Derren Brown on his way back to Ireland

Hoorah!  Derren, literally moments ago Tweeted, that his new tour christened Infamous will tour in Ireland in 2014.  We will update you when the exact dates are announced.  Details of his tour dates already confirmed can be found here.

Paul Gleeson TV Series to Begin Shooting

Last April we brought you news that Irish language speaker Paul Gleeson was in pre-production for an upcoming series on TG4.  Your editor bumped in to Paul in Hamleys, Dundrum recently where he was doing some research for a prediction effect he plans on doing at the toy store as part of his upcoming TV series.  Paul said the series starts shooting this coming weekend at the Street Performers World Championship.  

Paul won't be the first person to use Hamely's as part of mentalism effect.  Check out Derren Brown's effect from 2009 below.

Derren's Love for Ireland

Derren Brown brought his latest production Svengali to our shores these past few days and by all accounts was smitten by our little land.  See the his tweets below.  If you don't already you ought to follow Derren on Twitter.  Not only does he post personal tidbits but his magificant blog also feeds to this account.  

Across his nights in Belfast and Dublin a plethora of our magical community turned up to catch the main man live.  Not least young Jessica Harkin, pictured, an aspiring young magician from Donegal.  

Svengali itself is a treat.  A master showman presenting a whitty, baffling, engaging, wonderfully written and at times frightening show is indeed a wonder to behold.  Again, as with his last show, the production is quite simply superb and his crew do a marvellous job.  Always where they need to be, yet invisible.  Kudos.

Psychic Sally Exposed on Liveline

Courtesy of Derren Brown's Twitter I became aware of an article in the Guardian by Chris French which in turn picked up on our own Joe Duffy's Liveline programme on RTÉ from Monday 12th September.  The Guardian article states that a caller to Liveline, Sue, attended Sally's show at The Grand Canal Theatre and is sure she overheard Sally being fed information through an earpiece which was then being used by Sally in her readings.

Of course this is not new in the Psychic field.  Just Google Peter Poppoff James Randi.

Unfortunately the original Liveline audio linked to in the Guardian article didn't seem to work for me so I did some rummaging around and managed to grab it for posterity.  Listen below.  Sally's reply to all this is on her blog.

HTML 5 PLAYER

OR LISTEN THROUGH

MP3 DOWNLOAD

Derren Brown Svengali :: Dublin tickets on sale 24th June

Derren will bring his Svengali show to Dublin's Grand Canal Theatre next March. Derren plays the 29th, 30th and 31st of March 2012. Tickets go on sale tomorrow 24th of June. Full details and links through to ticket agents on Derren's Blog.

Magical bargains

Magician Ian McCarthy runs Magicireland.com and recently posted the following on facebook - "Sickening.  One of the lads on a forum I use managed to find mint copies of Pure Effect and Absolute Magic in a charity shop for €3 each."  For those not in the know, these are out of print Derren Brown books and are worth considerably, considerably more then €3 each.

Derren brown enigma - dublin

Derren Brown brought his Enigma show to both Belfast and Dublin since our last issue. On the last night of his Dublin run yours truly, together with Nevin Cody and old acquaintance of Derren's Steven Thompson were lucky enough to be invited to Derren's dressing room and share some quality time with the man himself.

Enigma is quite a remarkable show. Beautifully balanced, aesthetically charming, funny and jam packed full of astonishing effects. From the moment you take your seat there is a palpable sense of theatre. I have often wondered what it would have felt like to be in the audience of a Devant or Thurston show or many of that era. I think I now know. Bravo to Derren, Andy and all the team. As a side note, something that is not often commented upon is the tech and stage crew. Derren travels a small company for this tour and his stage hands and tech crew do a superb job. If you get the chance to see Derren live, take it. He is a master showman.

You can read what Derren himself thought of his Belfast & Dublin dates on his brilliant blog here and here

Nevin Cody sent us the following piece for inclusion also -

An evening with Derren.
"What more could you ask for on a Saturday night but to be heading out with some new and old friends to see a show and finish it off drinking till the wee hours of the morning. 

The location, the new Grand Canal theatre in Dublin, the show ENIGMA . All I have to say on both is WOW. Let me start with the theatre. It is just fantastic. It holds just over 2,000 with great acoustics, great stage and great space. If you have an opportunity to go see this new building, go, it’s well worth a visit. 

Onto the show. It is rare to not have an idea of what to expect from a show you are about to see, Derren has asked that reviewers not reveal the surprises or effects in Enigma and the production is all the more beautiful for it. 

This report will not betray that request, however I would like to mention the production value, the crew and Derren himself. 

This is how a magic / mind reading performance needs to happen. We hear many people say that people don’t want to see magic or there are no places to perform magic. Well I believe this is not true. It’s just that what is being offered does not deliver what audiences want to see and experience. Why are some pubs and restaurants always busy when others are not? It’s that they give the customer what they want when they want it. They know their customers and what they expect. In Kilkenny there is a restaurant in Wind Gap which is miles from anywhere but you need to book weeks in advance to get a table. Why? Because they have something special & different and offer an experience people will pay for. 

Derren's show is the perfect example of this and in return his audiences are attending in their thousands. The production value of the night was fantastic . A great set which drew you into thinking about what was to come and the feeling you were in a small intimate theatre. The lighting and sound also added to the evening in both quality and selection. 

The flow of the show worked really well and together with Derren’s showmanship and movement on stage was for me one of the highlights of the evening. Every word and movement was perfect yet felt absolutely spontaneous.  

Around Derren the stage crew were fantastic and a real lesson on how it should be done. Jenny who headed up the team is only with him a short time but leads a very strong support group. 

As for Derren himself, well what can I say. I have seen a few of his shows and met with him a few times over the years. He is a fantastic showman loved by the audiences and always puts a strong show together. You are always taken on the journey and enjoy the ride, which I have to say only a few magicians do for me. That is not to say I have not seen great magicians or shows but as we all know us magi always think and look at shows with a difference so when you see a show that makes you stop thinking about the effects and methods etc it is something special. I also had the benefit last Saturday to be with two other magicians and also three lay people and had the opportunity to discuss in detail what they thought and felt about the show. Each one thought it incredible. 

Derren normally goes to meet some of the audience after the show and sign autographs but he has been minding his voice and did not do this last week. Their loss was our gain as after the show we headed back stage to meet the man himself. As always Derren was very friendly, glad to see us and greeted us all warmly. We popped a few bottles of wine and chatted till the wee hours talking about the show life on the road and everything and anything you could think of.  I think Derren enjoyed the relaxed wind down with us and he was just sorry it was his last night and was on an early ferry in a few hours so needed to get to bed for some sleep. 

So if you have not seen the ENIGMA show GO. I believe it is a show every magician must see. Derren told us it was not his best night in Dublin. I think he mentions this in his blog too. I can only imagine what the other nights must have been like. 

I hope this show emulates the play The Mouse Trap, in that everyone keeps its secret for those yet to see it and that it runs for years. 

Well done to Derren and all involved and thank you for your generosity." 

Derren Brown Dublin tickets now on sale

Derren Brown Enigma -  tickets now on sale for his Dublin dates at The Grand Canal Theatre this coming April.  Tickets available from Ticketmaster

Derren to play new Dublin theatre

As we reported earlier Derren Brown Enigma is on it's way to Dublin.  Initially, according to his blog he was to play the O2 for three nights.  We know he is popular but 15,000 for three nights might be stretching it.  Instead Derren will play a venue owned by the same people - The Dublin Grand Canal Theatre - on 15th, 16th & 17th of April.  According to Ticketmaster tickets are not yet on sale.  When they are we will let you know.

Derren Brown Enigma...

...looks like it will be heading to Dublin come April of next year. Already confirmed for Belfast on 12th - 14th April (details here) according to Derren's blog he will play the O2 Dublin on 15, 16, 17 of April 2010. However a look at the O2 website tells us that Whitney Huston performs there on the 17th April also. We will keep you posted on developments.

Brendan Byrne on The Magic Newswire

Regular readers will know that we are a big fan of The Magic News Wire here at IrishMagicNews.  I was delighted to be asked to be their official reporter on the Derren Brown Events specials currently running on Ch4.  In addition to reporting on Derren, I also got the opportunity to plug IrishMagicNews and mention to any prospective lecturer's listening not to forget about Ireland when setting out their tour itineraries.  You can listen to my chat with Dodd about Derren's shows here and here

Derren & Keith to play Belfast

Derren Brown brings his Enigma show to Belfasts Waterfront Hall from 12th to 14th April 2010.  Book tickets here  Keith Barry plays the Ulster Hall 19th September 2009.  Book tickets here