Derren Brown the; illusionist, mentalist, hypnotist, trickster, painter, writer and sceptic, will be returning to London’s Palace Theatre this summer in his new show “Infamous” after a tour of the UK. You can buy tickets to see Derren Brown: Infamous here.
Derren Brown: Infamous. The show show coming to London’s West End
We want to talk about what Derren Brown has done before, and he has done a LOT. Brown was born in 1971 and raised in Croydon, London. He went to the prestigious private school Whitgift and went on to study Law & German at the University of Bristol. When there he attended a hypnosis show, this inspired him to start performing stage shows in the University Bar under the stage name Darren V. Brown.
Brown really came to prominence when his TV series Mind Control which contained a series of specials was aired in 2000. Since then many of Brown’s shows have raised considerable controversy, such as his Waking Dead. In this Brown created a video game called Waking Dead that was placed in a pub and put roughly 33% of players into a catatonic trance. In the show we see a man walk into the pub and is encouraged to play the game by his mate, playing the game he is put into a catatonic trance, the man is ‘kidnapped’ by Brown and placed into a real-life recreation of the video game. The unsuspecting man wakes up to a hoard of oncoming (acting) ‘Zombies’, understandably scared and confused he starts firing his ‘gun’, ‘killing’ the zombies. When the ‘Zombies’ eventually overpower him, Derren intervenes and puts the man back into a catatonic state, transports the man back to the pub who wakes up to a ‘Game Over’ screen on the game in the pub. The man, none the wiser of his ordeal, then goes on to compliment the game’s
realism and good graphics to his mate.
Another one of Derren’s stunts that doesn’t involve Zombies (though there are a fair few that do), involved him playing Russian Roulette live on Channel 4. For those of you not familiar with Russian Roulette it basically involves; a player placing a single round in the cylinder of a revolver, the player then spins the cylinder (so they have no idea where the bullet is in the revolver) and then places the muzzle to their head and pulls the trigger. It’s certainly not a game to my taste. Whether the stunt was real or not, in Derren’s own words “what’s left is the fact that it was a terrific piece of television.”
A great special was Derren Brown: The Heist. This has been described by Brown as one of the stunts he is most proud of. Brown used his skills on selected participants who answered an advertisement under the guise of a ‘motivational seminar’. He managed to manipulate a number of them into robbing a security van in broad daylight without directly instructing them to do it. The ‘robbery’ was carried out as a result of the conditioning and their own choice, no third party gave them instructions including Brown.
We’re sure that this latest production in the Derren Brown portfolio will amaze and enthral audiences in the same way his previous work has.
For information on what’s on in the West End, check out our essential guide to all shows in London.
