Review: DERREN BROWN’S UNBELIEVABLE, Criterion Theatre
The latest live theatre offering from mind-bending illusionist Derren Brown, co-produced with the Mercury Theatre Colchester, is a departure from his usual one-man shows. The modern master of mentalism doesn’t feature in Unbelievable, which instead showcases a cast of musical performers and actors in a spectacular magical cabaret.
The music hall stylings of this production give a nod to the birth of popular magic as we know it today in the 1800s. A large part of Derren Brown’s charm comes from his depth of study into historical context and veneration for his forbears in magic and illusion, which is worked into the storytelling surrounding the series of tricks that make up this show.
The audience are teased in the opening illusion with the delight of having the workings of a trick revealed to us. The devilish Derren Brown launches us into his show with a hubristic sense of confidence: ‘we’ve seen how a trick works - there’s no fooling us now!’ But oh, how wrong we are!
After the false sense of security built up by having our hands held through this basic opening trick, the unbelievable cast whip the rug straight out from underneath us, to a chorus of audible gasps and exclamations of ‘how did they DO that?’ Unbelievable is the correct word for this show - there are points during some of the routines when the audience is unable to muster applause, so rapt with slack-jawed amazement.
There is an attempt to thread a philosophical through line throughout the show about what we, as people, choose to conceal and reveal to our own audiences. The more cynical audience members might squirm at this indulgence in sentiment but if you’re willing to give yourself over to believing water can literally be turned to wine, we think audiences can allow themselves to yield to a charmingly sappy finale.
Although I personally wouldn’t go as far as to proclaim myself a skeptic, I’m acutely attuned to potential plants in the audience of an illusion show. I can, however, say with confidence as an unexpected active participant that for at least one of the magic tricks performed onstage, we volunteers didn’t have a hot clue what was going on.
The entire ensemble cast are extraordinarily talented - a slick and polished ensemble who engage the audience with ease and flexibility, responding to all the quirks and awkwardness of live audience interaction with the practiced hand of elite improvisers. It feels unfair really to pick out any particular performer from this troupe of actor-musos. It’s no exaggeration to say that they have truly mastered their art and we couldn’t fault their performance.
An evening of pure entertainment and devilish delight - wryly humorous and even surprisingly moving, Unbelievable is a riotous night out.
**** Four stars
Reviewed by: Livvy Perrett
Derren Brown’s Unbelievable plays at London’s Criterion Theatre until 7 April 2024, with tickets available here.