Shane Warne and the mentalist who mixes mind games and magic

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Shane Warne and the mentalist who mixes mind games and magic

By Daniel Herborn

When Scott Silven asks me to think of a celebrity who intrigued me as a child so he can attempt to intuit my answer, I foolishly think my first thought may stump him.

Silven grew up in the windswept lowlands of Scotland and now calls New York’s fashionable Tribeca district home. Neither are noted, cricket-loving regions, so I wonder if perhaps the name Shane Warne will elude him.

Scott Silven makes no claims to being psychic or able to predict the future.

Scott Silven makes no claims to being psychic or able to predict the future. Credit:Nick Moir

He goes through a process of wondering aloud whether the person is a man or woman, dead or alive. Even as I try to stay stony-faced, he picks up on tiny moments of reaction, like a poker pro who’s seen every bluff and is finely attuned to an opponent’s every inadvertent tell.

I’m starting to doubt whether I can keep Warnie a secret.

Before long, he’s narrowed his guess down to an Australian athlete who has passed away. There’s something undeniably thrilling about watching his gears turn as he gets closer to guessing the name.

I’m generally more Scully than Mulder, but in this moment, I want to believe.

Scott Silven’s Wonders.

Scott Silven’s Wonders.

“Now, focus on their first name,” he instructs me. “The letter in the middle of their first name – is it an A?” No way ... “And the last letter of their first name, is it an E?”

Oh, come on!

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“Is it Shane Warne?”

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How does he do it? Did he really sense the name based on a skilful reading of my micro-reactions? Is there telepathy at play? Could there be a more prosaic explanation?

For me, this is mind-blowing and strangely moving, but it’s this kind of apparent miracle Silven has built a career around. He puts a warm, upbeat spin on mentalism, a kind of magic-adjacent performing art whose practitioners perform feats of apparent telepathy, hypnosis and prediction.

He makes no claims to being psychic or able to predict the future. Instead, he says his work builds on his training across psychology, stagecraft and traditional magic.

On stage, he is calm and collected, usually dressed in minimalist black. He goes about his work with a quiet sense of wonder rather than any theatrics. In person, he is chatty and personable. At the heart of what he does is connection, seeking to take an audience along with him rather than stun them into submission.

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“For me, it is the closest connection between performer and audience,” he says of mentalism.

“Traditional magicians might have props or people in boxes; a mentalist is connecting with memories, emotions.

“It’s almost like watching a film. You know that not everything you see may be real, but it doesn’t matter; it’s about what you experience, what you feel.”

Film has been a formative influence on Silven’s craft: his favourite directors have shaped his act more than traditional stage magicians. He picked up the power of a non-linear narrative from watching David Lynch films and took notes from Alfred Hitchcock on how to build and release tension in the viewer.

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Yet his approach is much breezier than either cinematic icon. He’s previously done “gentle dinner party” performances where he dines with two-dozen guests who take part in mind-reading illusions that take them back to childhood memories and see them connect with their fellow audience members.

His new show, Wonders, will play to much bigger crowds at the Sydney Opera House, but he hopes to invoke that same intimate, communal atmosphere as the dinner table performances.

His act relies heavily on audience participation, but making those involved feel at ease is vital to Silven.

“When people see this sort of show, they’re sometimes concerned mentalists are seeing their deepest, darkest secrets and using nefarious techniques; that couldn’t be further from the truth. I’m taking the audience to a place where they’re open and receptive to the experience.”

While the mysteries of many classic magic tricks can now be unravelled via a quick Google search, the techniques of high-end mentalism are passed on through tightly controlled back channels. “It’s still very clandestine,” Silven says. Wonders is an invitation into that secret society, if only for a fleeting moment. “It’s an adventure that we all go on together.”

Scott Silven: Wonders is at the Sydney Opera House, June 14 to 26.

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