Hypskits
Unfortunately for Jason D. Varga, I think tonight was just “one of those nights.” Despite a full audience, none of the eight original volunteers were able to successfully become hypnotised. It’s quite an involved and lengthy process to ascertain whether the person is truly ‘under’ and after over half an hour, Jason still had no-one to work with.
The show’s blurb claims that the volunteers are the real stars of the show and it is true that the volunteers on any given night can make or break the performance, but I am not reviewing members of the public’s susceptibility to be hypnotised here. It disappoints me to say that there were few laughs to be had on this night and most of the time was spent in trying to put the volunteers to sleep, meaning it was mainly build up, minus the pay off.
I do believe that this was a case of bad luck, however there were a couple of disconcerting aspects as well. Jason chose to use a mic, unlike other performers during the festival in the same venue. When it was on, the output was distorted and when it was off, he often had his back to the audience (facing the volunteers) making whatever he was saying inaudible.
The other thing I found uncomforting was that at the beginning of the show during a message about whom the exercise would not be suitable for, he stipulated that all volunteers must be over the age of 18. Although when the volunteers were failing to go under, he called on a young pre-teen girl to take part.
Jason managed to get a couple of humourous scenes from two volunteers, however it was a case of too little, too late. The over-time show (for obvious reasons) ended with an impressive display of spoon bending, proving he does have the power of mind over matter, however I don’t think it would be fair to critique Jason’s performance any further based only on what I saw tonight.