Derren Brown, mentalist extraordinaire

On Thursday evening, then, I went to The Lowry Theatre in Salford Quays to see Derren Brown. What an amazing man he is!

As I’ve said before, mentalism is a branch of magic that doesn’t particularly excite me but I found myself drawn into this show, simply because Derren is such a marvellous actor and presenter, a consummate showman. (In fact, as I’ve written on my Public Speaking Skills blog, he is an example to anyone preparing to address a crowd.) From the moment Derren bounded on to the stage until the standing ovation at the end, the whole audience hung on his every word and gesture.

I won’t tell you about the effects because it will spoil it for you if you’re seeing the show yourself – and besides, Derren swore us to secrecy. I can tell you, though, that there’s a good mixture of ancient and modern, funny and serious, quick-fire and involved. Derren and his friend and director Andy Nyman have evidently put an enormous amount of thought into the pace and structure of the evening, so that it stands as a cohesive whole and not just a series of tricks. It builds to a spectacular finale that is the crowning glory to a top-quality theatrical experience.

Considering Derren’s immense fame and popularity, this Enigma show could have been much less than it is and got away with it. But there is no question of pot-boiling; Derren has gone to great lengths and created something extraordinary.

The house was full on Thursday (2000-odd people) and will also have been for the other three performances Derren did at The Lowry. I imagine it’ll be the same everywhere he goes. Derren Brown takes mentalism to a new, astonishing level and I’m proud that he’s British!

The Mentalist

Have you been watching The Mentalist on channel 5? If you haven't, it's a new drama series about a TV mentalist/psychic whose wife and daughter are murdered and he later becomes a detective. It's quite good and I'm enjoying it but it has been vastly overhyped. The stories aren't bad but the script is sometimes a bit dodgy and I sense the writers aren't completely sure whether Jane (the eponymous mentalist's name is Patrick Jane) has exaggerated, if not special, powers. He swears he hasn't and that his deductions are based entirely on just 'paying attention' but then he hypnotises an unwilling subject in less than a minute and persuades her to give up information she would prefer to keep secret. Hmm.

Better written, better defined and generally excellent, in my opinion, is the obsessive compulsive detective Monk. This is a funny, touching, engaging programme that I absolutely loved until the fabulous Sharona left and it wasn't the same any more.

Anyway, I'm going to be watching the repeat of The Mentalist this week because during the first showing I'll be at the theatre to see, appropriately enough, one of the world's top mentalists, Derren Brown.