Pity poor audience member Kai: he tried his best to outfox Alex McAleer, but he never stood a chance.
McAleer is at the top of his game, and that game is unnerving, impossible, but most of all entertaining. As the title suggests, he is a ‘mind reader’ – definitely not a psychic, there is no reaching to the other side here – but there is also magic and a smattering of comedy.
The most noticeable thing though, as McAleer mentions, is that excitable murmur after each stunt as audience members turn to each other and asking “how the hell did he do that?” And there is a lot of murmuring.
In Kai’s case – and I’ll keep it vague so as not to ruin the act for future audiences, of which you should definitely try your damnedest to be a part – he was asked to pick a celebrity, and do his best to stop McAleer from guessing who it was through a series of questions. Lie, tell the truth, both – he did them all and he nearly made it. But Kai was outfoxed, and Alex – somehow – got his man.
Others unwittingly surrendered house numbers, a friend’s name, selected playing cards and more, seemingly through thin air. You can begin to understand why people believed in witchcraft.
It was a stunningly impressive show to a criminally undersold Speigeltent.
- The Norfolk and Norwich Festival continues until 25 May 2025. Alex McAleer: Mind Reader is touring, including 8 November 2025 at Diss Corn Hall, and 21 February 2026 at Chelmsford Theatre.
