Guest Blog: Illusionist Philipp Oberlohr On DAS FEST at VAULT Festival

Das Fest is at its core a mind-reading experience. But while I try to push the limits of mind-reading as much as I can, I am much more interested in pushing the experiential character of the performance. The main ingredients are character, story and storytelling.

The surreal aspect of Mikhail Bulgakov's novel Master and Margarita was a major influence, and Haruki Murakami is a more popular contemporary example, though very different. I love how both jump between layers of the story, foreshadowing what is going to happen in a subtle and hidden way.

I thought, "I would love to do that in a live setting": foreshadow openly, yet in a subtle and somewhat abstract way what is going to happen during a live show. 'Live' meaning that I am not in control, as people make live choices within my structure. And as we all know, people are unpredictable. Myself included.

Great idea. But very hard to realise, since it involves a high level of improvisation; I don't know what the audience is bringing every night. The 'shadow' has to be clear enough, so they remember, but it has to be subtle enough that it's not too obvious.

If we succeed, we will have something beautiful. The work-in-progress performances have shown it is not impossible.

We've had extensive periods of writing and devising, building a strong structure, with a strong dramaturgy that is flexible and open to give room to the unpredictable live audience interaction.

Margot Newkirk Grambow, a LISPA-trained director, keeps pushing me out of my comfort zone, while respecting the integrity of the performance. I don't know how she does it - it's a real miracle.

I have lived in London for almost a decade and my work has been heavily influenced by the work I've seen here. I'm hoping to bring something interesting and fresh with my different cultural background, which has been thoroughly challenged by the English culture. Its rigidity in some ways and its fearlessness in others.

Das Fest is a celebration of our past and the future. I ask people to think of memories, I reveal the memories, but it's less about the mind-reading - it's more about celebrating our memories. Remembering what shapes us as individuals, which is sometimes very mundane and banal. But still beautiful.

I care about showing the beauty of the banal and making the seemingly ordinary extraordinary. My producer told me not to write that. Instead I'm supposed to write: Das Fest is a mind-reading experience that will blow your socks off.

That is (also) true.

If you want to know how it celebrates our future, you have to come.

Das Fest at VAULT Festival 28 February-4 March

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