Chris Cox: Control Freak | Reviews

The Magic Of Cox

Just why Chris Cox’s 2008 show should begin with an introductory video starring Keith Chegwin remains an utter mystery. But, then again, that's far from the only mystery in Control Freak. Quite how Cox manages to coax the audience into selecting 11 random digits which just happen to correspond, in the order picked, to his mobile phone number more than pips Cheggers to the mystery post.

Magic shows aren’t really considered contemporary Fringe fare, with audiences much more content to absorb ribbings from a comedian than to jump up and risk any display of childish enthusiasm via audience participation. Wise to this, Cox is to be commended for the range of techniques he uses to cajole, force and cheat audience members into taking part in his mind-reading tricks. In doing so, he avoids the awkward silences that could marr a show which relies on subjects being willing—or at least available—to have their brains picked.

What could be a patchy bag of tricks scoots along, with Cox’s funny, friendly commentary oiling the wheels. Promising to read minds without resorting to “the power of a goatee beard,” Cox’s schtick couldn’t be further from that of fellow mentalist Derren Brown. A great deal more affable than the doyen of Channel 4, Cox’s surprise when his own feats of mind-reading work is endearing. As a result, it’s very clear that Cox’s tricks are a very clever result of subtle influencing and super-canny reading of body signals. But there’s a flip side here: Cox’s self-styled “mindreader who can’t read minds” act is about rational techniques to control choices, and this fails to foster the thrilling sense of wonderment and illusion which, in other such acts, comes first.

You’ll be gobsmacked

When it comes to tricks of the mind, we’ve all been spoiled by the jaw-dropping shenanigans of Derren Brown, setting expectations almost impossibly high. Those simpler days when audiences would have been happy to see a goateed weirdo in a cape guessing the number some stooge was thinking of have thankfully long gone.

Chris Cox brings youth and vigour to the genre, and his finale – if all is as it appears – is properly impressive. The cynic, however, may still suspect some technical or sleight-of-hand jiggery-pokery in his act, despite all his assurances.

He bills himself as the mind-reader who can’t read minds, admitting to what everyone pretty much knew anyway; that such displays are a mixture of psychology, neurolinguistic programming, magic tricks and the ability to read body language. It’s the magic trick aspect that’s cause for scepticism, though, as the inquisitive will spend as much time wondering how he did something as being impressed that he did it at all.

Such disbelief is only testament to the fact that his demonstrations are so remarkable you are left thinking that he couldn’t possibly have done them without cheating. But suspend your disbelief, and you’ll be gobsmacked.

Cox is a sprightly performer, animatedly and mischievously interacting with the audience, cheekily playing on their reluctance to get involved, even though such participation is clearly a vital element of a show like this. Some of the jokes, to be honest, are fairly ropey, but he’s not pretending to be a comedian.

He opens with an astonishing display of prophecy using a volunteer and the Fringe programme, and goes on to successfully determine all manner of seemingly unpredictable occurrences. Unusually, he gets the audience to do much of the work, too, collectively guessing a mobile phone number or selecting the right key to open a box. The tricks are made more impressive from this reversal, though Cox often subverts the result with a little joke.

Some tasks require a fair bit of preamble, but he keeps things lively, and the payoffs are worth the set-ups. And as he builds to his show-stopper, demonstrating that he guessed a complex series of events determined by various audience members long before he took to the stage, the pace builds up nicely.

Cox might not quite be Derren Brown – yet. But you don’t have to be able to see into the future to predict a good future for him.

Reviewed by: Steve Bennett