Evaluate: Thoughts Mangler Member of the Tragic Circle, Apollo Theatre

Evaluate: Thoughts Mangler Member of the Tragic Circle, Apollo Theatre

4 stars – ‘A Triumph of Theatre Magic’ ‘In contrast to any musical I’ve seen earlier than – charming’ ‘A salty melange of New Orleans’: that is what individuals are saying about Thoughts Mangler: Member of the Tragic Circle. Oh wait! That’s the present subsequent door… Nonetheless, what’s a slight slip-up between buddies? Let’s preserve that 4 star ranking anyway, as a result of that is a completely prime present that can undoubtedly be wowing the West Finish for a while to come back; totally ridiculous, but intelligent, participating and far, way more than first seems.

Our host this night is the Thoughts Mangler himself (often known as Keith). He’s performed by the unbelievable Henry Lewis, who you might know from Magic Goes Improper, one other fabulous Mischief Theatre manufacturing. A self-aggrandising, quite crap magician and psychic, he invitations us to relish in his magical magnificence, however his efficiency leads to a pathetic pastiche of each dodgy magic present you will have ever seen.

Keith is a hilarious character: a magician with no charisma, continually battling with the viewers, who he actually must have on his facet. His viewers member participant (performed by the wonderful Jonathan Sayer) is clearly a plant and offers the sport away at each flip. A sequence of transparently garbage tips ensue, bringing howls of laughter, however sometimes there’s a genuinely good one which slips in and immediately you’re shocked, rethinking what you’re seeing. The programme reveals that Penn & Teller had been integral to creating Magic Goes Improper, and now it’s all not fairly as duff as you may need initially thought. The entire thing is totally hilarious, leaving the viewers choking with laughter and disbelief because the conditions turn out to be increasingly more ludicrous.

However that’s not his solely talent! The viewers is essential to this present, and the interplay with them is good and skilfully executed, concurrently livestreamed onto the stage so we are able to see ourselves as a part of the insanity. There’s a tingling pressure as Keith picks folks to come back on stage, or predicts our secrets and techniques in a mindreading part that might put Psychic Sally to disgrace. On the evening, this was maybe just a little extended because the psychic connection took a short time to make its approach via – the one a part of the night the place there was a slight dip in power. However the final payoff in hilarity was utterly definitely worth the wait.

Sayer is impressively foolish and speedy, enjoying a number of daft roles and popping up in several costumes across the auditorium. The connection between him and Lewis is magic itself, as they navigate the precipices of corpsing, or collectively reveal Keith’s pathetic background story. The characters’ sadly dysfunctional friendship unexpectedly provides an incisive, heat and fantastically human component to the in any other case laughable narrative. They do say there’s no comedy with out tragedy, proper?

There are such a lot of highlights to this present, together with the whacky and considerably inexplicable ‘Fast Fireplace Jesus’ sketches set in opposition to some genuinely baffling magical achievements. The considerate element is massively spectacular, and completely all the pieces ties collectively actually neatly, with recurring themes threading intricately via the night– even spontaneously intertwining with ad-libbed content material contributed by the viewers: I imply, who has even heard of a shovelnose guitarfish, not to mention having the ability to impersonate one? Job properly executed there. Layer upon layer of snort out loud comedy and cleverness makes this present a vastly humorous hit!

I left the theatre with my entire face aching from laughing, and I totally anticipate subsequent time I see this present because it wows the West Finish they are going to be placing Pampers mats on all of the seats simply in case…

Written by: Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields
Directed by: Hannah Sharkey
Magic Marketing consultant: Ben Hart
Video Design by: Gillian Tan
Lighting Design by: David Howe
Sound Design by: Helen Skiera
Set Design by: Sara Perks
Costume Design by: Roberto Surace
Composed by: Steve Brown
Produced by: Mischief Theatre, Kenny Wax, Stage Presence & Kevin McCollum

Thoughts Mangler: Member of the Tragic Circle runs on the Apollo Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue till Sunday 28 April. Discover out extra and e book tickets right here.