Derren Brown Svengali Spoilers
The stage set-up stays the same throughout the show. You can see a picture of the stage here: Flickr Svengali photo. If you poke around on Flickr, you can find other photos of the stage as well, but all of the shots look pretty much the same. It is vaguely robot-themed, which fits with Derren's main illusion.
As always, Derren Brown asks volunteers to fill out forms, which can be used to choose people from the audience to participate in the show. [You can see comments about this in a thread at TalkMagic]. Volunteers do go up on stage during the show, and at least one is made to stick a need through his/her skin, obviously under the influence of hypnosis.
The centerpiece of the show is the Svengali trick. The original Svengali was a fictional character - an evil hypnotist who controlled the fictional singer for whom the 1894 novel "Trilby" was named. Derren Brown's Svengali is an automaton (aka, robot or doll) that he claims is Hungarian. The automaton can read the minds of members of the audience.
On the way into the show, guests' hands are stamped with the number "9889" - see photo here: Flickr 9889 Svengali photo. The number is made to seem mysterious in the show, and is somehow involved in the finale. During the narration, Derren explains that there are 9889 pieces in the Svengali automaton.
As in his prior shows, Derren pleads with his viewers to avoid spoiling the show for others. He must have a pretty impressive plea, because the web is chock full of Svengali reviews that say something to the effect of "Svengali is the most amazing show ever, but I can't tell you anything about it because that would ruin it." So far, people have largely been able to resist my plea for spoilers.
The show is, reportedly, between two and a half and three hours long. Derren Brown is still early in his Svengali tour (which runs through 2012), so he is working out the kinks, as he explained on a recent blog post. Future, streamlined shows are likely to be shorter than three hours. People who have seen it say Svengali is not as good as Derren's prior stage shows, but is still quite good.
Those are all the Svengali spoilers we have so far, but we can count on Derren Brown to release the show on dvd in a couple years, at which time we can all see the performance in its entirety.
For now, read Mind Stunts, my new biography of Derren Brown at Amazon.com.
Sources
AboutDerrenBrown.blogspot.com. My own blog about Derren Brown.
Derren Brown Blog, "Tour So Far," downloaded from: http://derrenbrown.co.uk/blog/2011/03/tour-so-far/.
Flickr.com. Search for "Derren Brown Svengali."
Published by William Tapscott
I started writing at a young age, and I now write professionally. View profile
- Top 10 "Glee" Covers (So Far)Whoever thought a show about singing high schoolers would create such a cultural phenomenon? The "Glee" kids have covered some of the best songs in music and managed to make them cool, not corny. Here are 10 of the be...
- Derren Brown is Coming to AmericaOne of the great mysteries for American fans of magic and mentalism is why Derren Brown has not yet made it big in America.
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers Live Anthology Superhighway Tour: A Review...An overview of the newest Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers release, Live Anthology. The album is slated to hit stores November 23, but the digital version is already available, two...- Van Halen Extends Reunion Tour into 2008, Announces 28 Additional DatesVan Halen has been touring the country this fall with a lineup that features both Eddie Van Halen and David Lee Roth for the first time in 22 years. The tour has been so successful that they have added 28 additional d...
- Tour De France 2010: Stage 7 - ResultsThis is a review of the results of stage 7 of the 2010 Tour de France held July 10 from Tournus to Station des Rousses, France.
- 4 Derren Brown Jokes
- Derren Brown Interviews
- Real Mind Readers
- SAVAGE - Chapter Five
- Derren Brown Mind Control/ Sci-Fi Channel/ Fact or Fantasy?
- 2011 so Far
- Joe Power's Life After "Derren Brown Investigates": Is His Psychic Career Over?
16 Comments
Post a CommentI don't know about the 9889 number, but at the theatre on Thursday evening the number 1499 kept creeping into the performance with card tricks/building blocks selected by members of the audience chosen at random from the audience. At the end of the show we were told by DB that the 1499 was the number of people in the audience that night. As far as the gruesome doll was concerned I ask the question, is it an automaton or is it computerised and programmed to perform at will? It was a very clever act, but I doubt we shall go again.
this article is absolute crap
I saw the show last night and I can confirm that nothing in this article spoils the show, and from what is said here, the show has changed since then as we didn't get stamped with any numbers going in, and that number wasn't featured in the show (that I recall!).
I saw the show last night and was somewhat disappointed.
The 'number' tricks were easy to figure out by anyone who has ever done any amateur magic - these often rely on getting one set of numbers wrong to make the trick.
I am almost certain that 'profession' deduction use cameras and audio feed to Derren as the selected persons are requested write down in large letters their profession.
Lastly the prediction in one of the 'small print contracts' that is signed almost certainly depends on a camera feed switch.
saw it last night.
you'll just have to wait and see ;)
all sent!
anon - That would be great - thank you. Please send the e-mail to: derrenfans[at]live.com
if you would like to know what happens in the show I can mail you. I saw it last night.
Anon -- You said my article has practically no detail, so what's the problem? No one is claiming that my article has ruined the show for them. You and jon simply state that the show would have been ruined if you had known about it in detail before seeing it -- which you didn't. Rather than criticize a hypothetical article that does not exist, why not explain why you are opposed to the article you are commenting on?
I think it is wrong to spoil show for others. If they wish to ruin it for themselves, I suppose that is their own choice. I saw the show last night, and if I had previously known what was to happen, it would have definatly ruined it for myself. If you are that eager to find out what happens, then make sure you buy yourself a ticket, and find out the proper way. Derren does not spend his time and livelihood on these shows, just so you can release spoilers and ruin his well crafted and hard worked for surprises.