Mason King’s
Though all of his tricks appear impressive to your average punter, there doesn’t seem to be a personal stamp to any of them that sets his style apart from others
King’s speciality, as you might have guessed, is mind-reading. Though he uses props, there’s very little smoke and mirrors and more plain talking and people-reading. King starts the set off simply, with a die. From this he moves onto a dictionary; making the odds of success jump quickly from one in six to one in thousands. So far, so successful. He effortlessly chooses correctly every time (bar one), and has the audience immediately at ease with his capabilities. This makes me question whether much risk taking is going on, or whether King is playing it safe with his tricks.
King’s skills are presented without glamour or pretention, only slightly raising his hand to his temple to focus in typical mind reading fashion. He doesn’t fill much of his set with chatter, instead goes from trick to trick, getting increasingly more inconceivable each time. A particular highlight is his bit on lie detecting. We scrutinise the participants, trying desperately to see what he sees as he weeds out the bad liars from the bunch. One of the most interesting parts of his set is watching him choose his participants, as you wonder how much of yourself he’s reading into from where you’re sitting.
Though all of his tricks appear impressive to your average punter, there doesn’t seem to be a personal stamp to any of them that sets his style apart from others. King doesn’t have as much charisma as one would expect from a mind reader. He’s a good performer, but doesn’t have us hanging on his every word. Though his tricks are well executed, it lacks an intangible quality to turn his performance into something spectacular.
Mason King may read your mind, and do it well, but he won’t blow it.
