People are gathering. Anticipation hangs in the air like smoke from a stubbed-out cigarette. They want a show. They want stories. They want tales of dark deeds done on darker streets. Of desperate men and double-crosses. Of death and dirty tricks. Of dangerous dalliances with devious dames. 

Does Dirk Darrow deliver?

I did some digging. Call it ‘research’ if you will. This cat has a reputation. His real name is Tim Motley. The press says he’s Australian but his American accent sounds deep-rooted. He’s a raconteur and a comedian, a mentalist and a magician. His gig has gone as far as the shanty-towns of South Africa. He’s performed for high-rollers like Baz Luhrmann and Richard Branson. You can bet this guy has something to say. Smart money says it won’t be pretty.

The title drips innuendo. This production is inspired by a story from Dashiell Hammett – the man who gave the world The Maltese Falcon. The press release says it is ‘noir’. Calls it ‘gritty’. And you better believe there’s going to be some prestidigitation.

Dirk Darrow takes the stage in a pool of streetlight. He touches the brim of his fedora, cocks it. His jacket shifts, exposing the holster-strap across his chest. He smirks, drawls from behind a cigarette. What follows is a barrage of jokes. Gags explode across the stage in tommy-gun profusion. Dad jokes. Double entendre. Dirty puns. Elaborate similes. A veritable thicket of dick gags…

The volley goes on and on. Some misfire. Some ricochet and risk collateral damage. A rape joke (admittedly a mild one, this isn’t Jimmy Carr) misses the mark. But for every awkward groan or murmur from the audience his recovery is swift, self-effacing – delivered with a shrugging and appealing nonchalance.

Gradually a narrative emerges from the onslaught. There’s been a bank robbery. A murder follows soon after. Then a massacre is revealed. A woman is linked to it somehow – a dame with a reputation. Ruby Knockers. There’s only one person willing to visit the seedy clubs and dives where these deeds have been done. Only one dick can handle this job, a man some might call ‘jaded’.

Periodically the narrative flow is interrupted by what initially feel like ‘trick breaks’. The demonstration of mentalism is fascinating. Darrow selects audience members at random and plucks information about them out of the ether. You can see the processes at play: the gradual narrowing of the questions he asks, his reading of body language and micro-expressions. But there are still leaps of intuition that seem unfathomable. Undeniably, he is very good at what he does. 

The first half of the performance feels slightly scattershot. Darrow skitters from jokes to hard-boiled narrative to card tricks, mind-reading and other admittedly intriguing demonstrations. All the pieces work – some better than others – but their arrangement comes off as haphazard, the transitions jarring.

In the second half the storyline becomes more complex and engaging – there are double-crosses and subterfuge. The innuendo and magic are better integrated into the work as a whole. When Darrow uses seemingly random cards drawn from a shuffled deck to illustrate the narrative, the effect is thrilling.

It all culminates in an unexpected song-and-dance number and the genuinely impressive pay-off to an earlier trick involving a five-buck note. My only criticism here is that the audience participation – while entertaining in a squirm-inducing way – does distract from the compelling yarn Darrow is spinning.

Motley is an engaging performer. He moves and speaks with self-assurance and charm. He works the room well and plays off the audience. We’re on his side, always. However, I suspect he’s used to more demonstrative crowds than the one he receives tonight.

If the title brings a smile to your lips, then you’ll have a good time. It lacks something in integration. If Motley incorporates the magical demonstrations more consistently into the performance, adds in more elements of improvisation and expands on his idea of appointing various characters to audience participants – it would be the better for it.

But, Dirk Darrow doesn’t disappoint.  

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