It's been almost 24 hours since I was sat in the Dress Circle of Sunderland Empire Theatre, being blown away by the phenomenon that is Mr Derren Brown. I must admit, I'm still a bit mind-boggled at over 50% of the content of the show (as well as the fact Derren Brown is now practically bald!).
For obvious reasons, I won't be revealing any spoilers of the 2013 tour, simply because I don't want to ruin it for anyone who has tickets for the show in the upcoming weeks, and it is more than likely that this will be broadcast on television at the end of the year.
But, what I can tell you, is it is 100% real. How do I know this? Well, I was fortunate enough to 'catch the frisbee' last night (not a euphemism, I swear!) and was asked to go on stage with the man himself! I feel I can tell you about this particular aspect of the show because it is very similar to aspects of his shows, and so not really a spoiler. And also, I need to talk/buzz about it!
So, after catching the frisbee, I was handed a microphone and asked general questions by Derren: my name, what I'm studying etc. Once I had made my way from the Dress Circle to the front of the stage, I was asked, alongside two fellow audience members, to pick one of the three chairs on stage to sit on, and then an envelope. Being the chivalrous characters that they are, my two fellow male audience members leaped to the front of the queue and thus got first 'dibs' on the chairs, leaving me with the wonky stool at the end. Funnily, I had wanted to choose that one anyway, so rejected the opportunity to swap. With envelopes and chair chosen, Derren asked us to read our envelopes in turn and then open the presents in front of each chair (which had been placed randomly by an audience member whilst we were making our way to the stage). Surprise, surprise, Derren had got it spot on and guessed which present would be in front of each chair. And then the even more boggling part; inside one of the presents was another envelope in which was a handwritten note from Derren, saying something along the lines of "of the three audience members on stage for this trick, one will be called Josh and one will be called Ellie (that's me!). I don't know the name of the third, but they will be a manufacturing manager."
Although I didn't read this note out myself, I could see it as Josh read it out, and so I know Josh wasn't an actor making things up on the spot!
What really freaked me out was I wasn't even meant to catch that frisbee. The people sat in the row behind me actually caught it, but then it was knocked from their hands and fell onto the back of my chair. It is crazy how a human can predict all of this so accurately!
Aside from crazy tricks like this - as well as some mindblowing never-seen-before tricks! - Derren made the night greatly entertaining with his comedic skills. One that particularly tickled me was when he asked if there was anyone in the audience who was 'around 9 or 10', which was answered by this one girl who looked absolutely terrified when she was shown on camera and passed a microphone! After some struggle asking her if she wore glasses (she kept going really shy and just laughing), Derren then turned to this girl's mother, asking her instead if she wore glasses or if there was a history of blindness in the family. Everyone else in the audience seemed really confused by this, and couldn't really see where it was going. Until. Derren projected a zoomed in version of the tour poster, in which it says "suitable for 12 years or over". I cringed for the poor girl and mother who had just been humiliated in front of 2000 people, and who had answered his questions seriously. But, the little girl won £50 out of it, and wasn't kicked out of the theatre, so win win!
As I've already said, I feel like I would be condemning my soul to eternal torment if I spoiled the show for anyone, so I am not going to discuss the 'main events' of the Infamous tour. I am, however, going to urge you to get tickets to see Derren Brown if you can, if not this tour, the (undoubtedly upcoming) next tour. If that isn't possible, tune in to Channel 4 when this tour is broadcast, or even look over some of his older live shows and 'Specials'. I can hand on heart say that he is some kind of God, and there is no obvious trickery going on, even from the point of view of the stage. No, unfortunately I didn't see any stagehands holding up cards, or even an earpiece in Derren's ear providing him with all the knowledge he needs.
To watch the Derren Brown collection on 4od, click here.
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