Having been told by Darren Brown at the opening of Svengali that the details should remain a secret so that other audience members can enjoy the show without influence it’s very difficult to write a blog without breaking that request. Given that Brown uses Neurological Linguistic Programming, illusions and showmanship to create his own brand of entertainment and it could be argued that he actually wants people to share the details of the show. A sort of double negative, don’t say, so you do say? That’s just one example of how you second-guess yourself with Brown.
However, I’m not sure I can tell you that much anyway because the evening was one big head scratch and beard rub. Having studied NLP on a very basic level I found myself listening for key words that might control the audience or audience participant into taking the decisions Brown wants them to take. I might have noticed one or two examples such as ‘Three Choice’ in exchange for ‘Free Choice’, which helps when picking, numbered boxes. However, the rest of the evening was beyond explanation. Words like, How, What and No way became the limited vocabulary for the majority of the audience. Anyone who’s seen his shows on Channel 4 will understand how fascinating and compelling he can be but seeing him live and at some points, standing right in front of you, nothing compares to a live show. The Svengali show was dark, terrifying and utterly engrossing with the 2 hours flying by so quickly that you really wanted to stay for more. If you go to the show and I really hope you do, make sure you get into the stalls. As audience participation is required, that’s the best place to get into the action. Derren Brown Svengali is running at London’s Shaftesbury Theatre until July 16th, before beginning a nationwide tour in February next year.