It seems that Peter Powers is the only stage hypnotist I see these days such is the scarcity of such performances (certainly in a theatre venue) in the UK.  I was discussing this with some other tists at the event and didn't realise that the UK police state had added more rules to the holding of hypnotist stage shows and that many now require licenses.  Of course councils charge more for the licenses than the fee the hypnotist actually receives for the event - hence the scarcity of shows - and so much for a free society!  I do intend to get into stage hypnosis (some day!) but won't be arsed doing it in the UK.

I met up with a group of tists to see both the 7.30 pm and of course the infamous midnight madness show on saturday 4 February 2012.  I wasn't able to make the family show on friday but had heard it was a great show with really good volunteers (so important!)  Apparently he'd introduced a new routine in that show where a guy thought he was a dog and his 'mistress' was giving him a bath.  Sounds like a lot of fun but alas he didn't use that routine at either of the saturday shows so have no idea how it would have played out.

Peter did struggle getting volunteers for the 7.30 pm show - to the extent that he ended up with an all-female set of volunteers by the end.  A lot of the skits failed but as one of the tists commented it showed his skill as an entertainer (he's been doing this for 25+ years) that he was able to work round that.  He even ended up with the ladies doing the full monty (but unlike with the guys, they did not remove any clothes).

Some of the tists had rented a loft in anticipation of doing some sessions with subjects.  Ha!  Fat chance that happening with the dross who are members of this site.  Of course loads of subs said they were coming, enthusiastically texting various tists but as is their wont they melted away faster than the snow in April ("I'm busy", "Something else is on", "Maybe some other time", "I think I'll just chill out" were the sorts of rubbishy, predictable texts being sent - and of course my personal favourite (correct spelling of the word - Yanks take note) - not bothering to reply to texts any more.)  We did have a good bitching session about the subs on the site back at the loft during the gap between shows.  We also were able to talk and exchange tips/advice about the decent subs we were currently working with (all NOT members of this site) and it was interesting that the wide diversity of opinions were as varied as the varieties of human experience.  However, we did agree that those with intelligence, athletes, those whose jobs involve concentration or repetition (programmers, lorry drivers etc) tend to make the best subs).

After our little soiree we returned to the theatre for the midnight madness show.  Peter had no problem getting volunteers this time, particularly the males.  One outstanding volunteer was a scouser who was great fun (and turned out to be surprisingly well-endowed).  Sometimes it's hard to predict the sorts of shows Peter will do - some have loads of props, some have loads of new routines and sometimes he sticks to the old faithfuls.  The major difference this time was that after the main induction when he was using various 'tests' to weed out the rubbishy subjects he didn't use the "bad smell" routine but instead the "embarrassing itch" - the guys quite enthusiastically began scratching a certain part of their anatomy - which of course indicated we were in for a fun show with some great subjects.  Despite not have the "gay lovers in the bath" routine during his last set of shows he had this routine again and the scouser had certainly some interesting positions.  It was clear (ahem) he knew what he was doing.

Some subjects left during the interval - unfortunately one guy actually left the theatre because for whatever reason he didn't like what was happening (and the first half is always the "mild" part of the show!)  However, the scouser stayed on stage and was joined by some other great volunteers in the second half.  As is traditional, the show ended with the full monty.  Interesting that they held hats over their modesty when the routine ended (meaning they were aware they were naked) but when given the suggestion that they believed they were "perfectly normally dressed" they tossed the hats away once they were woken up despite not being told to do that.  As we were in the third row we got a good view of various (surprisingly long) bits and pieces swaying about as they left the stage to return to their seats.

All in all a great night and Mr Powers is truly a talented hypnotist (providing of course he has decent subjects - a bugbear us tists have to continually contend with...)