Christian Cagigal’s OBSCURA @ The Kraine Theatre, 5/21/2015
As Artist in Residence at EXIT Theatre in San Francisco (the city he currently lives in) as well as Artist in Residence with Beyond the Mountain in Montréal, Canada, and with the shows he is performing on tour across the country presently, Christian Cagigal has been wowing crowds with his unique genial blend of theatre, storytelling and magic. And he did just that Thursday night for the Horse Trade Theatre Group at The Kraine Theatre down on E. 4th street.
OBSCURA is a mix of short stories told through Christian’s sleight of hand (perfectly projected on a screen behind him) his quick welcoming wit, at times a more than cautionary ending to a piece (his deliciously dangerous undercurrent to the performance just tickles you) and his command of space through the use of very subtle gestures.
Surely what we get here is card ‘forcing,’ expert close-up slight of hand, a goodly amount of stuff you have probably seen in one fashion or another before. But it is this kind of show, where a magician ‘fashions,’ his own personal spin on classic trickery, showing off how perfect his or her skills are delivered, how he or she can simply take a theatre crowd on a specific journey weaving an hour or so of entertainment seamlessly that makes for a great practitioner of the art.
Cagigal is a great practitioner of his art. In fact, I am not sure I have seen a performer this at ease with himself, his space, his obvious command of what he is doing and with a NYC Village crowd…ever.
I absolutely loved Christian Cagigal’s OBSCURA. See this guy!
For more information onChristian Cagigal, please visit http://www.christiancagigal.com/