Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

If it says five stars at the top, I’ve been compelled against my will.

Reviewing hypnosis shows is not within Chortle’s usual purview, but this one is at least marketed as comedy. The host and hypnogogue is Matt Hale, a showman of the Live & Kicking school, very keen for everyone to be brought into the big tent, for no one to worry about anything, and for everyone to have a great time. 

His latest creation is the kind of show that could be retrofitted on to almost any musical genre, as it primarily involves hypnotising a small group of people so that they unselfconsciously dance, sing, or act along to the most broad-base hits of the 1990s – Wonderwall, the Macarena and the Friends theme tune all feature prominently and repeatedly, a symphony of jangling keys.

Hale bounds onto the stage like a puppy, grinning broadly and laughing throughout the show, but he still has to do a fair bit of legwork up top to acclimatise people to the idea of hypnotism and persuade around 20 people to volunteer en masse. 

Some of them are eventually returned to their seats, others are susceptible enough to make the lineup. Being under hypnosis, he says, is just like having a lovely big restful nap; you would never do anything you wouldn’t do in normal life; you’ll be aware of everything the whole time, and no, it is not possible to become ‘trapped’ in a hypnotised state. ‘The best way to think of it is…’ he says over and over again, going on to describe something very unthreatening each time.

You can see why he needs all the disclaiming and defanging, because under the neon tracksuits and the pop anthems there’s something unmistakeably eerie about this kind of show. One of his subjects in particular is so completely under his spell that she can be ‘turned off’ at any time with an invisible button on her forehead. Between vigorous renditions of the Macarena, we get to watch her repeatedly ragdoll and slump over backwards in her chair, in a powerful reminder of the fragility of both free will and dignity.

The scripted or performed element of this show is not interesting, but you’d have to be made of stone not to laugh at some of the scenarios it generates: a large man chanting Wonderwall in a drugged monotone; a woman with her language faculties erased who can now only scat like Scatman John; an old fella with his eyes tightly closed, seemingly trapped in an invisible hell while he’s supposed to be driving the Vengabus. 

There are so many more interesting things that could be done with a group of hypnotised volunteers than just make them forcibly relive the 1990s, but I suspect Hale’s priority was to make the show as simple and pleasant as possible.

2.5 stars out of 5 for the show itself, 4 question marks out of 5 for the sinister and intriguing power of hypnotism.

Review date: 21 Aug 2026
Reviewed by: Tim Harding
Reviewed at: Gilded Balloon Patter House