Derren Brown: Evening of Wonders (Channel 4)

Posted by Steven Cookson Jan 14, 2009

He’s tried to shoot himself, he’s convinced ordinary Joes to commit robbery, he’s pretended to contact the dead and he’s created a bogus betting system, now Britain’s scariest man tours the country to freak out crowds with his psychology-based illusions. As with Something Wicked This Way Comes this show, recorded at London’s Garrick Theatre, was his usual subtle mix of “magic, suggestion, psychology, misdirection and showmanship”.

First off although this is basically a TV review I felt it would be much easier to do in a first person, mainly because a) I’ve seen this show live in person at Blackpool last year so I have first hand experience of it and b) I have this so far unused blog space that I might as well break in.

Secondly I’ll make no secret of the fact that I’m a big fan of Derren Brown (which you have probably gathered by the fact that I’ve been to see him live of my own free will), I think his approach to “magic” is fresh and exciting as it’s good to someone who admits what they are doing is pure nonsense and not take the route of fake mysticism. But just because I’m a fan doesn’t mean I’m going to be sycophantic, much like being a Radiohead nut doesn’t stop me from saying that Pablo Honey is terrible.

The First Half

The first part followed his trademark blend of suggestion and reading such as getting people on stage, chosen at random by chucking a few Frisbees around, and asking them to think of something that he will be able to guess within a couple of questions. It’s the typical ‘Derren Brown on the street’ stuff that is a little too familiar but you’ve come to expect it anyway and it’s all quite fun. He’s also a likeable guy; charming and chatty, unlike the monotonous “other DB” - David Blaine.

When I saw it live the show opened with a video of people playing ping-pong and the audience was instructed to count how many times the pair in the back hit the ball back and forth. The idea is that as your attention is focused on them you don’t notice that the two in front suddenly change to people in monkey suits. Now having heard of this type of trick before I was not fooled when I saw it but it’s a great way to kick things, much like stand-ups do, with a bit of interaction.

However, due to timing this was missing, which left the banana bit even more confusing. Here Derren placed a banana at the side of the stage and said that at one point a man in a gorilla suit will come and take it, but as you are distracted you miss it. Then later the gorilla does come on in full view but takes the mask off to reveal Derren himself, who had switched places mere seconds before. That explains the distraction and observation, I think.

Part Two: The Oracle

The second half comprised entirely of an act called ‘The Oracle’, an infamous traditional act, where the audience were invited to write questions on a bit of paper and then seal them up in an envelope with only their initials and row number for Derren to see. The trick is that he would be able to work out the question just by looking at the envelope and not inside it.

Then he covers his head with a blindfold and just starts picking questions from people at random. It’s like the cold reading that “psychics” do, only on a much higher level and it is very impressive as he is almost always accurate. There is probably some really basic explanation behind it, like everything else he does, but as Derren’s such a great showman that it is immensely entertaining.

The Oracle is Derren Brown in his element and takes up a good 30 minutes when live but it’s amazing to see that he gets it pretty much spot on, even when pulling names out of the air, and there’s no clever editing when he gets one wrong – at least not when I saw it. This puts so-called “psychics” to shame, there’s none of this “oh it begins with an s...a p...a d...well there’s a letter of the alphabet in there”.

Less of the Spinning Tables, more “mindreading” please

To build up this trick he did a séance routine with spinning tables and levitation that was good to watch but any magician or illusionist can do those with a degree of competence, with Derren Brown it’s much more entertaining when he’s doing the “mindreading” stuff than messing about with furniture. In fact he does dismiss the table bit as mere conjuring. Plus anyone who knows a bit about magic sits there trying to work it out rather than paying attention and that’s the last thing you want to be doing.

Then to end whole thing he reveals that inside a box that had been hanging above the stage for the entire show contained a long piece of paper that had most of the night all written out. Of course there’s plenty of ways this could have been done but very few magicians go through the effort of setting up a big finale that has been building from the start.

Better than David “Bland” Blaine

And that’s about it really. The thing about Derren Brown, either his live or TV ventures, is that if you appreciate what he does you’re going to enjoy shows like this. Those who just call his a fraud, even though he constantly makes reference to not having any power and tells you it’s all an act, will just call it rubbish and go back to channel hopping.

As a fan and as someone who wants television to retain at least some connection to that thing we call entertainment I think we need more TV shows like this, even if their sole existence is to debunk the fakes that clog up Living and other channels, and to show David Bland how it’s done.