BlueSky post: MN Fringe show # 10: Mind Reader - somehow I managed to not get selected as a volunteer; wild feats of memory and stuff that shouldn’t be able to happen; had Steven Nicholas read my mind, all he probably would have gotten was “wow, he has really nice arms” 5 stars (for the show as well as the arms)
First, let’s get that BlueSky post out of the way, yes, Steven Nicholas has very nice arms. If you’re looking for a Fringe show with a guy that looks nice in a T-shirt, “Mind Reader” is for you. Now let’s get on to the actual mind reading portion of the program, shall we?
Steven Nicholas has a scary brain. You know that myth that keeps getting passed around popular culture that we only use ten percent of our brain power (we use our whole brain every day, some parts of it just get more of a workout than others). Well, it feels like Nicholas must be working out all the parts of his brain all the time, just like those arms. He freely admits that a lot of his “tricks” in this show depend on his memorizing an enormous amount of information, like the numbers he wrote on the back of a deck of cards or the number pi (he hasn’t memorized it all yet of course, since it’s infinite, but he’s got a fair chunk of it down from a book he’s currently working his way through) or a dictionary or the novel 1984 or… and so on. All that’s gotta take up a lot of the human memory bank.
Watching him in action, a lot of the show is just putting people at ease, making eye contact, reading physical cues of the face or body language - also the occasional sniffing of hands. And you’re thinking the whole time you’re watching him, “How can he possibly know that?” “That has to be a coincidence, but how?” If a card someone wrote on is sealed in an envelope and he can’t read it, if someone draws a playing card at random from the deck and he’s not looking at it… how can he know what it is, write down words, draw a picture, have something written down and already sealed in an envelope that someone else is holding, unless he actually is reading someone’s mind.
It is freaky in the best way. And it’s also fun to watch the surprise on other people’s faces, or hear them exclaiming in wonder or despair, “oh no!” Nicholas doesn’t make it look too easy. He never has you rooting for him to get it wrong. But part of your own brain is also desperately clawing for a logical explanation for how all of this is happening, other than “he’s reading minds” (I know my mind was, anyway). In the end, it’s entertaining to be left befuddled and wondering. Few things in life are like that. I’m willing to put up with a few. Keeps things interesting. And Steven Nicholas’ show “Mind Reader” is very interesting. A great change of pace among the other Fringe shows on your schedule. He closes Saturday, then goes off to read minds somewhere else.
5 stars - Very Highly Recommended
Here’s some handy links to coverage of 5 Star and 4.5 Star Shows I've Seen (VERY Highly Recommend), 4 Star and 3.5 Star Shows I've Seen (Highly Recommended), Other Shows I've Seen (3 Stars or Less), as well as my Fringe Top 10, Top 11 to 20 and Returning Favorites lists for this year, and all the coverage of this year’s Minnesota Fringe Festival.
As I’m sure many artists are, I find myself struggling with the idea of
just “taking time off” (what a luxury) and submerging myself in a whole
lot of theater for 11 days while the world is on fire so… I’m going to
put some phrases and links down here (and at the end of each post going
forward) and if you find yourself compelled to explore one or more of
them, so much the better. There’s a lot going on, and it can be easy to
get overwhelmed and tune out, but as Congresswoman Sarah McBride
recently said, “If everybody shows a little courage, nobody needs to be a
hero.” I freely admit this list and these links are hardly
exhaustive. It's just something to get started. Do what you can, where
you can, however you can. Let’s help one another get through this.
Contacting your elected officials about the issues that matter to you (and protesting as necessary)
Starvation in the Gaza Strip
Immigration raids around the United States
Ukraine fighting off invasion by Russia
Trans rights
Climate change action
Housing shortage and the unhoused
Reproductive Rights
Voting rights, and running for office
The courts, from the Supreme Court on down to the local level
Don’t forget to laugh - even gallows humor is still humor
No comments:
Post a Comment