Derren Brown: Miracle

Theatre Royal Brighton, New Road, Tuesday, February 23, to Saturday, February 27

MASTER psychological illusionist Derren Brown returns with his new show Miracle.

He talks to Duncan Hall about how susceptible we are, happiness and his plans to take on Broadway.

The Guide: Are you looking forward to coming to Brighton?

Derren Brown: It’s one of the highlights of the tour – it’s a lovely theatre and one of the smallest on the tour. The nature of what I do is quite intimate – I don’t think it would work well in a stadium – so it is nice to do it in a more intimate venue.

You began your career as a stage hypnotist and much of your work on TV has been about manipulating your audience. How much does hypnotism play a part in the new show?

There is no hypnotism in this show. Hypnotism is quite a grey area – of what is and what isn’t hypnotism. It’s a word like magic – a shorthand term for something. You know a magician isn’t doing magic – he’s doing a series of things creating an experience. If you go to see a stage hypnotist you can have people playing along – is that a form of hypnotism? Is a charismatic speaker or someone who helps you give up smoking a form of hypnotism? It’s very difficult to say what it is.

What interests me is how we respond psychologically and socially to different cues. We are such social creatures – it is always interesting to see the public’s reaction.

People often say they would never react in a certain way – they make judgements based on themselves in isolation. We are so susceptible to doing what people tell us to do – it’s hard-wired not to feel excluded from a group. We find ourselves doing things and then try to justify why we would do such a terrible thing. It’s fascinating to me.

The other way around is if a fire alarm goes off often people will remain seated and working, writing it off as a drill or test. It’s called a normality bias – people presume everything is fine.

There was an interesting case [in 1977] in Tenerife where a Pan Am flight and another plane tried to take off on the same runway [in fog]. The [KLM] plane ripped a huge gash down the side of the Pan Am flight, but there were a couple of minutes before the Pan Am plane went up in flames.

Hundreds of people just sat there in their seats glassy eyed – the only people who got off were people who were trained or had been in a similar situation before.

When I put people through dark experiences as part of my TV shows it acts as training – if those people find themselves in a similar situation they have had that emotional experience again and get off the plane.

Hopefully people watching will invest in my shows and have a similar thing vicariously. Nowadays with the mobile phone we have got so used to observing everything rather than taking part.

Do those reactions of people just observing or being easily manipulated scare you?

I think it explains things. We forget what makes a difference in life is how we can relate something to ourselves and how we think we would react in a situation with something we can easily picture. We worry about people dying from fireworks on Bonfire Night for example, but we never consider other dangers because the media never make a thing about them. We take our cues from other people and the images we have in our heads.

On Miracle you’re back working with Andy Nyman again – is it good to have that team back?

I did my last show Infamous with Andy – he missed out on Svengali. Andrew O’Connor has had a hand in all the shows from the start, but he has had a greater hand in directing this one. The three of us have been working together forever, from the first TV show.

What do you all bring to the table?

Andy is a terrific actor and an emotional sort of creature compared to me. I’m probably more cerebral. Andrew is able to stand back and keep an eye on things. We work very well as a team. Andrew has a lot of experience with variety – some of his gags come from a very different tradition.

Is it true you’re planning to take a break after this tour?

This is my 14th year on the road. I’m going to explore Broadway for a bit next year. I won’t miss having to write a new show every two years even though it’s fun writing them. It’s not like a play – with this the other main character is the audience, who haven’t been cast or rehearsed. You don’t know how anything is going to work. I will be bringing together bits from previous shows for a first time audience.

Is it the first time you’ve performed to US audiences? Are you expecting them to be different?

The main difference is they won’t know me. A lot of what I do relies on the fact the audience has certain expectations. Over the years my audiences in the UK have become more suggestible. It means I have to do less to get the same results and I can get the maximum out of the audience. It’s not about being lazy, it’s less overt process on my part.

What happens in the second half of Miracle is very ballsy – much more than in the previous shows. We had no idea if it was going to work at all!

For an audience who don’t know me at all it will be a different show.

Not wanting to spoil any surprises the second half is about the susceptibility of people?

Most of my shows have that element – a big part of this show is about what makes you happy. I have been writing a book on the subject for the last three years. How you can live well and happily comes into the show. It’s about stories we tell ourselves, but I do play with susceptibility in a surprising way.

What are your plans for the future?

I run my own television production company with Andrew O’Connor and my manager Michael Vine so there’s an opportunity to work with other performers and produce other shows.

You grow up and change – magic is born out of a desperate desire to impress people. As you get older you want much more of a back seat.

On the TV shows now it’s other people going through real life dramas with me pulling the strings. I’m not so interested in standing there going: “Hey look at me!”.

With the stage shows I try to make the shows not about me at all but about the audience. I think it’s more interesting to make the shows about people watching.

I’m loving writing my book too.

Is there a desire to get a big shelf of hardback books with your name on them?

It’s not about that. I find writing like painting – I enjoy the time it takes and being on my own, that slightly zen like state when you do it. It takes me away for hours to consolidate ideas and get them down. Researching is so exciting, it gives your life an intellectual shape and that’s something I find very important. I can feel a bit lost without it.

Once it exists as a book it becomes a commodity I have to promote, and which people have opinions about, and put reviews on Amazon. It’s very vulnerable.

I don’t want to read the finished product as I notice the mistakes. I like the creative part.

Starts 7.45pm, tickets from £36.50. Call 08448 717650.