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.