EDINBURGH 2017: BWW Q&A- Ben Dali

So, Take A Trance On Me is a comedy hypnosis show, the likes of which Edinburgh has never seen before.

I'll be inviting audience members onto stage to get hypnotised, then catapulting them into a series of fully immersive hypnotic sketches set around the festival. I set out with a challenge - to write new sketches no hypnotist has touched on before, make them universally appealing to an arts festival audience and pay tribute to Edinburgh Fringe on its 70th Anniversary. And the results are pretty exciting - hypnotics could find themselves anywhere in the city, from flyering on the Royal Mile, to leading the Royal Military Tattoo bagpipers up at the Castle, or starring in their own version of Edinburgh Got Talent. The volunteers will truly be the stars of the show and each performance will be unique to their own creative interpretations of the suggestions presented to them.

I perform hypnosis across the country year round and the shows in Edinburgh are the absolute best, the environment just ticks all the boxes. I've got an eager audience full of people who picked my show above the thousands of others on offer, and a stageful of creative volunteers who are artistic (or at least interested in the arts) and looking for an exciting experience they couldn't get anywhere else. That makes them perfect for being hypnotised, and with the fact that the majority of the audience have a shared passion for the city and its festival I've crafted a whole show around that common understanding. The show is adaptable outside of Edinburgh but written entirely for this one place, this one month. It's also my third time here so I'm solidifying my reputation as the festival's foremost hypnotist of the generation.

There's never been a show in the 70-year history of the Fringe that takes an audience and literally transports them into their own alternate reality set around the festival. Each of the 25 performances of Take A Trance On Me will be a unique production to that one group of volunteers, creating one fully immersive experience for the volunteers and a separate fully immersive experience for the viewing audience who see the journey they take from a normal waking state of mind to doing the most ridiculous range of tasks in their own individual style.

Take A Trance On Me appeals to a wide ranging audience - it is highly recommended viewing for the intellectually inquisitive, anyone looking for a show that is totally "Edinburgh" and represents the festival in a nutshell, fans of psychology, magic, the power of language, human behaviour. It's particularly attractive to other festival performers, especially actors, who will have their innermost creativity unlocked, receive therapy to assist with the psychological issues of performing at Edinburgh Fringe, and when whole casts come down and share the experience together it creates bonds that turn friends into family. Other festival performers who bring their flyer to me will also have the chance to get their show plugged on stage, or sell it themselves. Mostly fun, imaginative people looking to create memories, test their imaginations and get some stories to tell.

Not too many people should steer clear of the show. There are people who shouldn't volunteer as I'll cover in the live introduction but the people who wouldn't get anything from viewing the show are going to be close-minded people who have limited interest in human interaction, don't like to laugh or learn, typically classified as 'emotionless psychopaths'. Or anyone with an irrational fear of being in the presence of mental exploration. And Trump voters. Aside from that, we have no disability access so if you're in a wheelchair the venue isn't accessible - however I'm also performing in Subway (aka Movement v96) at 15.45 on the 11th and 21st which is.

Timings and ticket information for Ben Dali: Take A Trance On Me are available on the edfringe website.