Theatre

Reality Vaccine Mind Illusion Show

Alan Hindle | Monday 8 August, 2011 12:28

Somewhere between Penn & Teller and that blond guy on The Mentalist who swans about solving crimes by grinning is my idea of a mentalist. An illusionist, but one who depends even more on psychology than sleight of hand. This is also where Dr. Ian Souch, I believe, places himself. A little less coiffed than Simon Baker from the Mentalist, a little more odd-looking than Penn & Teller, Souch is a clever man playing with our memory and preconceptions. There’s a little Tommy Cooper in him as well, with his frequent less-than-impressive tricks, which are intended to make you that much more impressed at the better ones.

Only an asshole would watch the show and say ‘Oh, I know how he did that’. I’m a theatre critic, a different sort of asshole, so I won’t do that. What I will say is that Souch is best when he is openly displaying what are essentially a strong grasp of math and an ability to read people’s subconscious expressions. In one trick an assistant from the audience chose a card from the pack. The doctor ran through the deck trying to guess it while she put up an impressive display of staring stonily ahead. Souch somehow still managed to find her card purely by what she resolutely was not giving away. One other feat was a true stumper, a bamboozler, involving keys and hospitals, and for that Souch is possibly entitled to sprawl on a sofa and find murderers. But he shouldn’t go on Fool Us.

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