Dozens of guests—including a few adorned in steampunk style attire, filled the Orpheum Annex in Vancouver on Saturday, June 28 for the final production of the Harlequin Hypnosis Show this season.
For those unfamiliar with the show—it follows the storyline of a lost little girl named Katie and brings in members of the audience to assist them in finding her.
Hypnotists Rob Hadley, Angie Bender and Sharlene (who goes by the stage name Renee) wrote the first storyline together and will collaborate again to create a whole new production for the second season, which is set to premiere this upcoming September.
Rob—the founder and president of Vancouver Hypnotherapy, first thought of the idea for the show and immediately brought in Angie and Renee. He already worked with Angie and thought Renee’s previous experience as an entertainer would be a good fit for the show.
Before the show can begin, they first ask for volunteers to come up on the stage. Then they start the process to see which volunteers go into hypnosis the deepest and those select few become their subjects for the evening. “It takes a certain type of person, they’ve got to be willing and they have to have an imagination,” says Renee. “It’s totally a mind thing—you can’t just go up there and expect it to happen if you’re skeptical.”
Although the storyline for the first season has remained the same, the subjects, their reactions and the audience’s reactions are always different—which has made each of the shows unique in its own way. “It’s a bit of an improv thing but the basis of it has always been the same,” says Renee.
During the production, volunteers did everything from break dancing and twerking to running around in the audience looking for an imaginary cat. “It’s fun to see people come in who are quite shy and then all of a sudden they open up this side of them that is obviously in their subconscious and it’s just hilarious,” says Renee.
It was obvious during Saturday night’s show that the audience found it just as amusing—laughing at the bizarre comments the volunteers would make when asked a question. “It’s just a lot of fun,” says Renee. “We don’t make much money off of it, but we do it because we love it.”
Angie, who has been a hypnotist for three years, says it’s an interesting line of work and it’s definitely never dull. “This is stage hypnosis and it’s very different from hypnotherapy; the people on stage are in a very deep state of hypnosis, whereas hypnotherapy is a much lighter state,” she says. “With hypnotherapy, it’s more about behavioral changes than it is about entertainment.”
Whether or not you believe in hypnosis—it is definitely entertaining and offers a unique experience where audience members can interact with the cast in a fun and relaxed atmosphere.
To find out more about Harlequin Hypnosis and upcoming shows, visit the website.
Written by: Meagan Gill
Photo credit: Eugenia/Harlequin Hypnosis Show
