Mind Mangler: Member of the Tragic Circle - UK tour / Apollo

Interesting. I didn’t love Magic Goes Wrong as much as most of their work but Mind Mangler was the funniest character. Will give this a punt when it comes to Wimbledon.

It was fun at the Fringe, but there is a lot of material which was in Magic Gone Wring

Unfortunately with only 1 or 2 nights at most venues there's a distinct lack of matinees so, as it's not coming near enough to me to allow me to do an evening show, it looks like I won't be seeing it. Since Magic Goes Wrong is my least favourite Mischief show I'm not desparate enough to see this to pay for an overnight stay somewhere.

I have to say I really enjoyed this at the Fringe. I was one of the audience members he picked on, quite intimidating so don't sit near the front if you're not into that, but I'll be interested to see the extra material. I certainly enjoyed it more than Good Luck Studio.

Four dates at the Garrick Theatre now added to the tour.

Sunday 17 January at 7pm
Sunday 4 February at 2.30 and 7pm
Sunday 26 March at 7pm

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You may be able to get to see it after all, Dawnstar.

It wasn't at the Edinburgh Fringe. However, they seem to marketing this with a lot more added as that show was only an hour, so not too sure.

I can't see why the other performer's tricks would be in this - it isn't Magic Goes wrong and that trick doesn't feel right for Mind Mangler even if they expand it.

I saw it at the Garrick this evening (first time I've bven there in ages). I was relieved to be sitting far enough back & in from an aisle to avoid the audience participation. I was also relieved that I found the guillotining a lot less gruesome than the sawing the woman in half in MGW. I'd love to know exactly how they did it though. I think I'd pay just to see Henry Lewis & Jonathan Sayer doing a couple of hours of cross-talk comedy routines, quite apart from the magic (though that may be because I'm not keen on magic shows!). While I'm pleased to have seen the latest iteration of a character whose public debut I saw back in 2018, I think that unlike some of Mischief's other shows one viewing of this one is probably enough for me. Amusingly, there were more Mischief actors in the audience tonight than on stage!

Its not really a magic show - its a comedy where he tries tricks and generally they don't come off for various reasons.

My thoughts,

The Mind Mangler

The Mind Mangler is in town to do his show. It turns out he's not very good and his stooge is terrible. As his act and life crumbles around him can the Mangler (Keith) come good?

Take 20 minutes out and run it straight through and this would be a better show. Its mainly very good fun but there are a couple of bits where to once again prove that the Mangler is terrible the gag is driven into the ground time and time again.

It’s the sort of thing that you'd expect from the sort of act that used to frequent Freshers Week or the local Rep theatre during an off night back in my day - as the show goes wrong involving acts of mind reading, playing chess against a computer, finding the queen (or his money), trying to work out a secret of an audience member and the like go wrong before we get to the real illusions at the end of Act 2.

That being a guillotine trick that of course goes wrong leading to the Mangler losing his head - which is a very good trick and very well done but you can tell when Henry comes back on stage as even in disguise he's a bit bigger than everyone else in the show. We've also got using random placed Rubiks cubes to make a picture, ripping up a newspaper and then having it be reassembled and a final reveal of information within a locked box that has been based on the audience interaction over the course of the evening. Whilst a lot of things are going wrong there is actually several tricks that do work but let's not spoil them all.

From my seat I could tell that the stage managers were telling some of the people called up on stage what to say. Not in a bad way but in a "keep the joke" going way so that the poor old Mangler gets ever more frazzled. There being a running joke that everyone called up on stage or in the audience is called John. Also there is a very subtle running joke around hand shaking in the second half that reveals a lot about the poor old Mangler - its tied into audience members on stage but harks back to a minor gag in the first half in a very amusing way and I don't think the crowd the other day fully picked up on it. The end of Act 1 is also a great big pay off on a Chekovs gun from earlier on in the evening.

Its all very well done and a pleasant way to pass the time as the first half sets up all of the problems that the Mangler has on stage and in his private life but then the second act takes him even further into the depths before the final redemption and you'll be pondering how they pull that guillotine switch for the rest of the day and if you don't like being part of an interactive show then do not sit in the front three rows. I was seven rows back and the couple in front and the person a couple of seats to my right were both used as audience members by the Mangler at various points (for the not sure what it was called in the show but where he uses whats clearly a metal detector from Argos to read peoples minds).

Overall its great fun, see if its near you but maybe think twice about travelling a distance.

...and it should be pointed out that of the about 100 minutes runtime I'd say that there is about 25 minutes or so which is lifted almost wholesale from the same act in Magic Goes Wrong.

I saw this on Sunday. It is much improved from when I saw it in Edinburgh. Now it is longer there is more new stuff that wasn't in Magic goes wrong and the story of their relationship works better as well.

I have a feeling they haven't yet annnounced the venue because it will go to the Apollo, and TTW will close early.