered by Blaine, Baffled by Brown, This Show Will Blow Your Mind
LET THE JOURNEY BEGIN....."

And here are the dates:
OCTOBER
Wed 5th The Beck Theatre Hayes 0208 5618371
Thur 6th The Grand Opera House York 0870 6063595
Mon 10th The White Rock Theatre Hastings 0870 145 1133
Tue 11th The Grimsby Auditorium 0870 060 2331
Mon 17th The Southport Theatre 0870 607 7560
NOVEMBER
Sat 12th TheTheatre Hafren Newtown Wales 01686 625007
Mon 14th The Leas Cliff Hall Folkestone 01303 228600
Tue 15th The Princess Theatre Torquay 0870 414120
Wed 16th The Spa Pavilion Felixstowe 0870 145 1151

Hello,
I'm new here and have never felt the urge to write on a magic forum before but having just taken my family to see this show at the Hayes venue I am very upset.

What a waste of time and money. I appreciate that this was the opening night and things may get better but two of the peformers looked as though they had very little stage experience and the presentation and choice of material reflected this.

After an overly dramatic voiceover Kennedy opened the show. He postured in the lights but then frequently stumbled over his words and forgot volunteers names. He began by failing at his first effect and then presenting a close-up fork bending routine to theatre of four hundred people which left even his on stage volunteer looking underwhelmed. He later returned with a russian roulette routine which had the audience giggling rather than gasping. Why would anyone believe that this young man has a real gun on stage with him? It was farcical.

Alex Crowe has a little bit more stage presence, his opening tossed out deck was very well recieved and some of the other marerial was good. But people again began to giggle and shift nervously in their seats for all the wrong reasons when his act took a more bizare direction and technical difficulties showed the methods to his tricks. Additionallly a spooky soundtrack plays throughout his time on stage making it difficult to hear and understand what he is saying.

Alan Hudson was very funny and obviously liked by most of the audience. All of his magic was very fooling and left me baffled and amused.

The problem is that even if all of these peformers get their tricks working I'm not sure the show will work. This mixture of mentalism, comedy and bizare constantly chopping and changing makes it very difficult for anyone to know what they are supposed to think is happening. Additionally almost every effect requires a member of the audience to come on stage which takes a long time in the theatre. The method for choosing 'volunteers' was by throwing out footballs. By the second half people were growning as this selection process began. My non magician companions were appalled by having paid £14. They banded around words such as 'amateur', 'rip-off', 'embarassing'. I had recomended the show based on the advertising. If I were D.Brown or D.Blaine I would consider action to have my name removed from the posters. This is the sort of show that damages magic as I'm sure that the people present last night will not be returning to see other magic shows in the future.

Go and see only if you are an absolute magic addict with more money than you know what to do with and think three times before inviting a friend.

Welcome to TM Emma and thanks for your comments - food for thought there!

PS No idea why the colour/italic etc control codes aren't working in your message but it might be a temporary forum problem.

Sound like it really is Beyond Belief... still I would probably still go if it come round the essex way...

Thanks for the welcome mandrake.
Obviously this is just one person's experience. I'd love to hear an opinion from anyone else who went last night. [/b]

I nearly went to the Hayes performance. It's only a short trip down the line from Ealing for me, but after reading Emma's review, I'm glad I didn't go.

I'd like to think that it was just first-night nerves that caused the problems, so wouldn't mind seeing more reviews of the show.

Emma... it was a good first post by the way. You should post an introduction if you're planning on sticking around the forum!

Cheers,

Mandrake wrote:Welcome to TM Emma and thanks for your comments - food for thought there!

PS No idea why the colour/italic etc control codes aren't working in your message but it might be a temporary forum problem.

BBcode was turned off, fixed now.

It's a shame that you had such a bad experience from this show and I can only hope that it does better because this sort of thing, when well publicised could undo all the good work that Blaine and Brown have done for the image of magic in the last few years.