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Retro-fan hypnotist Matt Hale is back in Edinburgh, this time with Funbelievable! 90s Rewind, celebrating all things 90s. The care with which Hale balances the skill and structure of his show with leading the party is evident even before the show starts. Hale’s manager, revealed later to also be his wife, asks each group coming in to the venue how many they are, and then works with Gilded Balloon staff to get them seated to perfectly fill in every gap of the sold out room. Fringe seating at popular shows can often feel like a lawless game of speed and chance, so it’s a nice change of pace to be carefully slotted in to the right spot. Once Hale gets going, there’s no bad seat in the house.

Hale doesn’t even wait for the hypnotism to get the party started, bounding out on to the stage and getting the audience pumped up. That being said, like any reputable hypnotist, before inviting up his participants he makes sure to reassure everyone that hypnotism cannot be done against anyone’s will. This is by necessity a volunteer-only participation show, those who do not want to join in can simply stay in their seats. Hale makes sure to make his show feel like a safe place to experience hypnosis even before anyone volunteers for it.

The reviewed show was extremely busy (if not fully sold out) and Hale had no problem getting plenty of volunteers onstage. He even added an extra chair when more people wanted to come up than he had planned, ensuring that as many people as possible could experience hypnosis. Hypnotism is a tricky business, while everyone can be hypnotized there’s no one technique that will get to every single person, especially not in a stage performance. Like all hypnotists, Hale had a bit of an attrition rate, kindly escorting some of his participants back to the audience before getting in to the meat of the show. However, between Hale’s supportive pep talk and the hypnotic process itself he got great results. After the show his participants could be heard eagerly discussing their experiences, detailing how they felt both in control and unusually happy to follow Hale’s suggestions throughout the course of their time onstage.

As for those suggestions themselves, Hale follows through on his promise to not embarrass his participants. The prompts were uniformly 90s music themed, and everyone on the stage, as well as in the audience, was excited to hear each song. Hale curates a party atmosphere throughout the show. While he and the hypnotized volunteers lead the party, the entire audience gets to be involved in experiencing it.

Hale’s latest hypno-party is a 90s soundtracked success. His track record of well attended party hypnoshows has earned him a loyal following, as evidenced by a packed full Sunday show. Hale performs worldwide and his fans can be found everywhere. Take a tour of the blue mountains in Australia and you may even find Hale fans on the bus with you, so eager to recommend him that they do the detective work through their emails to make sure they get the spelling of his name right. Whether his audience volunteers to be hypnotized and help him lead the party, or whether they prefer to enjoy the party from the audience seats, everyone at Hale’s Funbelievable! 90s Rewind will have a great time.