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Derren Brown: Only Human – a ‘mind-warping’ show
The illusionist’s latest West End offering features ‘one gasp-inducing stunt after another’
Derren Brown’s “dazzling” new West End show features tricks that had me “waking up in the early hours convinced I’d managed to work out how they were done”, said Clive Davis in The Times. But a few minutes of “befuddled reflection” quickly proved me wrong.
Almost four years on from his last London stage spectacular, the “ever affable illusionist” is back with his signature blend of “pop psychology, nimble storytelling and an instinctive ability to bond with his audience”.
While “Only Human” doesn’t quite reach the dizzying heights of “Showman”, it’s a “thoroughly entertaining, at times mind-warping exploration of how magical we still find the idea of being able to predict the future, five centuries after Nostradamus”, said Chris Harvey in The Telegraph.
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Brown has injected the show with the same “warmth and vulnerability” that makes his live performances so compelling. Yet he also “retains an edge” that hints there is a “Hannibal Lecter-like figure lurking within that revels in the feeling of tricking us all”.
The stunts featured in the first half don’t feel “all that high-powered”, said Brian Logan in The Guardian. Predicting whether an audience member will say yes or no to a series of questions is “amazing” but “low stakes”.
But act two “raises the bar”. Without giving anything away, the second half kicks off with a routine that is “extraordinary and disconcerting in equal measure”. From here, the audience is left reeling as Brown puts in motion “one gasp-inducing stunt after another”.
I found the new show “far more unsettling” than “Showman”, said Grace Beard in Time Out. The lighting and special effects were “masterful”, and Brown pushes the boundaries by bringing his “more extreme psychological manipulation, usually reserved for television, to the stage”. Parts of it will leave you feeling “completely baffled. In a show all about uncertainty, one thing is certain: in ‘Only Human’ Brown is at his astounding best.”
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Irenie Forshaw is the features editor at The Week, covering arts, culture and travel. She began her career in journalism at Leeds University, where she wrote for the student newspaper, The Gryphon, before working at The Guardian and The New Statesman Group. Irenie then became a senior writer at Elite Traveler, where she oversaw The Experts column.
