Theater review by Samuel L. Leiter

The website for Mindplay, mind-reader Vinny DePonto’s frequently mind-blowing one-man show, supplemented by multiple audience participants, advises that it’s for audiences age 13 and up. What DePonto does and says, however, is difficult enough for adult audiences to wrap their brains around.  There were several kids of kindergarten age or younger present when I went. I’m curious about what they got out of it. The adults, however, got their money’s worth.

DePonto, a slender, bearded young man in a gray suit and collarless white shirt, holds the stage at Greenwich House, in the Village, for an hour and a half of heady chatter and brain-bending stunts, in a combination of scripted monologue—cowritten with Josh Koenigsberg—and improvisational chit chat, directed by Andrew Neisler. Before entering, audience members are asked to write on a piece of paper a word indicating something that’s currently on their minds, put it in a tiny manilla envelope on which they write their first name and seat number, and place it in a large fishbowl. During the show, a half a dozen or so of these will be selected by DePonto to summon people to the stage so he can demonstrate his awareness of what’s in the packets or do similarly awesome feats of cerebral prestidigitation with his guests. 

DePonto—part mentalist, part illusionist, and part mnemonist—spends much of his time lecturing in an affable, often joking way about the mind’s capacities, especially its memory-related ones, which he goes to great lengths to discuss. He alludes to his use of psychology in crafting his illusions. His family anecdotes play a part, including passages about his grandfather, whose memory eventually eluded him. At one point, DePonto demonstrates his own memory power by having someone hold a book of Shakespeare’s plays; hearing a page number, he can at once say what the first word on the page is; at another point, he recites a full passage. I’d like to have seen more of this ability demonstrated with other passages, just to offset any doubts about its veracity. What we do see, though, is impressive. 

There are several astonishing moments where DePonto peeks into people’s brains to pluck out things they’re thinking of or that happened to them, or even who was with them when at some remembered moment. A woman recalls traveling to an obscure country; he removes a slip of paper from a small box. The country’s name is on it. DePonto even manages to make it seem as if thoughts and feelings are being transferred from one person to another. I’m being deliberately vague about the specifics so as not to spoil any surprises, but I can promise that, as in any good “magic” show, the happily baffled audience walks out wondering, how the hell did he do that?

This is not a simple show focused on a man and his mental magic, like those performances you see on TikTok where a conjurer needs only a street corner, a simple prop, and a wide-eyed pedestrian or two to evoke abracadabra results. Those illusions can be just as compelling as the rather elaborate set up for Mindplay, which depends perhaps too heavily on perfectly timed stage effects using sound (by Kathy Ruvuna), lighting (by Christopher Bowser), music (by Alex Harris), projections (from a slide carousel), and a white, canvas draw curtain on which is scrawled a Facebook-like “What’s on your mind?” 

In addition to a desk dressed with important props (especially a white, rotary-dial phone), there’s also a considerable hunk of scenery (by Sybil Wickersheimer) representing walls filled with numerous narrow, vertical-style safe deposit boxes, which slide open or shut either on cue or by DePonto himself. A space devoted to playing and recording cassette tapes further complicates the design and performance, which can grow very dramatic when called for. I found myself wondering, is all this really necessary?  I suggest a trip to the link below for a smidgen of the show’s aura.

Although Mindplay runs 90 minutes, don’t go expecting that many minutes of tricks. Much of the time, too much, for my tastes, is devoted to expository material about how the brain functions, on top of which DePonto adds a considerable amount of nostalgic reminiscence designed to establish the premises on which his deeds are done. And, of course, there is the necessary chatter with his audience guests. Such expository rhetoric, of course, is common in many magic acts, especially those that depend as much on show business flimflam and shtick as the tricks they’re meant to enhance. That doesn’t mean, though, I wouldn’t have preferred a bit more magic and a bit less manipulation.

Mindplay is currently playing at Greenwich House, 27 Barrow Street, NYC, Through April 20

Photos: Jeff Lorch (1,6) and Chris Ruggiero (2,3,4,5)