Ivvii—_\e;il' iiltl. ll-s Hill) when we get older ‘IF I tliai we beeome eyiiieal about ”‘”‘ "””" ‘” BLEND A MOUSE YOU eyes. When people get over the c N R L l H piix/le they quite like being returned to lltal eltildislt state of l’s'ls' l‘II'IIIiIII lift—'UU Illill Ills‘ 'l‘he faet remains that the most sueeessful lIlls's'III’” “l W'IICIl} “ll” “I mil”) performers in the field are those that have I‘l'ilk'llt‘ill WiNm‘ I'illllk‘l‘ llIil” 1“ it all the ridicule tossed at him. David Blaine‘s “Will” “l Ill'l‘mii ill'tllk'lls's“ “ll” sttiiits like the ‘l’remature Burial' and ‘l5ro/en rather l'llIl a mile from. 'Wlieii l Brown seored a huge talking point when he started HUI il\ 1| “NH—"Cm" l Performed Russian roulette live on (‘hannel 4. iii} aet. Later. when l was whose world-i'enowned aet .X'XX: Aggressive looking around for a venue (inner/v Hypnosis is eoming to the Fringe. has "Ci—'“lilfl.\ ll ‘lfl'Ck “IL' “1111 llk‘ liungi'v fanbase in a ZZ-veareareer. liesl and most ilCL‘L'\\llllL‘ plaee
iii_\steries and pu//les and things faet that iiiagie involves a kind of THAT PASSIVELY' aina/eiiieiit.' iiiagie aets has come about for moved the art of illusion to new extremes. For seeing something they would in 'l'ime' generate eolumn inehes. l)erren \Wllltl II} I“ illls's‘l lIllIIIUUI‘ in!“ .\leanwhile. ('anadian hypnotist Tony Lee. \\ here I eoiild pei'foi‘tit delivered more than SIIIIII performanees to a was a comedy club..
‘\\'e have found our show has mass appeal between the ages of 1045f says Lee. "l‘hat doesn‘t mean the older generation ean't enjoy
humour. .\ly eonelusion is there is a little pervert in all of us.' Lee voeiferously refutes any suggestion of the supernatural in his act. arguing that hypnosis is rationally explained by seienee but whatever his methods. he succeeds in eompelling volunteers to perform eye- wateringly embarrassing and ridiculous aets. ‘\\'e have worked with athletes and medieal assoeiations to ereate positive awareness in the benefits of hypnotism.‘ he says. ‘But I find making people orgasm and mating with various objeets way more entertaining.~ Despite the best efforts of this new generation of entertainers to reinvent magie and illusion for a contemporary audience. the ancient art‘s naff image is unlikely to dissipate eompletely any time soon. ‘I would always introduce myself as a inagieian.‘ says Firman. 'l'nless I‘m applying for something on the phone like a credit eard in which case I'll say I’m a eomedian. Strangely enough that doesn’t get the embarrassed laughter that magieian often gets.‘
Pete Firman, Underbelly, 0870 745 3083, 4-26 Aug (not 14), 7pm, £9.50—£10.50 (£8—£9). Previews 2 8: 3 Aug, £5; Ian Kendall’s Magic Show, the Zoo, 662 6892, 3-18 Aug, 8.50pm, £8; Tony Lee, UdderBELLY’s Pasture, 0870 745 3083, 4-27 Aug (not 14), 1 1.30pm, £11.50—£13.50(£10—£12). Previews 2 8: 3 Aug, £6; Jerry Sadowitz, UdderBELLY’s Pasture, 0870 745 3083, 4-27 Aug (not 14), 8.50pm, £12.50—£14.50. Previews 2 & 3 Aug, £8.
it. they are often more twisted in their sense of
,0-
Fear of flying
She came largely unscathed through the first series of Survivor, but a quivering Zoe Lyons tells Robin Lee about the thing that terrifies her the most
What's a person's greatest fear';’ I’erforriiing a debut solo comedy show at the I dinburgh Festival? Perhaps. 'l'm actually looking forward to the challenge of it,' says Zoe lyons. whose first hour with a Fringe audience is entitled fight or Flight. ‘It's about facing the big fears I've had in life. Before I started putting it together leinailed a bunch of friends and asked them to tell me what they're frightened of. Big things like ageing. death - that's a biggie -- failure. nuclear war. snakes, spiders. G-strings. All the important things.'
For someone who’s led a peripatetic life invoIVing a psychology degree. acting school. a reality TV show and long spells of waitressing, one fear looms largest. 'I talk a lot about the fear of failure. I've done a lot of shitty Jobs. and when you get to a certain age you think, "where am I going’?"' So has she settled on a career? 'Yes. I'd always wanted to do stand up. but I'd been terrified to do it. like most sane people. I got to the age where the fear of not doing it became greater than the fear of deing it. so I did five minutes at an open mic night. and Within six months I was playing four or five gigs a week.‘
Lyons has also left a reality TV show escapade in her wake. and a bizarre—sounding pilot for a Sudoku gameshow. In the latter, ‘We had a live studio audience and the floor manager going; "Come on! WOOOOO!" It was pretty bad. It was like a Sudoku sheet. but there weren't numbers. there were faces . . I don't even know how it worked. But it was telly; I'm such a whore: "It's the 100 Greatest Arsehole Farts. I'll do it! What do you want me to say?“ The former was the first series of Surwvor, where Lyons conveniently placed herself in a pigeonhole for the producers. ‘I can't really do the black thing. so I did the gay thing. I filled out the form veny tongue-in-cheek: a few hints that I might be of the flat shoe-wearing variety. When I went for the intemiew, they'd circled all the little things I'd put in. suckers! F0ur months down the line I was on a plane to Borneo. 9/1 1 SCrewed my reality career, because that happened Just after Survivor came out. and I was like: “of all the bloody . . . you bastard!“
Zoe Lyons, P/easance Courtyard, 556 6550, 4-27 Aug (not 8, 75/. 8.30pm, EQ—L'IO (27.50—28.50). Prevrews WM 3 Aug, £35.
2-9 Aug 2007 VHS LIST FESTIVAL MAGAZINE 15