Deception, thy name is Keith
Fergus Dennehy talks to master manipulator and one of the world’s best known magicians, Keith Barry, about his upcoming show, ‘Deception’ in the INEC on January 1. A show in which a member of the audience will have the chance to win €10,000 if they can d
THE phrase ‘New Year, New Me’ does thankfully not relate to Keith Barry as the critically acclaimed Mind Magician is at his very best once again as he prepares to bring his biggest and most spectacular production yet to the INEC on January 1, 2019.
Fresh off of lasts years hugely successful ‘Magic Madhouse’ which Keith says brought him back to his magic roots, the world famous 42-year old Waterford native is now in the final stages of preparation for his latest tour outing, entitled ‘Deception’.
It is a tour in which he aims to explore form of deception imaginable and where he hopes to blur the line between reality and deception.
“I like to examine the world around us every year and see what is going on and this last year, I realised that we are in a more deceptive world than ever. I am a deception artist, that’s what I do and at the moment, the biggest deception out there is self deception,” said Keith, speaking to The Kerryman on Friday.
“I investigated everything from cults to brainwashing to conspiracy theories and subliminal messaging and all of these different areas combined are in the show,” he continued.
With ‘Deception’, the magician has again not shirked the opportunity to put himself in quite a large amount of danger on stage in an effort to entertain his audience.
While his last tour saw him locked inside a perspex glass box filled with water and Keith having to escape from 12 contraptions and locks before being able to breathe again, this writer is left wondering how he could top it for this years show.
Enter Keith stage right to tell us more.
“I’ll be performing a crazy Russian Roulette with Hydrochloric acid and water where ultimately, there will be a chance that I could end up drinking one of those glasses. Hopefully the right one of course. It’ll be all sorts of craziness,” he laughed.
“The second half of the show then, I’ll be doing all sorts of crazy demonstrations with people, however they won’t be on stage, they’ll be in the audience. I’ll be picking people randomly to participate from the confines of their seat,” he said.
Then, even to whet the appetite that little bit more, Keith can only the describe the last part of the show as a “crazy, weird, bizarre demonstration” that he said that he can’t quite put into words. So for someone who has seen and done as many interesting and bizarre things in his time, this last stunt must indeed be a whole new level of weirdness even for Keith.
Even after all of this, if there are those out there that still need to be convinced, Keith offers up not just one reason for you to attend, but in fact is giving everyone a huge €10,000 incentive to be there on the night.
The catch? Well, that depends on how high you rate your own ability to deceive.
“I’ll be bringing €10,000 cash with me to the INEC and during one of the routines, if someone can deceive me, they’ll be walking away with €10,000 richer. There’s a big chance that it will be won too so there’s every reason to be there,” he finished.
Anyone looking to see Keith live in action in Killarney can head over to the INEC website and purchase tickets online. Alternatively, tickets can be bought at the in-centre box office.
This is a strictly over 18’s show and tickets to the night will cost €34.50; doors open at 7pm with the show itself set to start at approximately 8pm.
I am a deception artist, that’s what I do and at the moment, the biggest deception out there is self - deception.