THEY came with open minds and left with blown ones. The audience left Derren Brown’s Svengali show at the Mayflower confused, bewildered and extremely satisfied with what they had seen.

Brown confesses he has no unnatural power but uses psychology and suggestion to create feats of apparent magic. Some of his stunts were simple logic and maths while others were more complex, including accurately painting a picture in someone else’s mind.

At other times he read the deepest darkest secrets of some unlucky audience members merely from their facial expressions and body language.

His pleasant, polite demeanour may be the reason for that as he charmed the crowd throughout the night, always knowing when to break up any awkwardness with some humour.

Possession was a big theme of the night but it was truly unclear if it was Brown or Svengali who was actually in control. Brown capped off the evening with some jawdropping guessing games and number play that left one question on the lips – how?

But where would the fun be in knowing that? The show runs until Saturday.