das spiel: are you part of the game? – ovalhouse, london | the public...
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20/05/2015 10:13Das Spiel: Are You Part of The Game? – Ovalhouse, London | The Public Reviews
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Das Spiel: Are You Part of The Game? – Ovalhouse,London" Posted by: TPR London # in Drama, London $ 7 days ago % 0 Audience Reviews
Deviser and performer: Philipp Oberlohr
Director: James Blakey
Reviewer: Andy Moseley
Are You Part of The Game? It sound like the opening of a weekend quiz show on ITV or Channel 4, invitingparticipants to look under their seats and see if they’ve been chosen to go head to head with PhilipSchofield in the quest for prizes via dubious means. As the invite to a show billed as ‘a mindreadingexperience, blurring the lines between performance and reality’, it carries with it more sinister connotations,but don’t let any apprehension about potential engagement with the dark arts put you off. Equally don’t beput off by fears of this being little more than a magic show. Das Spiel is an incredibly well crafted showthat owes more to theatre and dramatic traditions than to end-of-the-pier illusionists.
Deviser and performer Philipp Oberlohr is either a magician, a mind reader, a very elaborate trickster or acombination of the three. It really doesn’t matter as the audience is left trying to work out how clockschange times, how scribbled drawings are described without being seen, and how a host of other thingshappen that suggest Oberlohr knows exactly what his audience are thinking.
As the strapline suggests, this is a show with audience participation. After an opening card trick that makesno pretence of being much more than random chance, one person is invited to the stage as a person wecan trust, and, through a series of different selection methods, further participants are invited to be part ofThe Game itself. The dialogue and staging is key to the show’s success. It works as performance art,punctuated with, and defined by, illusion, rather than being a collection of tricks with the loosest ofnarrative threads linking them together. In this respect, Oberlohr is undoubtedly aided by a creative team,including dramaturg Eve Leigh and producer Cristina Catalina, who do not come from inside the magiccircle, and understand how to blend dramatic tension with, sometimes self deprecating, humour. It drawsyou in so that it is not just the illusions or magic you are waiting for, even though these are, of course, themain focus of the show.
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20/05/2015 10:13Das Spiel: Are You Part of The Game? – Ovalhouse, London | The Public Reviews
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It would be remiss to mention how Oberlohr chooses his participants, or indeed what The Game actually is,for fear of spoiling the illusion and leaving future audiences aware of what will happen and trying to secondguess him. So, suffice to say that, while there may be card tricks, there are no rabbits coming out of hats,coins coming out of ears, or Debbie McGee’s sawn in half by Paul Daniels. It’s mind games, psychologicaltricks and eerily accurate predictions. You guess there is sleight of hand and speculate as to whattechnological support might be enlisted to pull it off, but crucially you only do this after the show. Das Spielis interactive theatre, and uplifting, for all of its one hour, or however long your watch may claim it’s been,if you’re the one chosen for one of the opening illusions. A great alternative to pretty much everything elseyou’re likely to find in fringe theatre most evenings.
Runs until 16 May 2015
Review Overview
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Tagged with: ANDRES VELASQUEZANDRES VELASQUEZ CRISTINA CATALINACRISTINA CATALINA DAS SPIELDAS SPIEL EVE LEIGHEVE LEIGH JAMES BLAKEYJAMES BLAKEY
OVALHOUSE THEATREOVALHOUSE THEATRE PHILIPP OBERLOHRPHILIPP OBERLOHR
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TPR London is under the editorship of Glen Pearce. The Public Reviews was set up in 2007. We aim toreview all professional types of theatre, whether that be Commercial, Repertory or Fringe as well asComedy, Music, Gigs etc.
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20/05/2015 10:13Das Spiel: Are You Part of The Game? – Ovalhouse, London | The Public Reviews
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