Look into my eyes: Peter Powers performs at The Sphinx this weekend.
ERIN PEARSON
LIFE was never going to be nine-to-five for international hypnotist Peter Powers.
The internationally acclaimed performer told the Independent he always knew playing with minds would be his life’s work.
Power said he was now filling 1000-seat theatres across the world with tricks such as convincing audience members they were animals or had frozen limbs.
“It’s unusual but I got an interest in this type of thing when I was really young. I used to watch an American hypnotist at age seven and I was very impressed.
“I believed in him, so when my father went to church on Sundays I’d take his pocket watch and practice on my little brother.”
Powers said he discovered his potential while practicing as a child in England.
“There was something about the look on his face that changed,” Powers remembered.
“I clapped my hands and he got frightened and jumped.
“The very next day I went to the library and got a book. Within weeks I could make my brother not move his arms and get them stuck in different positions.”
Powers’ parents had little enthusiasm for the career prospects of his newfound talents, so at age 16 he left home to pursue hypnotism.
“When I think back to the early days it was all a bit how’s-your-father,” he laughed.
“For a 17-year-old it was very difficult. Even though I had my teachers at school telling me I would make a living out of it at some venues in the early days I had to use beer crates and plywood as my stage.
“I can even recalling getting changed on the banks of a canal in the snow because there was no change room.”
Powers has since recorded television shows in the Netherlands, Scotland, Ireland, Canada and the US along with a 13–week series on Foxtel.
Powers will perform his new show at North Geelong’s Sphinx Hotel on Saturday night.
