Derren Brown brings Svengali back for limited run at Novello

Svengali, which is nominated for an Olivier Award for Best Entertainment and Family, was seen in the West End from June to July 2011 at the Shaftesbury Theatre. The show’s Novello dates will now serve as the final outing for the production, which has been seen at more than 150 venues.

Tickets for Derren Brown‘s Svengali at the Novello Theatre will go on sale at 10am on Friday (23 March 2012).

Speaking about the show’s return to the West End Brown said in a press statement: “I enjoy the stage shows more than anything else. This one is fun, dark, funny, freaky.”

“Live on stage is the best place for what I do: it’s unpredictable, and the audience knows there’s no possibility of judicious editing. Plus we’ve put in new material for this year and the show has grown and changed on the road more than any other.”

Derren Brown’s unique style of performance, which combines psychological illusion, perceptual manipulation and persuasive technique, has made him a star of both stage and screen. In 2006 his stage show Something Wicked This Way Comes, which ran at the Cambridge, won an Olivier Award in the Best Entertainment category, while his last one, Enigma at the Adelphi, won him last year’s Whatsonstage.com Award for Best Solo Performance. He’s also had West End success with Derren Brown Mind Reader: An Evening of Wonders at the Garrick in 2008.

Marketing material for Svengali promises “an evening of mind-melting based around audience participation”. He adds: “More than that I wouldn’t want to say. I ask audiences to keep the contents of the show a secret so as not to spoil it for others, and I have to do the same. But I hope it’s fun and freaky and a great night out.”

Svengali is written by Derren Brown and Iain Sharkey with Stephen Long and produced by Michael Vine, Andrew O’Connor & Corrie McGuire for Objective Talent Management. The show is directed by Polly Findlay, designed by  Will Bowen, with lighting design by Matt Eagland and sound design by Colin Pink.

Currently playing at the Novello, the Old Vic’s revival of  Michael
Frayn‘s multi-award winning 1982 comedy Noises Off is currently playing a limited season to 30
June 2012.