Apollo Theatre

‘Tis the season: master mentalist Derren Brown is back on the West End, this time with a disorienting show that sets out to challenge the illusion of free will and our ownership of the future. Pretty classic Brown stuff, right? Well, indeed. You might think that, some 30-odd years into his career, you know exactly what Brown’s shtick is. He’ll put someone to sleep with a tap on the head; he’ll plumb the depths of a stranger’s mind with a single glance; he’ll predict what will happen in five minutes’ time with uncanny accuracy. But, of course, the thing you can always expect from Brown is the unexpected. His stunts, however routine they might be, still manage to confound. The first half of Only Human cycles through a circus of tricks, some more convoluted than others, some requiring physical participation from the entire audience. It’s complete chaos in the theatre at times, particularly compared to the decidedly more solemn Showman, his last Apollo show which centered on themes of grief and death.  Having been to both shows, I found Only Human far more unsettling. The first half is disorienting but still buoyant, thanks to Brown’s excellent comedic timing and disarming warmth. The second half takes a drastic turn; a sense of alarm no doubt helped by masterful stage effects, lighting and sound design, but largely down to Brown taking some of his more extreme psychological manipulation, usually reserved for television, to the stage. Without giving too much away, trigger...

This review is from 2013. They’ve given us Potted Potter and Potted Pirates; now Daniel Clarkson, Jefferson Turner and their director and co-writer Richard Hurst are back, with a madcap dash through all the big panto favourites. Role-swapping, silly costumes and cut-price props underpin their knockabout two-man storytelling, and they have the direct appeal of a couple of overgrown kids engaged in a game whose rules they make up as they go along. Jeff, shorter, more serious, is the theatrical glue; lanky Dan is the prankster, ever ready with a daft quip, a slapstick stunt and occasionally a naughty innuendo. The cleverly judged balance of childish simplicity and adult sauce means the show engages parents as well as their offspring. There’s even a dash of satire: in Dick Whittington a Boris Johnson wig turns the hero into a modern-day Lord Mayor of London. Occasionally you suspect that they might be having more fun up on stage than we are watching them. But it’s jovially done; and if it’s a simple offering, there’s a lot to like about a Christmas show that relies on wit rather than glitz.

What’s funnier than watching things go wrong? Honestly: not much. Building on the theatrical mishaps of the previous Goes Wrong hits (notably West End long-runner The Play That…), Mischief Theatre’s proper laugh out loud spin on A Christmas Carol sees the hapless Cornley Amateur Dramatic Society return with a new Christmas show. And while the slapstick and mayhem that ensues is hardly new ground for the company, the endless stream of slip-ups is what we’re here for. Things begin in the audition room, as steely director Chris sets about casting the play. From the start there’s disaster upon disaster – prospective performers read scenes from films rather than the actual play, the resident dimwit Dennis (Jonathan Sayer) insists Bob Cratchit is actually a frog, and Robert (Henry Lewis) will do just about anything to play Scrooge. To no one’s surprise, though, Chris – who shares some striking qualities with Scrooge himself – casts himself in the leading role. But surprise, surprise, everything that could possibly spiral out of control absolutely does. Written by Mischief’s co-founders Lewis, Sayer and Henry Shields, many of the big gags are set up in the early rehearsal section of the play, with the payoff coming later. It’s a script that leaves no loose end – every single line has a worthwhile, deliciously funny purpose. The play within the play follows Dickens’ story closely: Scrooge is visited by the ghost of Marley, and then the three spirits who aim to show him the error...