Peter Antoniou

Let me first say that I do not believe in psychics, fortune tellers or mediums. To my mind they are charlatans of the first degree, preying on the vulnerable and needy. Like Harry Houdini I would like to believe but my intelligence and common sense says they are con men and women. So I was expecting the worst when I turned up at Upstairs at The Western for the first of their Dave' Leicester Comedy Festival gigs. This was surely going to be a room full of desperate lost souls looking for some sort of comforting words from beyond the grave. I am pleased to say I was completely won over, though not for the reasons you might think.
Peter Antoniou is a very geeky and personable young man who has taken the theatrical extravaganza that Derren Brown has perfected and scaled it down for an intimate venue like U@W. I don't know whether playing to a quite tipsy audience was a help or a hindrance for him but Antoniou managed to be right at least 80% of the time when reading the various people he picked out/on.
He is most defiantly NOT a psychic but his ability will astound and entertain you. As is appropriate for a comedy festival, Peter has a very large dose of humour and self deprecation woven around his mental tricks.
The show ran wildly over time, probably because he was having such fun with us, and the finale/denouement was worthy of any of Derren Brown 's big theatre shows and left the audience gasping in appreciation. Definitely a show to catch. As his very accurate publicity says "Improvised comedy meets psychic demonstration in a show that will fondle your frontal lobe, tickle your funny bone and reveal things about your past, present and future that no one could possibly know. So sit back, relax and prepare to wonder, is your mind safe?"

First published in Western Gazette © Paul Towers 6/2/2015