Derren Brown: Archive
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From: xmindcontrolx
Date: Sun Jan 6, 2002 2:28pm
Subject: Review Show 1
Mind Control 1st show
"It is mind control,
but I let people come to their own conclusions about
what is really happening. You just develop a feel for
people from doing it for so long, then you try to create
a psychological environment where things can
happen." Derren Brown
Mind manipulator Derren
Brown's first venture into television, in the shape of a
one hour special for Channel 4, was ground-breaking
stuff. "These are not magic tricks - this is mind
control" proclaimed Derren in the opening seconds, or, in
other words, "let's get one thing straight right
now..." - a very shrewd move. Then, by exposing a simple
'TV magic trick,' (the type that can't stand up to
the press of a video rewind button) Derren clearly
established right from the start that this wasn't a 'magic
trick' show. The biggest hurdle for any show of this
type - overcome in seconds. He'd also now won the
audiences trust by being so 'frank' with them - clever
stuff.
Derren performs in an easy, yet authoritative, style
with enough flashes of charm to prevent things getting
heavy. The format of the show was as fresh as Derren's
presentation. No contrived studio sets here, it was very much
an out-and-about affair, with a 'spontaneous' feel
throughout. It had the pace of David Blaine's first special,
but in no way imitated. In places it felt 'live.'
Locations varied widely. From the start, when he visited a
group of young offenders in Prison, to the end and a
sequence in an Art Gallery.
Something that has
always been difficult when producing this sort of
material is to convey to the television audience at home
the atmosphere that the people surrounding the
performer are experiencing, as it happens. Well they
managed this too, often by working with hand held
cameras, and also by steering clear of a rigid
script.
I'm not going to describe what he did, that would be
like listing the props in a play, and that's not what
this is all about. Let's just say if you saw it you'll
know - and if you didn't then you'll enjoy it all the
more when you do. Plus it's more fun that
way.
At last, here is a performer capable of actually
causing a hardened television audience to really question
"the whole deal."
This was the finest 'magic of
the mind' type production that I have ever seen.
Derren Brown has mastered his craft, and deserves every
future success. Excellent.
