Derren Brown: Enigma Tour

Published Wednesday 3 March 2010 at 11:15 by Chris High

Let’s be clear here. This review is going to tell you nothing about this show because to do so would be to spoil everything.

So manifestly mind-boggling is Derren Brown’s performance that only two pieces of advice can be given. Firstly, watch, listen and absorb even the minutest detail because, if by chance something is forgotten or missed it, will come back and bite and, secondly, to make sure you get a ticket before it’s too late.

Since Mind Control in December 2000, Brown has grown into a phenomenon with his multi-award winning TV and theatre shows - and rightly so. Audience members are picked out courtesy of a low-flying frisbee and they take the stage as the wizard guides them with the slick patter of a used car salesman, who never quite becomes smug enough to enter the world of the truly irritating. It is safe to say that Brown is one of the most charming stage performers around.

Yet what makes the show what it is - a truly mesmerising theatrical event that should live forever in the memory - is the magic and the variety, speed and dexterity with which Brown performs it. Looking around the auditorium of this sold-out theatre, with everyone on their feet at the show’s climax, it’s probably the most fun they’re likely to have this year. Derren Brown is simply astonishing to witness on stage.