Derren Brown: Only Human
Gaiety Theatre, Dublin
★★★☆☆
“Please don’t mention anything that happens here,” the British mentalist Derren Brown says towards the end of his latest show, specifically addressing reviewers.
Lacking the kind of magic powers that would equip me to review Only Human without any reference to its content, I feel compelled to interpret that appeal as the provocation of a skilful showman. This master of reverse psychology and publicity knows full well that his audience will talk about what they have seen.
Without giving too much away, here then is what happens at the Gaiety Theatre. Making constant use of audience participation, Brown performs a series of magic tricks and other feats of mentalism that range from one-on-one psychological forcing to mass manipulation.
The essential, frequently repeated point is that our psychological agency tends to crumble in the face of a bit of well-honed cunning. And yet much of Only Human, which Brown wrote with Stephen Long and the production’s director, Andrew O’Connor, hinges on his skill at deploying a variety of devices to pick out the most suggestible among us.
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Once identified, a succession of easy marks succumb to Brown’s powers of hypnosis, falling asleep on command with remarkable rapidity and consistency. One extended sequence also evokes historic experiments about the ease with which humans will inflict pain when ordered to do so. But Brown largely avoids delving into the darker implications of his mesmerising talents.
Though we encounter occasional flashes of mordant wit, the mentalist mostly cuts an affable, nerdy figure who just wants to keep the magic trains running on time. Brown provides a few glimpses into his personal life (hates parties, lacked professional ambition as a teenager) but remains an elusive, albeit compelling presence. By appearing so inscrutable, he is of course the perfect hustler.
In technical terms, Brown carries off his deceptions flawlessly. And yet these don’t entirely cohere into a satisfying theatrical whole over the course of two and a half hours (with an interval).
Only Human’s central theme is the indeterminacy of the future – “a projection”, Brown says late on, “we stitch together from ambition and fear”. But the show veers in so many directions and incorporates so many routines that it becomes easy to lose the thread along with our sense of surprise at each reveal.
By contrast, Brown’s earlier show Secret, which was similar in method and structure to Only Human, retained a tighter focus on its titular theme.
A certain aura of chaos has obviously been orchestrated to scramble our attention. But O’Connor’s staging leans too heavily on live projection of the action along with an array of other, somewhat garish visual effects. The harsh yellow lighting further contributes to a desensitising ambience.
Those techniques detract from the deceptive simplicity of Brown’s own methods and performance. Indeed, amid all the visual hubbub on the walls around the stage, we start to doubt the authenticity of the illusion and wonder how much of what we are seeing has been baked in advance. Only Human isn’t quite what its title promises.
Derren Brown: Only Human is at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, until Saturday, May 16th
