Cuifo clarifies that the show presents “presentation magic” rather than “personal magic.” That is, the presentation is more one-sided and lacks the transactional element that comes with audience participation. This is just an aside, but the show is moving from a more traditional magic show format, with coins disappearing and autonomous cards that bounce and flip on and around characters, to something more intimate. and how the show transitions.
Hunath’s candid interrogation (“Where’s Steve in this?”) and detached response (“So what?” Quifo asks after performing a card trick that took him 14 years to master) is at times hard to hear. Sometimes, however, the poor sound quality of the tape reveals a sharp thinker. Those familiar with his work, such as The Thin Place, a ghost story of sorts, and Dana H., another lip-synced simulacrum of a harrowing real-life story about Hunath’s mother. It shouldn’t come as a surprise to A record in which she recounted her experiences. (It remains one of the most memorable experiences I’ve had in the theater.) Still, the piece occasionally pits Fnaat when he questions how much of Quifo’s magic is imitation. As such, his vanity is too blatant, and each trick is a variation of another trick. Themes — yes, imitations.
After all, this is a show with a deliberately self-defeating concept. It is about subverting one art form’s craftsmanship by adopting another art form that uses similar kinds of craftsmanship to reveal aspects of humanity. But there’s an occasional tedious element to this behind-the-scenes making effort, with some built-in frustrations, such as when Quifo has to do tricks he knows won’t work.
A charming performer, the quifo subverts the flashy style that many professional magicians are familiar with. He is reserved and based on both gestures and speaking. And the difficulty of what he does should not be underestimated. He not only repeats his own part of the dialogue, but reproduces the pauses, rhythms and stresses naturally and in sync with the Hnato voice.
The piece is carefully thought out, but with Louisa Thompson’s understated landscape design (two tables, office window backdrop) and Hunas’ intelligent staging, in the end something is still missing. The sensation remains: a deeper interrogation of Quifo and Hunath himself, something even more personal. We never reveal the full story.
