‘Tis the season: master mentalist Derren Brown is back on the West End, this time with a disorienting show that sets out to challenge the illusion of free will and our ownership of the future. Pretty classic Brown stuff, right? Well, indeed. You might think that, some 30-odd years into his career, you know exactly what Brown’s shtick is. He’ll put someone to sleep with a tap on the head; he’ll plumb the depths of a stranger’s mind with a single glance; he’ll predict what will happen in five minutes’ time with uncanny accuracy.
But, of course, the thing you can always expect from Brown is the unexpected. His stunts, however routine they might be, still manage to confound. The first half of Only Human cycles through a circus of tricks, some more convoluted than others, some requiring physical participation from the entire audience. It’s complete chaos in the theatre at times, particularly compared to the decidedly more solemn Showman, his last Apollo show which centered on themes of grief and death.
Having been to both shows, I found Only Human far more unsettling. The first half is disorienting but still buoyant, thanks to Brown’s excellent comedic timing and disarming warmth. The second half takes a drastic turn; a sense of alarm no doubt helped by masterful stage effects, lighting and sound design, but largely down to Brown taking some of his more extreme psychological manipulation, usually reserved for television, to the stage. Without giving too much away, trigger warnings were issued and every mouth was agape.
As with any Derren Brown show, you’ll leave deeply impressed by the man’s showmanship and aptitude for human manipulation. You’ll question, as he wants you to, your own powers of resistance and free will. Did I point my arm in that direction because of some overpowering spiritual force or because Derren Brown wanted me to? When the audience becomes the performer, we, as much as Brown, want things to go to plan. We want to get our money’s worth, after all. There are definitely bits that can be figured out: we can all recognise when we’re giving into herd mentality, or when a series of coincidences are a little tenuous at best. But there is a whole lot more that leaves you completely baffled. In a show all about uncertainty, one thing is certain: in Only Human, Brown is at his astounding best.
Listen to Time Out’s Love Thy Neighbourhood with Derren Brown in Hoxton.
