Keith Barry’s Asylum: Review

Having seen Keith Barry interviewed during the year on Tonight with Craig Doyle, I had some idea of what to expect from the mentalist in his new show ‘The Asylum.’ What I didn’t expect was to be greeted outside the Olympia by Max – a man in an orange jumpsuit and facemask reminiscent of the one which was made famous in Silence of the Lambs. From that point on, it was clear that this show was going to be something quite out of the ordinary, even for Barry.

The first thing that surprised me was the presence of a support act. Having entered the theatre, the audience were asked to take their seats, and were warmed up by the dulcet tones of up-and-coming Carlow-based band Cleere. Playing a 4-song set, including their new single Sick Day, they were undoubtedly a crowd pleasing, feel good troupe, which made everyone relax slightly in what was a very tense atmosphere.

As the show’s name suggests, its content revolves around psychiatric institutions from the 1800s, their inmates and the horrific ‘treatments’ to which they were subjected. Before Barry took to the stage, to thunderous applause, a video was played which showed images of these inhumane treatments and also some of the people who were forced to endure them, really adding to the atmosphere.

Barry spent the first half wowing the audience with his trademark quick-talking mind bending trickery. Saying more would give too much away, but Barry was very effective in his use of subconscious suggestion and all the mind tricks played out perfectly (even one which seemed to have resulted in an incorrect response was rectified through playback of a pre-recorded message from Barry himself.

Most of the time, the audience was left wondering how Barry could read names, numbers, and even dreams from just physical markers of the audience participants (of which there were many, selected from the stalls, through a number lottery system), though sometimes it was more obvious how he could use seemingly innocuous comments or queries to prime his subjects with a particular response (if I asked a girl to imagine themselves petting a mystical creature that doesn’t even exist, chances are they’ll think of a unicorn rather than a griffin), but to be so absolutely certain that he’ll be right beggars belief.

Possibly the most amazing part of the show was that, having claimed certain words & numbers which were part of the seemingly random interactions with audience members had been projected into the audience’s minds by Keith for the evening, he then proved that he wanted them to come up by referring them to a leaflet which had been distributed at the doors of the theatre, where they all were!

Max played an important role throughout the in supporting Barry on stage, following his orders and supplying much-needed comic relief during the more tense moments of the show. During the interval, he distributed t-shirts to the audience members, subsequently coming into the crowd and placing an unsuspecting youth in a straight jacket, leaving him on stage throughout the break while footage of Barry’s MTv show ‘Brainwashed,’ showing Keith guessing peoples’ ATM PIN codes based purely on physiological reactions, played on a screen over his head.

The second half of the show saw Barry inviting ‘as many audience members as wished to experience hypnotism’ onto the stage. After a few ‘tests’ to see if they could be hypnotised, Barry was left with about 20 willing participants (of which I was one), who he claimed would soon ‘be aware of everything you’re doing, but feel compelled to follow my suggestion.’ Unfortunately, possibly because my conscious mind was at this point doing overtime, I never went under and, to keep the show running smoothly, Barry quietly asked me and a few others to leave the stage when it became apparent that we had not been properly hypnotised.

This section of the show was quite mundane and repetitive, not only for people who have seen hypnotists before, but also in terms of what the participants were requested to do. My companion and I suspected that a couple of the people on stage for this were plants, based on how outrageously they responded to Barry’s suggestions, which might lead to the others showing a social desirability bias. Also, under hypnosis, people are allegedly only able to do what is directly requested of them, yet some of those on stage were acting independently of Keith’s voice – in subtle ways, certainly, but it was still noticeable. Again, I cannot go into more detail for fear of giving anything away, and I must confess that we were rather sceptical about the whole hypnosis thing anyway, being psychology graduates.

All in all, The Asylum is a wonderful, interesting, engaging show which will leave you wondering ‘how did he..?’ for hours, perhaps days, after seeing it. Yes, I feel that the first half could be longer and the second shorter, but that’s a personal thing.

Keith Barry has once again pulled a rabbit out of the hat, so to speak, and will be performing Wednesday-Sunday weekly in the Olympia Theatre, Dublin, until July 25^th. Tickets (€28) are available from the Olympia Box Office or Ticketmaster.