3 out of 5

Director: Andy Nyman?

I couldn’t write a performance show, even if I just had to “perform” my reviews or something I can obviously talk about at length, I’d be hard-pressed for spinning that into something that builds upon itself successfully for 30 minutes, or an hour, or whatever.  And let’s say I’m a “mentalist” or “magician” or however Derren Brown would bill himself, and I’ve built up my reputation for audience / participant manipulation over the course of various television specials and stage shows for the past decade or so… well, since I’m not really a stage magician, how long does it take until my tricks are old hat?

Derren Brown’s specials and shows have, for the past few years, had a bit of repetition to them, but it’s fine, because Derren is a good entertainer, and even his most basic “tricks” are entertaining on a couple levels – from a strict entertainment standpoint, from a psychological standpoint… but Svengali was the first show that, for some reason, felt uninspired on the whole.  I don’t know if Nyman directed it, I’ll have to double-check, but it’s apparently the first show not co-written with him.  Who knows how that affects the process?  From the surface it appears the same – Derren chooses some historical reference point and then starts the show by telling a story about that reference point, generally flourishing it with a whole bunch of made-up details that enrich it (and make it more mysterious or fun), and then the show will vaguely revolve around the concepts laid out.  This time he chose ‘Svengali,’ his spin on it (no idea how accurate this spin is) focusing on a mechanical doll that was used for performance acts in the early 1900s which would predict people’s choices… a very fitting match for Derren, of course, and it’s a nice and creepy set-piece.  But though his gamut of tricks of number predictions and misdirections are familiar and yet creative updates, the show just felt easier than his previous ones.  It doesn’t seem to build to something that really pushed Derren outside of a comfort zone, and his show-wrapping trick – where he normally puts some pieces into place at the beginning and then reveals their connection at the end – doesn’t work as well as usual, feeling more flimsy and gimmicky and potentially “I done knows how he did it” than before.

Those criticisms aside, Derren is still an excellent entertainer, and as I began, I couldn’t write one show, much less several.  And he has, by now, earned the right to relax a little bit on stage and just give the people what they want.  His various TV efforts show his need to experiment with where to take his skills (to greater or lesser success), so I fully believe he’s not just resting on his laurels, but sometimes you just want to go back and do what you’re known for.  That’s how Svengali feels.  If it’s your first show, it should ‘wow’ you.  And then, beneficially, when you go back through Derren’s archives, it can only deepen that ‘wow’ feeling.