It was also something of an experiment... I went to see Dirk Darrow two years ago and ended up being on stage for what felt like about the last third of the show. And I had a whale of a time!
So going to see his new show, 2 Ruby Knockers, 1 Jaded Dick: A Dirk Darrow Investigation was partly to see if I had as much fun without being a major part of the show. And I did... very much so.
Dirk Darrow (aka Tim Motley) loves a good pun... no, that's not right... what he actually really likes are the god awful, groan inducing kind of pun... but then, as he told the audience on more than once occasion, our groans only make him stronger.
A little like last time the show is equal parts 1940's detective story, slight of hand/psychic and comedy show all rolled up into one big punny, enjoyable ball.
And like last time, it's full of little bits of audience participation... for my part, Dirk got everybody to wave a note from their pocket in the air, and then kidnapped my $5 note for the remainder of the show, only to have it reappear at the very end of the show. Which he then pocketed, but gave me $10 in exchange. Whether that was supposed to be part of the trick or whether he couldn't find the other $5 I was supposed to get back, I'm not sure. But I'm not complaining.
It would also be interesting to sit down with one of these performers who rely on audience participation for their shows and ask them how they pick they're victims/assistants... is it just whoever happens to catch their eye at the time, is it someone wearing a brightly coloured outfit, is it someone who's clearly been laughing at all the jokes or is it just someone who happens to be sitting in roughly the same seat each night?
Either way, it's got to be a very mixed bag... and definitely adds an air of unpredictability to the show... like the person who ended up playing the titular (no pun intended) Ruby... they were a little bit of a loose canon.
And as usually happens with magic or "psychic" shows, there are always one or two tricks that I mostly manage to work out, but this time around there were a number of things that I have absolutely no idea how the hell they were done... one of which was a trick using an entire deck of cards that I think I've seen in other shows, but Dirk's version was just amazing as he continued to shuffle the deck as the trick progressed.
But, at the end of the evening, I was very pleased that I decided to revist Dirk's 1940's noir world once again, even without then $5 bonus.
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