From a character in the West End Show, Magic Goes Wrong, Mischief created an Edinburgh Fringe hit with Mind Mangler: Member of the Tragic Circle. An expanded version would go on to play Broadway and now makes its London debut at the Apollo Theatre.
It’s not Mischief’s first show from Edinburgh to make it to the West End; they took The Play That Goes Wrong there in 2013 and that’s just about to celebrate its 10th anniversary at the Duchess Theatre. Writers, Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields have made their names in the ‘goes wrong’ format and Mind Mangler continues the tradition.
One of Mischief’s founding members, Henry Lewis, plays the chronically inept mentalist The Mind Mangler (also known as Keith). The Mind Mangler doesn’t realise just quite how bad he is, so performs failed trick after failed trick with gusto.
Spoiler alert, there’s lots of audience interaction here, as the Mind Mangler attempts to ‘taste’ people’s names or ‘smell’ their profession. Many of those chosen are genuine audience members, but a couple of them bear a striking resemblance to fellow Mischief co-founder Jonathan Sayer, who here plays the role of The Stooge, and provides the storyline that sits alongside the mind-reading capers.
And the storyline is a neat idea, it cleverly shows the Mind Mangler in a more forgiving light and perhaps explains some of the character’s quirks. As true masters of improv, both Lewis and Sayer are easily able to flex this story to suit what’s happened in previous audience interactions, making it all even funnier.
Not everything goes wrong though. It might look as if it is, but then out of the blue, Lewis pulls off a completely different trick, even more impressive than what we were expecting. It’s both parodying mentalism and pulling it off at the same time. Genius! For his role in Magic Goes Wrong, Lewis worked with magicians Penn and Teller, and that level of skill definitely comes across.
As you would expect from Mischief, Mind Mangler is a laugh a minute joy ride. I laughed so hard, I think I’ve pulled a muscle. Henry Lewis takes the lion’s share of the comedic moments, but Jonathan Sayer is superb as the The Stooge, manipulating events in real time to make the show as funny as it can be.
Directed by Hannah Sharkey, this is a longer version than the one presented in Edinburgh, expanded out in to two acts. There’s was a danger this might be overkill, as there’s only so much that can ‘go wrong’, but it works perfectly, especially some of the added skits.
With a clever script and slick staging, Henry Lewis works the crowd like a Las Vegas stalwart, and Jonathan Sayer provides all the ammunition required to make Mind Mangler a blast.
