On January 2, Keith Barry dares you to enter his world and take a trip into the dark heart of The Asylum. Following on from his hit 2009 show Direct from Vegas, Keith who was voted Mentalist of the Year and the best magician in Las Vegas for 2009 his brand new show, promised to take you in a completely different direction.
Speaking to the Mayo Advertiser before his show takes to the stage in the Royal Theatre just after the turn of the new year, Keith was putting the finishing touches to his new show. “I was up late last night to maybe 4am, putting the finishing touches to the new show. I’m really excited about this new show, it’s something completely different for people to come out and enjoy and it’s not anything they have seen from me before.”
The master mentalist usually spends a number of months putting together a new show, but this one only took a matter of weeks once the idea came to him and he is itching to get it up on stage so people can enjoy it. “Normally it can take me three months or so to perfect a show, but this idea of an asylum just came to me and it rolled on from there very quickly. People are going to enjoy it and there will be plenty of audience interaction and people coming on stage, with a lot of surprises in store for them and everyone in the audience.”
Keith has been touring Ireland and abroad for years, the pressure is always on to come up with something new for each tour, and it’s a challenge he relishes. “This will be my fifth tour in as many years, so I wanted to do something a little different this time. The idea of a mental asylum and getting people involved in that on stage and believing that they are actually patients and seeing their reactions to it people in the audience was something I really wanted to do. It’s a lot darker than any of the other shows I’ve done before, but it’s still about entertaining people and not about scaring them.”
Getting people involved in his show is always something that Keith has done and this tour will be no different. “Going on what I have planned so far, it’s looking like there will be at least 40 people involved either up on stage or from the audience, so there is a good chance you could be involved either from the floor or up on stage.”
After performing non stop for a number of years Keith still loves the challenge of getting up and entertaining people and is constantly thinking up new ideas to keep people entertained. “I love it, it’s been a very busy couple of years for me. But I love performing for people and getting up on stage. And my hobby is my profession, how can I not enjoy that.” Keith will play the Royal Theatre, Castlebar, on January 2, tickets are now on sale from Ticketmaster outlets or from the Royal Theatre box office. For more information see www.royal.ie
