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Mystery man Derren Brown fools us all
By Bruce Dessau, Evening Standard 

How do you review a show when the star sends you a notelet asking you not to reveal the most spectacular, surprising moments in their performance? In the case of magician extraordinaire Derren Brown the answer is fiendishly easy. Simply recommend his latest offering, An Evening Of Wonders, unreservedly.

Anyone who has seen his television series will know what to expect, but there is a visceral thrill to seeing this small, neat man at work in the flesh.

Whether reading minds, making a table levitate or predicting what numbers someone will select, he can make even the most cynical gasp. His open admission that he is not psychic makes his act even more mysterious.

If there were some tricks — and they are basically tricks — that nearly outstayed their welcome in the first half, the second half truly upped the ante with a seamless run of outrageous grandstanding feats.

American mentalist Marc Salem does a similar act, except where Salem is studiously professorial, Brown is a full-on showman, employing slick theatricality to add oomph to his mock-shamanism.

Memories to cherish? A marriage proposal in the stalls and the revelation that someone suffered from a pea phobia — surely not the sort of things Brown could have worked out with hidden mirrors or microscopic microphones?

They say that no one can fool all the people all the time but maybe last night Derren Brown did.

Until 7 June (www.nimaxtheatres. com/derren, 0844 412 4662)