LifeArcade!

How do you review a show you have been told not to tell anyone about? It is a difficult starting point I must admit, and a tricky one to get your head around. Pretty much like the entire set I witnessed on a warm breezy night in London’s West End.

Derren Brown’s ‘Svengali’ is an exuberant mix of playful tomfoolery and dark, sinister twists and turns. From the opening sequence explaining the supposed history that the show is based on and the subsequent first segment, you know that your emotions are going to be tugged in all sorts of directions throughout the performance. After the playfulness - involving shoes, paint and embarrassing moments - of the first half we are left at the interval feeling relaxed, yet with the same question you ask yourself at all of these shows, ‘How did he do that?’

The second half begins and almost takes you by surprise. You know that something darker is afoot but it just comes out and grabs you – and thus begins the highlight of the show. We are reminded of the story we were told at the start of the show, and the figure that accompanies Brown on stage at this moment is just completely creepy. An automaton – a mechanical doll capable of apparently reading our minds – is revealed and looks like he could be Chucky from Play School’s commander at base. What follows is some of the most spine tingling spectacles I have seen on stage. Maybe this is because I have not been to a show like this before, maybe it is because my biggest phobia was dealt with, and it may have even been the circulation to my back decreasing in the cramped balcony seating. It had one of those moments where you want to look away, but you really cannot. It was a truly clever mix of the supernatural, suggestion and illusion that Brown is so renowned for. It is just a shame that this part of the show did not go on for longer.

Out of the darkness came the light once more as the show picked up a bit of pace with the more relaxing tone that had begun to emerge. There was yet more memory work as well as fitting ending with numerous balloons, play bricks, paper throwing and a healthy dose of mathematics. That last one may not seem like much fun but the result leaves you gasping and wanting more. Once Brown has shown off his more physical side, the end is nigh and the applause is taken with his final shock reveal.

Svengali may not be Derren Brown’s best ever show, but for a newcomer such as me, it was certainly an enjoyable experience. When the show leaves London and continues into 2012, I certainly recommend seeing it.

By then I will still be trying to figure out how it was all done.

****/*****

William Evans

Derren Brown’s ‘Svengali’ runs at the Shaftesbury Theatre until 16^th July. The next available dates so far begin in February 2012