comedy hypnotism

MATT HALE: FUNBELIEVABLE! 90S REWIND

☆☆☆☆☆

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.

DANIEL SINCLAIR: COMEDY HYPNOSIS SHOW

☆☆☆

Hypnotism tends to be a favorite at the Edinburgh Fringe. Whether people genuinely want to experience hypnosis, want an excuse to be silly, or doubt the reality of hypnosis and come looking for proof, it always gets a large crowd. Daniel Sinclair’s lunchtime Comedy Hypnosis Show at the very central Voodoo Rooms is no exception. The focus is on those looking for direct experience, but Sinclair caters to all classes of audience in his show.

For the ones looking for fun, Sinclair starts his show with the audience being asked to repeat a pledge to have fun and be silly. This is followed up with the audience reshuffling and then being asked to physically interact with each other, splitting up existing groups and making friends of strangers. Hypnotism is not an exact science and no one hypnotist’s stage methods will work on the entire audience, but Sinclair ensures that everyone has a chance to be a bit silly at his show, regardless of their susceptibility to his methods.

The hypnotism portion is of course the primary part of the show. Sinclair places emphasis on allowing everyone who expresses interest to have the opportunity to try to be hypnotized, filling the stage and front row with the keenest for the most focused experience, and encouraging those who don’t manage to get one of these seats to get involved too from wherever they are. A fair proportion of those who take part experience at least some level of hypnosis—clearly his methods are suitable for purpose.

Sinclair acknowledges that there will be skeptics in his audience. Once he has his best hypnotized participants, he shows off the features of their state to prove the veracity of his claims. This is not a big portion of the show, and the focus is always on giving the hypnotized folks the best experience. However it is nice to see Sinclair acknowledging and interacting with all the segments of his audience.

In a popular genre with relatively few performers, hypnotism shows in Edinburgh will undoubtedly all be busy, and even in that environment Sinclair does his best to get as many people as possible involved. Everyone who finds themselves in Sinclair’s audience will find themselves entertained, regardless of their view of hypnotism prior to seeing his show.

HYPNOTIST MATT HALE: TOP FUN! 80S SPECTACULAR

☆☆☆☆

With the popularity of Stranger Things, eighties nostalgia is at an all-time high. However, that show itself is pretty scary. Some might prefer if it were an interactive comedy featuring pop music and led by a hypnotist, and those people are the target audience for Matt Hale’s Top Fun. With a vibe not unlike the silent disco dance party that regularly terrorizes Edinburgh city centre this time of year, but safely contained in a Fringe venue for the ethical fun seeker, Top Fun has been a regular sell out, and after experiencing it, it’s no surprise.

Hale is both a master hypnotist and the life and soul of the party he creates in every show. He has many willing volunteers at the reviewed show, and has no problem getting them hypnotized.  If the odd volunteer seems to have snapped out of the hypnotic state a bit early, they play along in their own way.  Hale has great rapport with his participants, and they clearly want the show to succeed even when the tricky business of hypnotism reveals its unpredictable nature. None of the activities he has them do are especially embarrassing; it’s a safe environment for those wanting to experience hypnotism.

Everything about the show, from the entry and exit music, to Hale’s outfit, and to all the activities performed by the hypnotized participants, is perfectly themed to the eighties. It’s impressive just how well he sticks to the theme, there’s not a single song or moment that isn’t impeccably eighties. Here in the birthplace of the Proclaimers (or about two miles from the birthplace of the Proclaimers, depending on your stance on Leith’s independence from Edinburgh) their most famous song is given the prominence that it deserves, and is well received by the audience.

Hypnotism is always a popular one at the Edinburgh Fringe, and with the on-trend eighties theme, Hale is proving especially sought after. However, as he points out, it’s not just him doing a trick, hypnotism is a give-and-take exercise, and the audience doesn’t really need to be hypnotized to have a good time and do silly things. Hypnotism may give his onstage participants permission to act a bit silly, but Hale himself gives the rest of the audience permission to be silly too. Top Fun lives up to its name, it’s truly a top fun place to be this Fringe.