Brian Beacom

DERREN Brown is a little lost these days, feeling bereft.

It’s nothing to do with a mid-life crises, or relationship disaster angst; far from it, that part of his world is as perfect as it comes.

No, the stage illusionist is pining for the commitment he has had to writing. Last year Brown published Happy, his journey into the mind state. `

And when we last met two years ago in a Manchester café, the nation’s greatest illusionist was surrounded by reference books and notes. The former Law student was wallowing in the world of discovery, of construction themes.

And then that life disappeared.

“After the book came out I was going around giving talks on Happy - and at the time feeling rather unhappy,” he says with a wry grin.

“I realised it was because I’d stopped working on the book, which I’d been so involved in.

“I guess it’s about throwing ourselves into something that is bigger than us, that somehow give our lives meaning.

“That research had certainly kept me so occupied, I had this intellectual material and my life was pointing somewhere. And then I didn’t really know where I was going.”

The answer, surely, is to come up with a new writing project?

“Yes, that’s right. You keep writing. A writer needs to write. And I’m itching to get myself into another project to keep me going.

“But I’ve yet to decide what I’m going to write about. Right now I’m in the process of reading and so don’t quite know what the new idea is about yet.”

It will emerge. Derren Brown’s mind needs, craves, the challenge.

But that’s not to say he’s currently spending his time talking to his parrot or watching Cash In The Attic.

The man described as the world’s best mind bender is in Glasgow this week with Underground. It’s a Derren Brown Greatest Hits tour featuring the best bits from his phenomenal stage shows.

It seems an obvious idea to take a greatest hits show on the road?

“It wasn’t that obvious,” he corrects, in pleasant tone. “It was designed as a show to take abroad to New York.”

To create a new audience?

“Exactly. I hadn’t just come up with the Best Bits show idea, it really was a way into other countries. But once it was up and running it felt really good.”

The title comes from the initial development of the show.

“I ran it in in London in an underground space. And it had that underground feel.”

But it’s not simply a collection of the best bits.

“The material has all been finessed, reworked, and the level of work gone into it is more than any other show.”

Pop bands take their greatest hits on tour all the time. What’s wrong with Derren Brown re-creating moments?

“Yes, but one difference is I need to surprise the audiences every night. The shows will be recognisable - but with moments that won’t be.”

The Underground show was a massive success in New York.

“We played off Broadway to a theatre which held 200 people, and it was very different,” he says smiling of the experience.

“In the UK we get a group response, but here we had 200 individuals who would narrate their own experience. They’d yell out, get excited.

“I walked out on the first night expecting an older, sassier intelligent New York audience, but it wasn’t like that. I got a rock star like reception, really, really, loud and I was so taken aback.”

He adds, grinning; “But a third of the audience were subscription members to the theatre and they had no idea what they were getting.

“They perhaps expected to have a little nap, watch a gentle show but they couldn’t believe the reception I was getting from the ‘rock star’ part of the audience.

“Yet, they all seemed to love it at the end.”

Did the success of the show result in new found fame on the streets of Manhattan?

“The nature of doing a show in Manhattan is a lot of people actually fly in to see it from out of town. I was aware of people having made an effort to get there.”

Where is he Derren Brown now? Having developed a second career as a writer, has the role of stage showman been pushed slightly to the side?

“The shows have moved to Netflix, and we’re working on a new special for the channel,” he says.

“I’ve also got a book on street photography coming out towards the end of the year. (He loves to wander and take pics; his images are poignant, and grabbing.) And I’ll be doing the show on Broadway in July.”

But he has said he’s a stress avoider. And he’s still factoring in so much.

Does he every long for the day when it was all about him and the parrot living in a flat, or student days when he had fun hypnotising fellow students for the hell of it?

“I do, I do!” he says grinning, in emphatic voice. “Especially when you’re on tour and in a relationship.

“ My partner is at home looking after the dog – and the parrot - and it’s difficult for him.

“But while there is more stuff to navigate and Nextflix is fun I’m not looking forward to an explosion of new work.

“I’ll be 50 in a few years. (He’s 47). So long as it’s about fun. And Broadway is fun. But I’ve never had any grand plan for world domination.

He grins; “If I do have a grand plan it’s to live in the country with the dogs, and perhaps have a life that’s a little quieter.”

• The Best of Derren Brown – Underground, The Theatre Royal, until Saturday.