Comedy Hypnotist Matt Hale – Bonkers! | Adelaide Fringe 2021 Review
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½ – 4½ Stars!
‘Bonkers’ is a hypnosis show but with a party and comedy twist that can be enjoyed both from the stage as a volunteer or in the audience. Living up to its name, it is full of silliness and light-hearted humour for all ages.
Despite this being the first hypnosis show I’ve been to, in the rush and out of curiosity, I ended up being one of the volunteers to be hypnotised! I was quite sceptical of hypnosis going into it, but even so, I had a lot of fun being up on stage. I’m not usually one to be the centre of attention but even when given solo instructions I had a newfound and refreshing confidence. I even ended up doing an air guitar solo front and centre stage!
Matt explains that hypnosis is not “controlling people” and you won’t get anything out of it if you go into it resistant. You really need to be open to the experience and be willing to just let loose and have some fun. I would highly recommend volunteering if you are confident enough and over 18 (and have someone to mind your young kids while you’re up there if you do bring them along). There is no pressure to do anything and if you don’t end up being suitable for the hypnosis, Matt will quietly send you back to the audience. But if you do end up staying, it is an unforgettable experience and lots of fun even if you don’t feel that you are fully in a trance at times. Matt promises that all of his instructions are embarrassment-free which was definitely the case throughout the show. You can look forward to loads of silly dancing and acting out some funny scenarios! As guaranteed by Matt, it was also extremely relaxing, and you will feel quite refreshed and calm afterwards. However, you will spend a lot of the show with your eyes shut!
Matt started off by putting us into a ‘trance’ and then asking us to pretend we couldn’t open our eyes. To my surprise, I really couldn’t open them when he asked us to try! When we had to act out scenarios with our eyes shut, I also often felt as though they were actually happening. For example, when pretending to drive a car I could definitely feel the steering wheel in my hands!
While at the beginning I felt fully into the hypnosis, when we later on had our eyes open, I seemed to have awoken from it. However, a couple of the people around me looked completely out of it and did things that looked very out of character! My favourite was a girl who was asked to get up and start dancing to hype the crowd up every time a certain song started playing. She danced so hard and so energetically the whole stage was rumbling, and she even split her jeans down the middle! The show completely outdid my expectations and there was no chicken dances or any of the other cliches I thought there would be.
Matt is extremely entertaining, high-energy and funny and at all the right times. He certainly has the aura and personality to be able to hypnotise a whole stage of people! I wasn’t expecting the ‘party’ theme of the show which mainly included a lot of upbeat music and dancing. But it ensured it was kept exciting at all times and I was always anticipating what would be happening next. The show also undoubtedly caters to all ages. There is everything from 80s references and music to Tik Tok dances so both younger and older generations have something to relate to. You will, however, grow very sick of hearing the song ‘Bonkers’ by Dizzee Rascal if you weren’t already sick of it from the 2010s!
The entire show of course follows Gluttony’s COVID regulations of no contact so Matt will only touch the participants with a hilariously tiny hand on a stick and the participants are given hand sanitiser before they go up on stage.
While the show is kept family-friendly and contains no explicit content, keep in mind that there is some loud music, yelling and special effects so if your kids are much younger it might be a bit overwhelming. Kids are also not allowed to volunteer to be hypnotised (over 18 only).
‘Comedy Hypnotist Matt Hale – Bonkers’ is playing at the Virage at Gluttony, Rymill Park from 24 February – 21 March 2021 this Fringe season.
BOOK TICKETS HERE
See what else is on at Gluttony this year HERE
For more information and all enquiries please visit the Adelaide Fringe website.
At Play & Go Adelaide we make every effort to provide accurate information to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication. We recommend confirming times, dates and details directly before making any plans as details may be subject to change.
Image Source: Adelaide Fringe website
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