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20:00
Ravi Amruth
Hypnotism has always been a rather strange phenomenon to me.
Although I usually pride myself on not eating up all the junk that my nearest
television set throws at me, I’ve been all over the issue of televised
hypnotism like a tramp on chips.
From childhood, I remember shows where hypnotists would
conveniently forget to break a spell that they have cast onto unwitting members
of the public, resulting in tragic, hectic, but ultimately incredibly humorous
effects. Of course, I’ve since realised that hypnotism doesn’t revolve around
magic or spells of any sort, and that it is merely the power of suggestion
combined with incredible concentration. Be that as it may, hypnotists still
receive relatively negative press, even when their doings are not being
sensationalised to almost-Daily Mail-esque proportions.
Being a psychology student, I know that stereotypes aren’t
healthy, so I jumped at the chance to see Lo Reid, one of Europe’s most famous
and prolific hypnotists, in a show at Teesside University on the 23rd
of February.
After a couple of speeches from a bunch of ex-servicemen who
had somehow arrived in Middlesbrough with absolutely no money [and without the
necessary camouflage and ammo to defend themselves from the chavs in the area],
Lo Reid took to the stage; the room filling with expectation from past
show-attendees, and bewilderment from skeptics such as myself. Dressed from head to toe in black leather, a
look that suggested she was also available to hire as a low-budget Debbie Harry
replacement, Reid attempted a quick stand-up routine to warm up the crowd. By ‘attempted
stand-up’, I of course mean that she delivered a tirade filled to the brim with
F-bombs and downstairs body-parts, held together with a few genuinely funny punch-lines.
After successfully sourcing 20 volunteers who met her rather
stringent criteria [of not being idiots, too drunk, or on medication], the
hypnotism finally began. To my dismay, she did not carry a pocket-watch to
hypnotise participants with, but insisted that that they had to stare at a
specific spot on the wall and relax whilst listening to her instructions. At
this point, the audience was told to be as quiet as possible, as this would affect
the concentration of the volunteers on stage. While true showmen and
show-women, even under these circumstances, would not turn their backs to the
audience, all I could really see was the back of Lo Reid’s aging-blonde hair
style, and the dead cow that sacrificed its life to provide the skin to make
the bulk of her jacket.
Once all of the volunteers were all ‘under’ [and at this
point, they were not the only ones feeling ‘veerrrry sleeeeepy’], they were all
made to subconsciously act out several scenarios, including being a goldfish,
being a train, and somewhat bizarrely, being in their favourite sex positions;
a command that resulted in one girl flopping back on her chair and not moving a
muscle, and one man roughly grabbing the hypnotist and attempting to mate with
her. From this moment on, the show seemed to repeat jokes over, and over again,
exposing the crude humour that this country has sadly succumbed to in recent
years. Candidates running for NUS Presidency ended up taking their clothes off
at various points throughout the show; students hope that this is the only time
that they’ll be caught with their pants down.
Other skits included volunteers acting out an Indian Jeremy
Kyle sketch [which some called racist], certain participants forgetting the existence
of the number 7, and volunteers dancing to Beyoncé’s hit “Single Ladies”,
seemingly of their own volition. Unfortunately, I’ve forgotten most of the
events that occurred in the rest of the show, proving that I’ve either got a
talent for repressing painful memories, or proving how forgettable Lo Reid’s
show really is.
Sadly enough, I’ve seen more highlights in my roommate’s
latest hairdo, and the ticket didn’t seem to be worth the paper it was printed
on. Duller than a digestive biscuit, and dryer than the desert, the show may be
heading to a Student Union bar near you –avoid it at all costs. Lo Reid’s
Hypnotist Show is exactly that: low.
