Apollo Theatre, London – until Sunday 28 April 2024
5*****
The Mind Mangler returns to the West End with his brand new show: The MInd Mangler – Member of the Tragic Circle.
Originally just part of the Magic Goes Wrong show. Henry Lewis has taken his creation onto further heights, expanding The Mind Mangler to a 2 hour long show.
Full of his own self importance and brimming with confidence The Mind Mangler (Keith to his friends) performs his show with help from the audience including Brian, Paul and Clive (Jonathan Sayer) who had never met the Mind Mangler before, the show included guessing deep dark secrets, predictions and tricks. Including help from real audience member Jess and singer Sam Bailey, both of which he correctly guessed their deepest secrets
Henry Lewis rattled off his performance with just a touch of magic but this a show that “goes wrong” and it goes wrong in such a clever way. With the Mind Mangler soon going from pompous to irate as the tricks go wrong and things begin to fall apart. Beware audience participation and the shovel-nosed guitar fish! But there’s a lot of heart and poignant moments in the midst of the hilarity. And at the heart of the it, this show is about friendship
With Ben Hart acting as magic consultant to the show, you know that it’s going to be good and the act carries on from Magic Goes Wrong which was written by Penn and Teller, alongside the genius of Mischief – Henry Lewis, Henry Shields and Jonathan Sayer. And its produced by Kenny Wax, who always has the golden touch and clearly recognised genius when he produced The Play That Goes Wrong many years ago. This show is also a tribute to the late Steve Brown who composed the music for lots of Mischief shows
I’m lucky that I saw Magic Goes Wrong on tour and the one hour taster of The Mind Mangler at the Edinburgh Fringe. Now running at two hours with an interval, the show has grown to total brilliance. Yes, I am a fan of Mischief and have been since The Old Red Lion, but I think with The Mind Mangler they have reached their zenith. With the chaos, unpredictability and so much laughter I genuinely think that The Mind Mangler might be my favourite Mischief show of the lot