In & Of Itself
In & Of Itself is a strange show. It's sort of a magic show, sort of a one-man show, sort of performance art. It's a deeply personal exploration into identity and being.
The magic and mentalism is good. What he does aren't "tricks", but I don't have a better word, so: he performs several original tricks, and several modernizations of old techniques. He mixes several disciplines across magic and mentalism, and avoids being cheesy. In some ways, it felt like a metamodernism exploration into magic. What's authentic? What's actually real? Can "tricks" be used to tell a deeper story?
There's only a handful of tricks, though. More deeply, this is a story about Derek as a person, and to that extent, it's breathtakingly effective. He may be playing the part of entertainer or mentalist, but is also very much playing himself. The show is from his heart.
This is a part of my Media Diet. Learn more about this project here.