Magic gay, L’Oreal model, wind machine wonder, no shortage of nicknames. Hans Klok crushes Carré with the brand new, evening-filling program Face the Future.
Juicy disappearing and switching tricks alternate with stunning sets, where AI and Virtual Reality predominate. Hans goes for it, he seduces everyone with a ride in his time machine.
In the year 3085, far removed from the present, the famous illusionist Hans Klok faces a crucial mission. With three lithe ladies and a group of muscular men, he travels through centuries and cultures in search of the four elements: earth, water, air and fire. These are needed to stop his runaway digital avatar. To accomplish this, Klok chases his digital double – a talking virtual reality mask, projected on a large screen – through time until it turns into a physical form.
With flowing hair and white blouse – top buttons open – he conquers Carré from the first second. Klok is an entertainer par excellence. His show, with bold American flair, combines thunderous sound effects and impressive light shows. Right hand Zarina Potapova, his leading diva in magic, is reminiscent of the evil witch Maleficent including a black cape. Shortly after the start she appears from the first magic box, later accompanied by Jenily Wagenmakers and Bo Ufkes. The three whip up the audience, make you lick your lips; all excel in flexibility and presence.
Face the Future feels like wandering for two hours in a candy store, with Haribo walls and rainbow lollipop floors. Klok explains that each audience consists of two groups: group 1 leans back relaxed and thinks: ‘Let Klok do a trick’, while group 2 watches critically and tries to unravel its secrets. He has only one message for the latter group: “Good luck!”
Wereldgeschiedenis
Klok has a boundless interest in world history. This becomes clear when he travels through different eras: from ancient Egypt and the Middle Ages to Paris of 1850 and the distant future. Along the way, he collects the four lost elements amid stunning settings, from crypts to pyramids, as he navigates through time in his time machine
.
The show also contains a critical note, because what happens when humanity collides with technology? In portraying it, it is the physical illusions in collaboration with his assistants that transcend music and decor. One disappears into a narrow cupboard with double walls, where not even a toddler can fit, while the other goes missing when Klok drapes a red cloth over her body.
For the layman: magic revolves around ten basic principles: disappear, float, create, transform, move, penetrate, restore, escape, teleport and predict. In this show, Klok particularly excels at disappearing. A woman steps into a coffin, the buckles are pulled tight, and when she opens it, she’s all gone. It’s a shame that the trick is repeated so often that the audience longs for more variety. “Or for God’s sake, let it be an entire train compartment if this continues,” whispers a chic lady in the eleventh row.
Klok mainly surprises with his smaller, more poetic illusions. He talks enthusiastically about the light bulb, invented by Thomas Edison, although magician Robert Houdin (Fun fact: Houdini stole Houdin’s name by adding an ‘i’ after it) was, according to his French compatriots, the real inventor of the light source. Klok lets the light bulb float into the room, and he does this together with his colleague, an excellent mime player, who most likely plays Klok’s subconscious. What follows is a romantic passage, in which the mime artist finds an equal in a blue women’s dress, attached to a coat rack. He charmingly brings this ‘fictional woman’ to life, dances with her, kisses her.
Klok is a fantastic professional deceiver. Not only his illusions, but also his impeccable sense of bad humor (the tasty variety) fit in very well with ‘the brand’ Hans Klok. Only he gets away with comments about ‘watching the clock’ and stupid blondes. Even though the top illusionist doesn’t serve up a special hit at the end, together with his women he is there to stay. Veni, vidi, vici,
said Julius Caesar. I came, I saw, I conquered.
Foto’s: Roy Beusker
Bron: Theaterkrant.nl