Unbelievable - Criterion Theatre

To save anyone else Googling, the answer is Goldfish. They're doing two shows every Sunday, which is useful for filling out a weekend in The Big Smoke.

That has amused me. I was taken, hook, line and sinker, which is appropriate for a clever, fish-based marketing gimmick.

This is Manchester bound before it hits the West End. It runs at the Palace Theatre from 29 August until 2 September.

I’m cautiously excited for this. Huge Derren Brown fan but this will hang on the balance of how good the magicians are. Any ideas who they are?

Below review is from one of the final performances in Colchester - ahead of its West End debut mid-Sept
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Derren Brown’s latest show is titled “Unbelievable” … and a peculiar one as Derren doesn’t star in it. Instead, Unbelievable is “created, written and directed by UK stage and screen phenomenon Derren Brown” along with Andy Nyman and Andrew O’Connor.

The show promises “the best of theatre” with “jaw dropping illusions” and a “company of multi-talented performers who will bring to life, live on stage, an evening of bewildering trickery, from the imagination of Derren Brown.”

The poster promises “to have your mind blown” …

I’m unsure what Derren and Andy have been imagining – or what theatre they have seen recently, but Unbelievable is certainly not.

It is mundane at best and banal at worst.

What Derren has attempted to do is produce a magic show without magicians ( with the exception of one, Simon Lipkin, who is the only performer in the cast who can present an effect ) Or rather hire some interchangeable actors and musicians – attempt to teach them some magic – spending the least amount of money possible, in the naïve hope that the show can tour the world whilst the royalty cheques come flowing in.

The result is a predictable low budget mess that should have never reached fruition. Unless a miracle happens – I will be amazed if the London press don’t crucify this show ahead of its arrival in the West End.

The very basis of any good piece of theatre are the characters, the performers, the people … Nothing is more critical in magic. A truly good performer understands it is not just what you do, but who you are that truly counts. Your personality and persona are half the battle.

Audiences go see Derren Brown not just to be amazed, but because they develop a connection with the performer on stage. Audiences may not know the lead in Les Misérables – but they certainly fall in love with the character and develop an emotional connection to what they are seeing.

Strip that away and I am presented with a handful of nameless ensemble members – mere actors and musicians – with ( for the most part ) non-existent magic abilities presenting mediocre presentations. Add to that the audience’s subtext that the magic they are about to see cannot possibly require ‘much skill’ if a musician/actor learnt this mere weeks ago. And why exactly would I as an audience member want to see a musician perform magic? I don’t ask the opera singer to paint or have a band member play Hamlet.

The very concept of the show itself is fatally flawed and what is truly unbelievable is that neither Andy nor Derren foresaw this … or knew exactly what they were doing and didn’t care. I don’t know which is the lesser of two evils. Just a few weeks of rehearsal is all you need – and you, too, West End musician can be a magician. We get the two confused so often, anyway.

On with the show. And for those who prefer to avoid spoilers – read no further.

Act 1 – The Promise of the Impossible

The performance begins with a mobile “New York Subway” band on stage – trumpet, drums, saxophone – with an excruciatingly long 6 minute piece. Yes … the first 6 minutes of the show is nothing but a music jazz number. Eventually the curtains part to reveal a lone theatre chair on stage – with a ‘neon’ sign inviting someone from the audience to take ‘the best seat in the house’ … after a nervous wait, the sign proclaims “the show cannot start until someone comes up” … eventually a brave soul takes to the stage, straps on their seat belt and off we go!

The flimsiest of threads that run through the show is the ideal that everyone is performing a magic trick. The parts they want you to see is the ‘effect’ – and the parts they wish to keep hidden is the ‘method’.

Cabinet Appearance

A giant cabinet is wheeled on stage with the effect performed for the ‘benefit’ of the seated spectator. Doors are opened – cabinet is shown empty – and one of the band members is produced. Magic!

The secret of the illusion is then revealed showing how the cast member was hanging onto the side of the door all along – effectively out of view as the doors opened and closed. As the method is explained further - more cast members are produced – quite literally walking on stage into the cabinet out of view of the spectator.

As the cast members are ‘produced’ – they take a seat on the side of the stage. For the grand finale – the chairs on which they have been seated vanish – only to reappear inside the empty cabinet. The vanishing chairs are a nice touch but the only problem with the minor miracle of their reappearance is the very obvious arrival of a strange “frame” carried from the wings to the cabinet of mystery by what I can only assume are meant to be invisible backstage crew. Audiences are not blind and suspicious activity behind the cabinet mere moments before an appearance is not exactly magic.

And so ends the first piece in ‘Unbelievable’.

“Jaw dropping illusions never before seen in the West End”
Not yet.

Linking Finger Rings

Next up, we are told that our pianist is remarkably an engineer. How lucky for us as three finger rings from the audience impossibly link. A cookie-cutter performance delivered with limited flair by the next ensemble member in our anonymous rotating cast. Yes, the rings linked. But we’re given no reason to care. And why should we?

Think-a-Drink

Fear not – singing magician, Simon Lipkin, will rescue all in our homage to “Prohibition”. Picture Hugh Jackman in Music Man as a singing snake-oil salesman ( complete with cart and backdrop ) doing think-a-drink. It’s as cringeworthy as it sounds. And goes on forever. And ever. And ever. It’s also not particularly mystifying to an audience when the performer is utilizing multiple steel cocktail shakers which are never inspected post-performance. The very power of think-a-drink is when the container can be handed out at the end or in the box carton version, ripped to shreds to show that all is ‘fair’.

Color Vision Box

If Hugh Jackman didn’t do it – an overweight James Corden lookalike complete with local grating accent, lisp and such eloquent sayings as “alright mate” and “I’ll tell ya what” will surely lift the spirits with a 5 spectator color vision box on stage. Yes – that color vision box … which is available for sale in the interval (!) Our Corden lookalike happily proclaims that “Derren Brown taught me how to do this” as a giant prediction is revealed with printed photos of the spectators and their chosen colours. I don’t know what’s more mystifying. That someone thought that five tiny color vision boxes on stage was a good idea … or that the audience now knows you have a giant A2 color printer backstage.

“Jaw dropping illusions never before seen in the West End”
Not quite.

Squeezer
To end the first half – our singing female assistant in sequins laments the plight of the magician’s assistant – and in recognition of “150 years of extraordinary magicians assistants” she is covered in cardboard boxes by our two newly promoted ‘magicians’ ( ‘Jackman’ and ‘Corden’ ) and visibly squashed leaving just her head visible as the curtains bring to a close Act 1.

Bizarre and disjointed. Absolutely.

What is most telling though is that a 14 year old seated across from me – left the show during interval – electing to rather wait in the car for his parents than watch the second half of the show. Ouch!

Act 2 – Holding out for a Hero

Cups & Balls x 6

Our musicians are back – this time with a 6 person line-up of “percussion meets cups & balls” all happening simultaneously. Picture Gaston’s cup banging sequence from Beauty & the Beast and you get the idea. Cups are banged, balls vanish, balls reappear – ending with an explosion of sponge balls. It’s a nice sequence but a little too confusing to follow exactly what’s happening.

Balloon on Thread

The next hint of Derren comes in our message of ‘stop comparing ourselves to others’ and rather ‘focus on gratitude’ The messaging is somewhat forced as our next anonymous ‘magician’ blows up a balloon by mouth and then mysteriously causes it to float around the stage. However, if you are going to make something float – you do need to disprove the use of threads. Which no one thought to do in Unbelievable ( Audiences are intelligent beings after all ) So rather than a magical floating balloon we must logically ( rightly or wrongly ) have a balloon on thread.

“Jaw dropping illusions never before seen in the West End”
Still searching.

Musical Telepathy

Our pianist turned linking finger ring engineer is back with James Corden at the helm (“there ya go mate” ) with another incredible skill. She not only links finger rings but has the gift of musical telepathy.

A number of audience members have been asked to think of a song – but rather than just have them do so in front of the audience – they all mysteriously had to leave the theatre only to be brought back later as they lined up to have their ‘musical minds read’

Am I the only one who thinks this is suspicious? No … the entire audience does.

Ms Finger Ring Engineer-cum-pianist magically picks up the vibrations and begins to play their “thought” of song. Each. And. Every. Song. The routine goes on for absolute ages. A recurring theme.

Panto Séance

For our grand finale – the Davenport Spirit Cabinet complete with cheesy garden set and illuminated moon meets British comedy pantomime ( intentionally it would seem )… as Davenport’s man servant ( the irritating Corden lookalike ) attempts to travel the astral planes causing a yellow ball to jump into a wine glass, incorrectly reading the name of a spectators loved one and flying through the atmosphere – counting the change in an audience’s members pocket ( thanks swami ) If it sounds ridiculous, it is.

And then after this bizarre comedy by play – the most incongruent moment of all – the spectator on stage is asked to think of their loved one, tell them how much they love them … and in a poor nod to Derek Delgaudio ( or Copperfield depending which way you lean ) – the spectators daughter magically appears in the Davenport Spirit Cabinet.

To recap - we’ve effectively had a goofball clown on stage for the last 10 minutes dressed in top hat and tails doing panto – making woowoo sounds whilst swimming in the astral plains - pretending to be Davenport’s actual man servant … and now we are supposed to incredibly switch gears and reach the inner recesses of our emotions – feeling the love ( and impossibility ) of this heartwarming reunion.

It's just not happening.

And if you are still not sure – our Subway band is back to close us out. Complete with the show theme song imploring us to sing the lyrics ‘that’s Unbelievable’

Sadly nothing could be further from the truth

Attended this evening’s 6:30pm performance. This jaded New Yorker found it genuinely entertaining despite a certain cheesiness. The cast performs with energy and a sense of fun.

I thought some of it was truly amazing. But thinking about it, it is puzzling that none of the audience members brought up on stage uttered “how did you do that?”

And that last skit, which we are requested not to reveal? All I will say is that the audience member brought up on stage for the lengthy sequence failed to do her part of adequately acting surprised.

The stalls and dress circle looked full. Upper circle may have had a few vacant seats. Interval lasted nearly 30 minutes.

Reviews - as predicted - are not overwhelmingly positive

The Stage - 3 stars
"mildy diverting but bland ... less unbelievable, more underwhelming."

WhatsonStage - 3 stars
"The lack of real substance would perhaps be less obvious if the whole thing was shorter and sharper, or if it wasn’t performed in a traditional proscenium arch theatre.

BroadwayWorld - 3 stars
"Perhaps the issue is that Derren Brown has set his own bar so high that expectations of his new material are unachievable ... the absense of Brown himself makes the production feel a bit disjointed and therefore lacks some of the wow-factor of his previous shows."

AllThatDazzles - 3 Stars
"The direction from Derren Brown, Andy Nyman and Andrew O’Connor was a bit of a mixed affair. While it led to some great moments, there was a bit of a pacing problem throughout others and a real overwhelming lack of consistency across the entire show ... However, at times not all of these ideas paid off as seamlessly as hoped, leaving a show that can be wildly inconsistent. That’s not to say any element of Unbelievable isn’t enjoyable, it’s just underwhelming in certain moments."

The fact that each and every one is 3 stars speaks volumes ... everything else is nothing but politeness on the part of the authors who would have been far more direct if not for Derren's involvement. It's only a matter of time now until the show closes.
The Times - 3 stars
"Derren Brown goes missing in his own magic show ... as a troupe of actors and musicians lead us through a series of routines that are agreeable enough but ultimately leave you feeling you have just watched a cruise show entertainment rather than a fully fledged West End spectacle."

TimeOut - 3 stars
"Seven actors try to pass themselves off as magicians in this uneven high-concept show ...Instead, the cast of seven plays instruments, does some magic and trots out vague patter about how we’re all actually magicians performing a trick by presenting to the world the person we want to be – polished outsides vs messy insides ... That’s the justification for the show’s biggest illusion, in that none of the seven-strong cast is actually a magician."

CityAM - 3 stars
"Good ideas, underpowered show. ... The problem is that Unbelievable never feels particularly special or surprising. Brown has a couple of good ideas that I’d love to see in a show with more teeth, bigger stunts and, most importantly, an appearance by the man himself."

Guardian - 3 stars
"I’m not sure the show is the bold leap forward for magic that its creators – Brown’s longtime collaborators Andrew O’Connor and Andy Nyman, and Colchester’s Mercury theatre – would have us believe. He also has a relationship with his audience (whereas Unbelievable’s cast stay largely anonymous and undifferentiated) ... whereas the emotional climax to tonight’s show doesn’t really fly."

3 Stars isn't bad really.

Have you seen the show theatre2023? Whatever its failings, and I'd say the reviews are mostly accurate, it's enjoyable middle-of-the-road fare, I'd scarcely call it low quality or a money grab. You can't sit through this and not see they've spent quite a bit of money on it.

As an aside, are magicians more expensive than actor-musicians? Famous ones no doubt, but your average working one? I'd wager not. Whoever they'd cast in this would be getting West End Union rates. There's an artistic reason for having non-magicians doing the magic here, whether that works is up for debate, but it's not obvious to me why you think they've made an unethical choice in that.

Well I rather enjoyed this tonight! Definitely didn't feel too long and there were some genuinely gasp-inducing moments (I REALLY want to know how these tricks are done so please message me if you know!)

And Simon Lipkin is ageing like a fine wine...

@ stevejohnson678

“Such scathing views on a cast you haven't seen in action”

You clearly didn’t take the time to actually read the thread. There was a blow by blow review of the show and everything that is wrong with it.

The abysmal ticket sales is the ultimate barometer. The show is a commercial flop and with the current audience apathy is sadly on life support.