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Stage: Brendon Peel’s The Trickster – Rhumbelow Theatre, Umbilo, Durban
REVIEW BY BILLY SUTER
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HAVING first impressed locally with his performances in Kloof last September, Port Elizabeth-raised Brendon Peel, widely noted for his skills with mentalism and illusion, is now staging an all-new solo show at the Umbilo branch of the Rhumbelow Theatre, in Cunningham Road, off Bartle Road.
He has performed there all this week – presenting Alakazam, a show for children, at 11am daily, Mondays to Saturday, and The Trickster at weekends – and will repeat these shows next week, with final performances of The Trickster at 8pm on March 29 and 30, and 2pm on March 31.
Peel is a quick-witted and confident 26-year-old with a good audience rapport, and makes much use of number games and card tricks. That might not sound terribly exciting to some, but Peel constantly beguiles.
To say too much about his acts would give away the surprises and spoil one’s enjoyment. Suffice it to say that Peel, on a stage accommodating a table and chair, offers a good variety of routines ,many involving some audience participation..
His slick show sees him offering everything from card tricks and sleight of hand to more mesmerising moments involving the ability to memorise well, read body language and/or or manipulate volunteers subliminally through psychological suggestion.
He comes up with some pretty impressive moments, including one in which he asks an audience member to mention a word that may crop up in a book she imagines, only to then reveal that word on a piece of paper he is holding.
Then, later, he asks a person in the audience to flick through a book, stop on any page, then asks another audience member to turn to the same page number in a book he has been given. That person is then asked to memorise the longest word in the first line at the top of that page. Peel, of course, through some crafty manoeuvres, then later reveals that word in a hangman-type game.
A fulltime magician who has a degree majoring in journalism and drama, and a post-grad in Business from Rhodes University, Peel presents his show in two halves and has appeal for all ages.
Tickets for The Trickster cost R150 each and can be booked at Computicket or by calling Roland Stansell at 082 499 8636. This is also the booking information for Peel’s children’s show, for which tickets cost R75 each.
.....SoSuterBill..... 