There is nothing not to like about Chris Cox and if anything is to go by tonight’s audience he is proving a very popular festival pull. His shows have been selling out and through word of mouth and I can only assume that this will continue. Mind over Patter is Chris Cox at some of his best but most of all he gives a fresh new spin on mind reading and magic.
As we walk to take our seats we can hear Chris’s voice booming into the King Dome assuring us that he is going to be coming out and joining us soon. At the foot of the stage he has placed some bowls and we are to write some numbers down and pick a variety of colours (we get to know why later). Just before Chris comes out we get treated to the E4 voice over guy which all seems very over the top but adorable all the same.
And then we meet Chris Cox who almost instantly tells us that he’s can’t read minds and that part of the trick in what he does is ‘interrupt peoples patterns’ or daily routine and he uses a very credible example of this. Though throughout the show there are some things that happen that did leave people gasping (spoiler alert) but if they had listened to what he said you would understand how he did it. And to his credit he doesn’t make any secret about how its done.
Colour and and numbers features very heavily in the show and on stage he was a very impressive variety of costumes. One of the things that you have to note is that not everything is as random as it looks and even he makes it aware that there are certain ‘types’ of people he needs in order to make the tricks work and that was very clear in his first trick.
He throws something into the audience and he states that the trick will only work it its a girl and after a little show and tell we get to meet Sue. There is an earlier trick but we don’t have to go into that here. On stage along with his costumes Chris has some Chairs, also coloured, and part of the trick is him guessing what chair Sue would pick.
Other tricks followed and he used some very cunning skills with the packed King Dome to great effect. At one stage a guy he got up tried to crack a joke, audience laughed, but Cox’s quick retort put him in his place ‘this isn’t a double act’. As each trick came they got bigger and they got more complicated to doubt.
This would be the aim off his show, he makes it clear that these are in a way mind tricks but some of it does leave you wondering. In some cases though more questions are raised than are answered (isn’t that the point though what magic). However the only main issue I had with the show was the ending, which is hard to talk about because that would ruin it, there was geater knowledge known to Mr Cox than he let on leaving people to gasp in amazement.
But that’s the boring science out the way Mind Over Patter was an amazing show to watch and Chris worked the audience incredibly well and they showed a great appreciation and respect for the show and for him. Watching Cox will make you dizzy because he is all over the stage and has produced a show that fails to stop and he keeps going and going.
‘Some of the show is pure comedy gold and the rest is simply magic…Chris Cox deserves ever acolate he gets…unquestionably one very skilled performer’
