Matthew Krouse On stage in Johannesburg
It’s not difficult to fathom why Andr the Hilarious Hypnotist is one of the biggest hits in town. Like Candid Camera and America’s Funniest Home Videos, his unselfconscious humour appeals to the lowest common denominator, showing the foibles of ordinary people in absurd situations. Andr’s spectacle parades as an enigmatic foray into the subconscious, revealing those disturbing little things that lurk in the murky recesses of every mind.
The forces of the paranormal are a mystery most people don’t bother about, until fortunes take an unpredictable turn. To explain the unexplainable we have always appointed supposedly gifted figureheads to help us understand where things go wrong. Where those in the past have turned to traditional healers, we in the modern world tend to look for quick-fix solutions from celebrities, and shrinks.
It’s no wonder then, that when the two collide in one person we are stricken with awe.
For a performer like Andr, it could only be ambition, coupled with a deep sense of inadequacy, that must cause him to want to control those around him. Sure, everybody would like people to do what we want them to – but it takes a power freak, with special nerves of steel to make playing god into a flippant entertainment.
And it must take a deep perversion to want to manipulate complete strangers into doing socially unacceptable things, like feigning sex, playing imaginary musical instruments or pretending to be a chicken laying eggs.
Of course, the perversion is fed by the audience’s lust for stupidity. That is, after all, why they arrive. But the need doesn’t only come from the audience.
It’s amazing to see how many people really want to participate in the show, as victims. For when Andr called for volunteers, last Saturday, at least 20 people scampered onto the stage where they stood, nervously, while spooky music played, trying their damnedest to fall into a trance.
Myth has it that it’s only the very intelligent ones who can be hypnotized. Sadly, that night, there were only six such individuals who succumbed to Andr’s hypnotic aura. Most of them were young boys, over 16 years of age. This we know because, as Andr told us, only people over that age can legally be put under. One was a girl, of a very tender age herself.
What the show amounts to is a two hour bondage session, of trapped minds that are sent hither and thither, to confront each other in a most uncouth manner.
Perhaps it was only the abundance of men hypnotized that night, but it seems that one of Andr’s specialties is to make the unconscious blokes do things to each other that they would only do if they were 100% gay – like stroking each other’s knees, and dancing cheek to cheek.
This behaviour obviously sends the audience into hysteria. More so, when the dream master taps his male subjects on the head and they waken, to find themselves in the arms of other men.
Other charades include impersonations of superstars. With familiar hits playing at top volume, the guinea pigs do great renditions of Madonna, Michael Flatley and Michael Jackson. The ultimate coup de grace comes in the form of the Full Monty, when the new born comedians grace the auditorium, tossing off their clothing, muscles bulging.
What the extravaganza says about ordinary people is somewhat disappointing. Naturally, everybody wants to be a star. It’s just such a pity that so many people can only get their cup full when someone like Andr manages to convince them that they’re way beyond responsibility.
Andre the Hypnotist’s is on until Monday August 31 at the Victory Theatre, 105 Louis Botha Ave, Houghton. Tel: (011) 483-2793