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Has anyone seen Derren Brown's stage show. I'm going to see it this year and as it is the same as last year i was wondering what to expect.

Hi magic_chocice,
I went to see him in London last year, September or October I think, and the show was great.
If you've seen him on TV you know what to expect - plenty of psychological mentalism presented with flair, humour and style.
He's definitely funnier live than he is on TV and there were running gags throughout.
Last year he started with accurate predictions read even before he came on stage, moving on to coin in the hand involving the whole audience, gambling £1,000 on choices made by a spectator, a drawing duplication and lots more prediction / thought reading stuff.
The second half took a darker tone as he "explored the psychology of seances". I don't want to spoil any surprises, but it's spooky stuff involving a ouija board and spectators revealing accurate information they have no possible means of knowing...
He finished with a great magic square presentation.
If it's any guide, I enjoyed it so much I'm planning to go and see him again this time round - even thought the show is said to be mostly the same.
Hope that helps,
Mathew.

thanx!

Santa brought me my ticket to see Derren in Birmingham in May so am really looking forward to it. I tried to get a ticket last year but I only heard about it the day before so when I phoned the theatre booking office and asked if they had any tickets available they burst into laughter - and are probably still laughing now!

I was planning to go to see him in Northampton on April 1st with my family but none of them will be available, does anyone know of a surrogate family I might use? Otherwise I will go to see him in Leicester which may be more convenient since De Montfort Hall is all if 8 minute 32 and a half seconds walk from where I live when I'm at uni.

Go Demont mate saves the extra hassle also if he gets more people he may well return last year we werent used at all i had to go to Birmingham.

He's excellent live. More "magic" than you get with his TV show and a lot more humour. I preferred seeing him live to his shows, but I know some people with the opposite view (but they aren't magicians).

I couldn't find anyone who wanted to go with me last year, so I went on my own and had a great time. This year, I'm going as part of a small group.

Saw the show last night and it was superb! Derren is at pains to stress that it's the same show as last year, they were supposed to finish the tour with a West End gig but it didn't happen so they planned to do it this year instead. Then it turned into a full tour as so many people (like me!) didn't manage to get tickets last time round.

As mentioned above, the show is in two distinct halves and, as Derren asks that nobody spreads the details of what it involves I shan't reveal anything. Other than to say that the audience is told what the theme and topics will be and are given the chance to stay away if they feel uncomfortable with it. Yeah, right! Having paid out hard earned cash for the ticket, I don't think many would go home early but it's good showmanship! To be fair, there are a couple of light touches to show that it's all done in the right spirit (!) and the very last bit is gobsmackingly well done so stick with it - it's all real but it's not all reality.

The first half is great stuff, Derren admits that he can come across on TV as a bit of a smug git but this show demonstrates that he's really quite a nice guy, full of fun and very entertaining. Every effect involves members of the audience and they are selected by the random repeated throwing of a paper ball, soft Frisbees, a foam ball or a...well, that's in the second half so I'm not saying any more.

I have to admit guys that I CAUGHT A FRISBEE! (Yaaaaaay for Mandrake!) and I WAS INVITED down to the stage (more yaaaaaaays etc) and THE GREAT MAN SPOKE to me (even more yaaaaaaays) AND HE SAID, ' Sorry - this won't work with you'. So I had to turn around and make that long slow solitary trip back to my seat, head down, spirit crushed! As it happened, it would have almost worked with me - the effect involved the mental transfer of 2 numbers from one audience member to another and I'd have got it half right! There's a routine with telephone numbers which didn't go all that well due to the audience being incapable of understanding the words, 'Speak loudly to me' but it ended well despite this.

All in all, money well spent, solid entertainment, lots of guessing afterwards as to how certain effects could be achieved. What more can a mere Mandrake expect?

Rating: 9.999999 out of 10
C.U.P.S. Rating: 1,000 out of 10

i would have loved to have seen this tour but just could nt get tickets.

hope it is a better than his current tv series which i think is far less entertaining than the last, it just doesnt seem to have the same wow factor ( psychokinetiec touch, reminisance etc)

still miles better than any other magic programme on tv though

I saw the show last night and in a word, Derren Brown was awesome. absolutely awesome.

I won't go through all the effects he did, as I don't think it would be fair on anyone who hasn't seen the show yet, but I will say that I was very impressed.

Even if you knew how he did everything (and I didn't, not by a long way), this would have been a fantastic demonstration of pure showmanship on Derren's part. I don't think I have ever seen a perfiormer with such professionalism and presentation skills.

He knows exactly how to manipulate the participating spectator. He can get a laugh from the audience without making them feel stupid. I think everyone that took part felt honoured and priviliged after helping Derren. (Although there was one guy severely lacked the skills to look up a name in a telephone book, and let's just say I "sensed" Derrens frustration).

He has some fantastic convincers and subtleties, and as a practicioner of magic myself (didn't you know?) these along with the demonstration of showmanship made it an extremely worthwhile experience.

To sum up. If you get a chance to see Derren Brown live then go and see him. He is very entertaining.

he did the parrot joke. I can't believe he did the parrot joke!

I'm going tonight hooray, I'm going tonight hooray, I'm going tonight hooray, I'm going ....
etc.

But I feel that I might be about to have a hangover first.

Well the hangover didn't materialise and the show was fantastic. Apart from the effects themselves one of the most entertaining bits was listening to the reactions of other audience members. I hope he does another tour.

I'm going on Thursday to see the show at the Palace in London.

I can't wait!!

By the sound of it I'll probably be posting here again singing the show's praises.

Until then...

Woohoo! I'm going to see Derren Brown!!

Tonights the night!! WOOHOO (to quote a friend, you know who you are )!!!!

Expected mad ravings and other peices of "yey" tommorow!

Good grief! What can I say? The man is a genius!

The show is amazing, it is utterly superb. I havnt enjoyed myself that much in a very long time. I went along expecting to get a chance of seeing in close up how he does it but I just got lost in the drama and the whole aroma of it.

Derren really has honed this show to very near perfection, particularly in terms of audience management and dramatic poise.

wow, I want to go and see it again now; maybe Mr. Egg will buy me another ticket...