More Brown Magic | 'Infamous'

Derren Brown always warns his live audiences to keep details of the show a secret, which makes them difficult to talk or write about without spoiling them, since it's the juicy bits that are the most discussable. So, if anyone reading this (if anyone is actually reading this, then many thanks) intends to watch Infamous, then it's best not to read ahead.

Prior to attending Infamous at Norwich Theatre Royal, I was told by a friend who had been to an earlier performance that one lady had to be ushered out during a particularly intense part of the show involving hypnotism, having felt as if her whole body had tensed up. During the interval, Brown apparently had to come to see her and work his magic upon her to undo the negative effects.

This story played on my mind in the day or so leading up to watching Infamous - the title given an extra edge with my foreknowledge of what happened to the woman. Would Brown be secretly trying to hypnotize us all during the show, with only those more suggestible types (possibly including me) becoming really affected by it? Would I end up as stiff as a board and have to be carried out of the auditorium like a frightened mannequin by a handful of ushers? Or maybe my superego would give way to my id - my inner demons unleashed upon unsuspecting people after the show?

In an effort to gain mental mastery over these worrisome thoughts, I once again turned to the section on Hypnosis and Suggestibility in Brown's book, Tricks of the Mind; repeating a helpful sentence over and over again to myself...'His (the subject's) belief is everything. There is only his belief.' Derren Brown could only affect my mind and actions as far as I believed he could. Given that he makes clear in his book that a trance state is not real, it was highly unlikely I would find myself in a similar scenario to the woman. That said, perhaps Brown had something more edgy up his sleeve than we had seen before?

So, once at the theatre, my friend and I rushed to our seats and waited on the edge of them as the lights went down. The announcer was greeted with nervous laughter as he told everybody that, if we felt woozy or uncomfortable at any time during the performance, we were to look away for a few seconds and we would be fine. This only heightened my trepidation, before he finally said, 'Ladies and gentlemen...Derren Brown!' Rapturous applause.

We were then exposed to our host sat on a simple wooden chair in the middle of a set that was more stripped down than the usual, more extravagant ones in previous stage shows like Enigma.  Derren Brown's head was bowed, as if in deep thought. Eventually, he spoke. 'We are all trapped inside our own heads,' he told us, 'our beliefs and understandings about the world are limited by that perspective.'

His following small talk helped me relax, before he settled into the show proper. Most of it was made up of the kind of tricks we'd all seen him do in previous stage or TV shows, although obviously with different people, repartee and results. Applauding and laughing with everyone else, I still felt sceptical about Brown's usual insistence that he did not use stooges in the show, particularly during one gag that would not have worked, had a certain combination of people not been in attendance. Then again, I'm sure that Brown, familiar as he is with probability and the law of averages, would know that there is always likely to be at least one of the kind of people that he needs for a particular trick to work at every show. Had there not been, it wouldn't have hurt the show to cut this bit out.

Then came the part of the performance where I guessed the tensed-up woman had had to be removed. Brown asked everyone to take part in an extravagant procedure involving all of us who wished to. I had to remind myself - there is only my belief, there is only my belief... Like a wuss, I opted out. Once he had finished this trick, I exhaled. Some more engaging wierdness happened before Brown announced the interval and an invite for anyone interested in psychic mediumship to come up to the stage to watch him at work in Act II.

My companion and I opted to go up, hoping for a closer glimpse into Derren's world than most people get, thinking we were to congragate near the stage to watch whatever Brown did during the interval. Instead, we were ushered onto the stage itself and made to wait until the second act started for our host's return. We sat right in front of the set, facing out into the main auditorium. Nervous about what the next act held, we tried to reassure each other that, whatever lay in store in the second half was as much a trick of our minds as was everything we had witnessed thus far. Surely we would not be hypnotized into getting naked onstage or into believing we were possessed by ghosts, for example? Not unless we wanted to, we reasoned...if hypnotism if all about the power of suggestion, then it was a concern that nudity and possession were on our minds. Were we to fall under Derren's spell, at least one of these things would probably occur.

When Brown came onstage, the reason for our being there with him was revealed - to give a different perspective on the whole show. The idea being that, as in life, we can see things afresh if we only look at them from a different angle. In this case, however, all we saw were various props and stage signs, normally hidden from the main audience's view, who themselves were now in plain sight and it was quite breathtaking to see all those people. I felt like I was being watched, when, in fact, they were all probably oblivious to me, amongst the other audience members onstage. During my time onstage, I was still none the wiser regarding the workings of Brown's tricks, even though they were being done only a few feet away from me and that I had seen him do at least one of them (albeit a little differently) on TV.

Up this close, I could see there was no way that the other audience members around me could have been stooges, as they were, like myself, randomly selected, unless they were actors chosen way in advance and Brown memorized their names, faces and whatever other details were necessary. To do this for an entire tour would surely be impossible without someone revealing anything, not to mention a hell of a lot of work for the production team, just to convince us of Brown's abilities. If this were true, he would not likely allow lots of people to get onstage with him and watch him work. Seeing the show from this angle was exciting but, unlike (spoiler alert!) finding an old man behind the curtain at the end of The Wizard of Oz, it served only to deepen the mystery. A mystery wrapped inside a riddle, hidden within an enigma.

Despite this, more was revealed to me than was intended, when I looked behind me to see that the bottom half of the set had fallen back slightly, allowing me a glimpse behind the stage. Rather than some X-Men-style telepathy-enhancing apparatus, I saw a more prosaic Apple Mac laptop, a desk and some lights. I also heard someone tapping on the other side of the large painted wooden section and wondered if whomever it was might be sending signals to Brown onstage, or that it could be the theatre's resident ghost (that was about to possess me). It was probably just someone trying to figure out why the part of the stage had been dislodged.

The reason for the show's title was not as apparent as those of Brown's previous stage shows. As far as I could tell, Infamous referred to his reputation, which he touched on during one card trick, telling us about having been banned from casinos for using his magic skills to win games. This show was all about perception, being 'trapped inside our own heads' as our host had put it. In Brown's case, he was still affected by taunts from his schooldays. He has admitted in his book that he got into magic as a way of impressing others and gaining their approval. Although he has done very well out of it and that his output has gone beyond playing tricks and into exposing charlatans and spreading positive messages, I did wonder if, at forty-two, he should really get over it but this was, I suppose, Infamous' message - to be happy with who you are. This gave the show a different, more personal aspect than Brown's other live shows, as well as creating a springboard for particular stunts and a couple of laughs.

I left Infamous laughing at the trick my own mind had played on me with my concerns about the effects of hypnotism in the show and, thankfully, still in full control of mind, body and soul. Even if the show did not entertain me as much as previous Derren Brown experiences, I was at least more aware that the ideas and beliefs I myself create have the potential to be better or worse than whatever else anyone could suggest.

Image credit: http://www.atgtickets.com/shows/derren-brown/edinburgh-playhouse/

Brown Magic | 'Tricks of the Mind' by Derren Brown - Book Review

I didn't used to like Derren Brown. Having only seen odd bits from his TV shows, I found him annoyingly smug, scarily manipulative and a little bit disturbing, so I avoided his work. Yet, perhaps due to Brown using his perceptive abilities to figure out my disdain for him through the telly when I caught a bit of one of his programmes, and placing subtle mental cues throughout my everyday life in a ploy to persuade me to like him, I found myself watching the televised version of his last stage show, Svengali, in early 2012. Despite the fact that the show didn't engage me enough to view it in its entirety, the wicked illusionist's spell had been truly cast on me and I watched as many as I could of the curiously well-timed run of Brown's previous shows that all the '4' channels (C4, E4, etc) helpfully broadcast across the following months. It started with the 2012 Fear and Faith two-parter; the second including a shocking scenario where Brown used suggestion to apparently give an atheist scientist an experience of 'unconditional love' that she attributed to God, in an effort to show how the mind can be manipulated into such beliefs. As a Christian, this was disturbing and fascinating in equal measure.

I was dubious about Brown's disclaimer that his intention was not to debunk Christianity itself but to show how such experiences of faith can be manipulated within the mind of even an apparent sceptic, how all our minds have the capacity, the need, even, to believe in the supernatural, which certain religious leaders sometimes exploit, intentionally or otherwise. Yet, The fact that Brown's work often deals with exposing the tricks behind belief in the supernatural and paranormal is what drew me to him, as well as making his earlier, edgier work more fun to watch. Brown had explored this theme of psychology and belief in a different way with his earlier documentaries, 2005's Messiah (which I disliked the first time I saw a bit but appreciated on the second) and 2011's Miracles For Sale.

Part One of Brown's 2006 book, Tricks of the Mind, entitled Disillusionment, begins with the bold claim that 'the Bible is not history'. Brown then goes on to explain this statement, as well as what lead him to accept it, including a short history of his own Christian belief, which he left behind when he started getting into magic, a process that lead him to question some of the ideas behind his faith and eventually reject it. Brown cites Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion as a major influence and this section ends up reading like an almighty plug for that book. Brown's tome sometimes feels like he is trying and struggling to match Dawkins' tome in terms of word count (although Dawkins beats him by 16 pages - including bibliography and index). Tricks doesn't need to be as long as it is. As entertainingly intricate as Brown's prose is, goodwill wears thin when, nearing the book's end, one reaches the umpteenth page on his diatribe against alternative medicines. It's interesting but could easily have been shortened. Thankfully, it becomes more sprightly once Brown gets onto psychics and mediums.

More fascinating areas are covered earlier in the book, which deals more with the easier-to-learn tricks such as mnemonics (I struggled with the Peg System, though, particularly for recalling numbers), as well as the sections on hypnosis and suggestibility and unconscious communication. A winning aspect of Tricks is its author's humour - sly jokes creep up on you when you aren't expecting it. A small early segment called A Card Trick had me laughing out loud. Here, Brown describes how to perform a 'sucker trick' (e.g. one that makes a fool of the spectator), employing as many archaic synonyms for 'idiot' as he can. 'Punchinello' and 'Tom-noddy' are two favourites that I will employ. They are certainly easier to learn for a 'merry-Andrew' like me than the actual card trick. Even if it may make me look 'as clever as Jesus'.

For Brown, this book is clearly another opportunity to dazzle us with his cleverness, tempered with the recollection of embarrassing and/or amusing episodes from his past and self-deprecating jokes. As with the card trick, we are also shown how to impress others with trickery, as well as how not to fall for others' attempts to trick us, be it through simple face-to-face lying or larger deceptions like alternative medicine or psychic readings. The magic man clearly has a lot on his mind and spills it all out here. Additionally, he makes no bones about how magic itself is not real and, at its heart, is just a clever means of showing off, yet he gives clear direction for anyone wanting to follow in his foot steps  (albeit with admirable cautions for anyone seriously considering becoming a hypnotist - as Brown himself started out as). For me, learning memory and card tricks are enough to be getting on with, as my intellect doesn't match Brown's. Still, I really enjoyed the fascinating insights he provides into his own mind, the world of magic, the psychology of belief and how these are all mental illusions. In Derren Brown's mind, at least.

Clearly, the Brown magic (not nice enough to be white magic, not nasty enough to be black) continued to work on me through this book. The old Devil has got me attending his new live show Infamous this week. What new trickery awaits all who dare venture there?

(Image credit http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/derren+brown/tricks+of+the+mind/5724894/)

Doctor Who | The Next Question

'Doctor who?' The question has been asked countless times during Matt Smith's tenure as the mysterious Time Lord and with the latest series finale, The Name Of The Doctor, it looked like it might well be answered once and for all. Such a reveal would be much to fans' disdain and surely involve having to change the show's title to something less enigmatic. Doctor Charles, for instance, doesn't quite carry the same ring; besides, isn't the Doctor's name actually John Smith? (No. It's just an alias he occasionally uses but then, so is 'The Doctor'. Who knows his real real name?)

However, in a nice bluff typical of current Head Writer and Executive Producer Steven Moffat (AKA 'The Moff), the title referred more to the Doctor's reputation, rather than his actual moniker. Of course we weren't going to find out the Doctor's real name. Perish the thought. The question was asked, though and, indeed, answered. Not by The Doctor himself, to whom the query was addressed but by his wife, River Song (Alex Kingston) - one of the few people in the universe to know his true name, only no one heard her say it, because she whispered it behind a massive door. The door of a grotesquely enlarged TARDIS, incidentally, its 'dimensioning forces' having gone funny with old age, or something.

Now, with the Doctor having retained some of his mystery and the show its title (although Doctor Whom is more grammatically accurate), life imitates art as Matt Smith has announced his departure from the role, leaving the show's fans asking a similar question...who will be the next Doctor?

I felt sad at hearing the news that Smith was leaving, despite having gone off the Eleventh Doctor slightly during the latest series (I won't use the American word for a collection of episodes, 'season'. That describes a part of a year, not a TV show). When Smith started in 2010, I thought he was great, Doctor number eleven was mad, clever, funny and demonstrated more of the Doctor's alien side than David Tennant's Tenth Doctor, such as his being less prone to 'humany-wumany' (womany?) lovey-dovey stuff. I loved it when The Doc got angry with Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) because she made a difficult decision for him in his second episode - and only her first proper excursion with the Time Lord, The Beast Below; at one point crying, 'NO HUMAN HAS ANYTHING TO SAY TO ME TODAY!' Smith really sold the moment in his first series' penultimate episode, The Pandorica Opens, when The Doctor's mortal enemies banded together to trap him within the titular Pandorica - a magic box built especially to imprison him- so as to keep him from interfering with their destructive schemes. Smith made me really feel for the Time Lord potentially spending the slow, natural creep of eternity in a box that was not bigger on the inside and without the ability to move through the time/space vortex like his TARDIS.

Thankfully, The Doctor was rescued in one of the bonkers turnarounds that have been a staple during The Moff's time on the show. These have seen the series finales, like the two-part Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang (and, by association, the episodes leading up to them) go from the increasingly over the top Big Villain Attempts To Conquer The Earth/Galaxy/Universe/Reality showstoppers of the Russell 'OTT' Davies era ('era' being a word often used to describe far shorter timespans than it's meant to) to more specific villainous plans to get rid of The Doctor himself, either by trapping or even killing him. Whilst entertaining, this has itself become a cliche and The Name Of The Doctor is no exception. It sends the show literally right up its own time-stream when the nasty Great Intelligence threw itself into the Doctor's personal timestream in order to rewrite the Time Lord's entire existence and undo all his good work. The Intelligence was followed by Clara (Jenna Coleman), the 'Impossible Girl', who managed to bring her Time Lord back from the brink of oblivion, just as Amy Pond did in her own way during The Big Bang, as well as The Doctor himself, when a robotic double, constructed by the alien Teselecta, to cheat death in the series two finale, The Wedding Of River Song. These finales have been clever and fun and I know that Name leads into the 50th Anniversary Special, so it was fitting to see Clara interact with all the other Doctors but, perhaps in future series climaxes, the villains could concoct a plan that doesn't involve just killing The Doctor.

Smith has always been reliably good in Doctor Who but, perhaps it's just me growing old, his tics have grown somewhat tiresome over the last three series (none spring to mind right now, so they weren't too distracting!) His clothing's grown a little sillier (enough with all those silly hats, Doctor. Fezes aren't that cool!) But when he's serious, oh, he's good. In the opening to series 3's first episode, Asylum Of The Daleks, The Doctor gazes out upon the rainy, starshipwreck-strewn landscape of his greatest enemy's home planet from the top of a gigantic Dalek statue and mournfully intones, 'Skaro...look at the state of it.' There was some fantastic work during Name, too, as The Doctor was forced to visit his own grave on an equally dark and desolate planet (complete with the now monolithic TARDIS), the mere mention of which (whisper it...Trenzalore) brought tears to his eyes and mine too, nearly.

I'm sure Smith will accomplish great emotion once more when his regeneration comes. Doctor Ten had become a little annoying by the time he came to regenerate but the sadness of his dying moments caused a lump in my throat then, so I think Smith will probably do the same. I just hope that it's not as drawn out as Ten's exit, with that Buffy/Harry Potter-esque 'He Will Knock Four Times' prophecy stuff and having the time to visit past companions. It's a shame that news of Smith's leaving really only comes two episodes before he actually goes, even if the first is five months away, by which time, it'll be a PR coup if we don't know who Doctor Twelve will be.

So, who will be the next Doctor? I hope they get someone older and crotchetier - a bit like William Hartnell, or Jon Pertwee. John Hurt was introduced as "The Doctor" at the very end of Name but Smith's Doctor knew him as 'the one that broke the promise' of the Doctor's good name (possibly through his actions during The Last Great Time War), so it's highly unlikely Hurt will be Doctor Twelve, unless he redeems himself in the 50th Anniversary Special. How cool would that be, though? No, I think someone like Bill Nighy would work. In 2009, Steven Moffat had said he wanted an older actor to play the Doctor, prior to casting the then 26-year-old Matt Smith. He has been the youngest actor in the role at the time of casting since Peter Davison accepted the role at 29 during the 1980's.

Of course, the Doctor himself is, roughly, around 1000 years old and is a Time Lord, so his physical 'age' doesn't matter. Plus, the producers would have a tough job finding a living millenarian to take on the role. Smith is roughly my age, which endeared him to me even more but played the role primarily for kids' enjoyment. I hope that an older actor might mature it a bit, maybe take The Doctor back to being the Grandfather type character of William Hartnell, or the eccentric Uncle that Troughton and Pertwee played. The thing with this character, though, is that virtually any actor of any age, colour (or gender, even, although it might be too much to have a lady Doctor) could play him (her?) and do something new and cool with it. The show is in safe hands as long as The Moff is on board, along with his trusty team of writers, including Mark Gatiss (whose Matt Smith Who scripts are improvements over his David Tennant stories), Neil Gaiman and now Neil Cross, whose recent episode, Hide, was a highlight of the most recent series.

Before hearing that Smith was leaving, I thought he was signed up for at least one more series. Clearly not. Yet his departure was on the cards, given his burgeoning film career, having recently been cast in Ryan Gosling's directorial debut, How To Catch A Monster (a very fitting-sounding project for a Doctor Who star to involve himself with). Maybe Smith could have fit in  films and other TV roles like his predecessor but it seems not. Still, Smith's last episode is the 2013 Christmas Special, hot on the heels of November's 50th Anniversary Special, so he'll hopefully go out with a (big) bang.

How will he go? He's escaped eternity in the Pandorica, cracks in time and space, death at the hands of his own wife under the control of The Silence, as well as being rewritten by the Great Intelligence; what could possibly see the fall of the Eleventh Doctor after those? Probably something totally ignominious, like K9 turning up and accidentally shooting The Doctor when a stray lazer bolt meant for a foe ricochets into him. Unlikely. Whatever it is, it's bound to be something timey-wimey.

(Image credit - http://basementrejects.com/review/doctor-who-season-5/)