Vinny DePonto uses all the tricks of his mentalist trade in Mindplay, his solo show running through the holidays at the Geffen. He calls up audience members and reads their minds in a number of astounding ways; how did he know that one woman was craving a dish of mint-chocolate ice-cream or that another was remembering an idyllic moment from her childhood? Tricks of the trade, of course. Those tricks included using a large amount of hypnotism in order to open up and manipulate people’s long-buried thoughts.
DePonto, who believes that “our memories are pillars on which we base our reality,” is careful not to embarrass or ridicule any of his volunteers. Nobody is made a fool; he’s too considerate and easygoing for that–-maybe too easygoing, for at times I had to strain to hear what he was saying in the Geffen’s small theater. Also, much of his patter about the unlocking of “memory palaces” was on the less-than-scintillating side. Perhaps that’s the fault of playwright Josh Koenigsberg, who co-wrote the play with DePonto.
Even so, the 80-minute show has plenty of enjoyable moments, especially when DePonto employs special effects (a wall of safe deposit boxes comes alive as he guesses what memories each contains). And there is no doubt that he knows how to work an audience in a likable fashion, even as he’s shedding light on darkest secrets.
