Derren Brown

Just got back from seeing Derren Brown, it was amazing! It's hard to describe what the show is like but there's a lot of things such as getting a member of the audience to write something down, put it in an envelope and then he manages to correctly guess what it is. There's a lot more showmanship to it than that (he's also very funny so the show is part comedy) and some more elaborate methods, that's a very simple example. They get more elaborate and complicated as the show goes on.

But again, he makes it clear he doesn't claim to be a psychic or mind reader, he admits it's all tricks of the trade. He also admits that he relies heavily on subliminal messages and cold reading. I never put much weight in subliminal messages before but I certainly do now. Although having said that, neither Steve or I picked the things we were "supposed" to pick so it's a good thing we didn't catch any of frisbees (to help prove the members of the audience who participate are not plants, he randomly throws frisbees out to the crowd - naturally, he can't control who exactly catches them unless he's also an expert frisbee throwing, lol). I'm pleased I'm not quite as suggestible as some people but seeing how well it works on others really was amazing.

One of his shows was aired on TV a while ago and I remember at the end, he revealed some of his methods. With some of them, there were images of subliminal messages placed purposely in the theater or just outside and with others, the messages were sent during the show as he spoke. He would slip odd words into his sentences here and there and you wouldn't even notice it until they pointed it out afterwards. It would sound so obvious when they played it back but you honestly didn't notice it at the time.

I wish I could show you an example video but since they've cracked down on youtube, there's not much available. I also wish I could better explain, in detail, what some of the tricks were but the most impressive ones are complicated to explain and the wow-factor probably wouldn't come across as strongly as actually seeing it. All I can say is if Derren Brown ever comes to town, GO SEE HIM! It's hugely entertaining.

His Dark Materials Part 2

Wow, Part 2 was even better than Part 1! I was even a little choked up at the end (I don't want to say the exact moment because I don't want to spoil the movies for those who haven't read the books - that is, if they ever get made!). Steve had to laugh when I told him that, lol.

Steve says he wasn't offended by the anti-church theme but then, he's good at not taking things too seriously or personally.

I was a little disappointed that they left out Mary Malone completely and the world she winds up in. They had the Amber Spyglass be a possession of the witches instead. But I'm not really surprised. The story is already a long one and I guess this was one major part they had to leave out in order to make it work.

I was also a little disappointed by their portrayal of the Gallivespian Spies. In the books, they are fiercely proud and serious people. Despite their size, you quickly learn to respect them. In the play, their size and pride are portrayed humorously. It was a constant source of comic relief which it wasn't in the books. Also, the puppets used for them were a bit childish and unoriginal, especially in comparison to the daemons. I guess they felt they would not be able to make a puppet of that size play a serious role in a stage production so they just went the opposite way completely.

But those were my only two disappointments for Part 2. My third disappointment was the audience snickering at the gay angels but that wasn't the production's fault. It was otherwise very exciting and well executed. Part 1 was basically just setting the stage for Part 2 - all the important concepts of the story come out in Part 2 and I'd almost forgotten how exciting those concepts are to me and the play definitely reminded me.

Sorry, those of you who didn't read the books may be a little lost but hopefully the movies for The Subtle Knife and Amber Spyglass will be out in the near future and it will make more sense!

His Dark Materials Part 1

Part 1 was really good! Longer than I realized (though it didn't drag on), it was 3 hours so in total with part 2 on Sunday, it will be 6 hours long! That seemed to keep the very little children away, the kids there were mostly 12+ and we weren't the only adults there without children. Not that I have anything against kids but Steve and I once went to a comedy show and I swear we were the only ones there under 60 (it was a comedy based on an old TV show) and I felt really awkward. Didn't want the same thing to happen with kids.

Anyway, I was curious to see how they dealt with the daemons on stage. They had some uniquely styled puppets and at first I was a little put off by how they made no attempt to hide the puppeteers (not even dressing them all in black and trying to keep the light off them). But you did kind of forget about them after a while. The puppets themselves were pretty cool, though many of them didn't have legs, the way they were designed made for very fluid and animal-like movements. Of course it was difficult for them to show daemons changing shape so they didn't really attempt it. A few times Pan "hid" in Lyra's bag but otherwise, they didn't really address the issue of daemons changing as children.

Most of the actors were pretty good. Steve even thought the girl who played Lyra was better than the girl in the movie but take that with a grain of salt because he also admitted he only remembers 2 scenes from the movie! lol. I really liked the woman who played Coulter but wasn't as keen on the actor who played Lord Asriel. The same actor played Lee Scoresby and he had the worst Texan accent ever. I guess when you're not expecting to have any or many Americans in the audience, you don't worry too much about getting an American accent right. I imagine most of the English people in the audience though the accent was just fine, lol.

So that brings me to the topic of a lot of the actors playing multiple parts. I know that is a common thing in theater productions unless they have a big budget and can hire a bigger cast but it still bugs me. We also saw the limits of their budget with the witches who were holding onto ladders which rolled back and forth across the stage. I figured with a bigger budget, they may have used flying harness.

But that said, I have seen lower budget theater productions so this one was pretty good and was performed in the biggest theater of the Lowry building.

For the most part, it stuck to the storyline pretty well. Some scenes were switched around and some characters played minor roles they didn't in the book but that kind of stuff is expected. Overall, they stayed pretty true to books and weren't afraid to use the word "church" often instead of "the authority".

Click here to see some audience reactions and a couple brief clips of the scenes where you can see how the puppets move.

Can't wait to see Part 2!

Theater Tonight!

Tonight, we're going to a theater production of the book series His Dark Materials (the first of which they made a movie of - The Golden Compass). I'm excited but I'm not sure what to expect, I hope it's not too kiddy and we're not the only adults there without children. But it says suitable for children aged 12+ and they've made it long enough that it's split into two parts, the first part is tonight and the second is Sunday. You'd think a show that long would not really hold the attention of children. I'll post a review tomorrow!

His Dark Materials Part 1