Derren Brown Underground Review What do we think of Underground – The latest show from Derren Brown On Tuesday we were lucky enough to be invited along to press night at the Playhouse Theatre for Derren Browns New Show, which is actually a ‘best of’ collection of bits from previous shows he has toured with previously. So as the show is a ‘Best of’ be prepared to see bits you may have seen before. The playhouse for us was the perfect venue for this show to take place due to its intimacy. Rebuilt in 1907 and holding a capacity of 786 people split across 3 levels, it leaves you close enough to Darren to really feel part of the show. So Derren Brown for those who don’t know him is what we questionably call many things, A Psychic? Mind Reader? Plain Weird? Actually No.. Darren is what is called an illusionist. Plain and Simple. The same as David Copperfield but dealing with the genre of the mind and with as many if not more tricks. Derren is as honest as he can be in that he ‘is honest about being dishonest’. He is also an author and artist! Derren made it to TV in 2000 and had his first tour in 2003, if your not familiar with the tours you may of heard of him through his TV Specials such as ‘Russian Roulette’, ‘The Heist’ and ‘The System’ or when he attempted to predict the lottery numbers! Already having attended a previous show ‘Enigma’ years ago and following his TV shows for many years I was already a great admirer and fan of Derren and with like fans of the ‘friends’ series I could re watch over and over again and enjoy every show like it was my first. Derren also kindly made it hard for us in the press in that the one thing he requests his audiences is to not tell anybody what happens in the show, and so for a member of the press its the one thing we generally attend to be able to do….tell you all about it. We can tell you that Mr Brown wishes to take us through a certain number of secrets and it is throughout the show these are revealed. Its this secrecy that keeps audiences in awe, not knowing what to expect even when it is a ‘best of show’. I love that with the intimacy the shows come with they always rely heavily on audience participation. Picking audience members out with a throw or two with a Frisbee at Random. Well as random as anything ever appears is, it ever really random with Derren? In previous TV shows we have seen his prep starts months before… is it the same with his shows and his random picks? Who knows? The one thing I can confirm is that I witnessed the random picking and was blown away by the results of whatever Derren was demonstrating. The audience was blown away with every trick drawing a gasp or a look of disbelief and we were always left wondering how did he do that. Derren Brown is a master of illusion and suggestion and has built a very successful career on it, and from this show will carry on to baffle and amaze crowds for years to come. This is the best of Derren Brown and we certainly did witness the master at his very best!
