I think enough time has passed that I can talk about Kit's play INFLUENCE in some detail without spoiling it for other people.
I got tickets for a Wednesday night show, front row center. The Collective Theatre is a pretty small, intimate theatre, seating perhaps 50-60 people total. My partner and I ended up being the only people in the front row - which was legitimately great - as it added to the intimacy. I got to watch Kit perform 8 feet away from me all night, got to see every emotion flicker across his face and every gesture of his hand like he was in my own living room.
The first Act is a magic show. And as a magic show, there's a lot of participation from the audience and a lot of banter from Kit. This play was a perfect showcase for Kit and his charming, playful and flirty personality. His crowd work is excellent. I don't think people realize just how much Jesper-energy Kit has naturally. The first Act also allowed Kit to truly demonstrate his physical prowess. Sure, you could probably glean he was good at the sleight of hand stuff with his Jesper gunslinger, and just how in control of his body he is with his dancing, sword fighting, footballing etc but watching the fluidity of his movements on stage, when he's right in front of you, and you STILL don't see how he did the magic trick even though you are paying rapt attention - is something else.
Because my partner and I were the only two in the front row, we ended up on stage with Kit a lot. He appeared bound on stage with duct tape across his mouth and I had to pull it off to free him, to start the play. I think I was gentle enough and I kept the duct tape as a souvenir, along with two playing cards from another trick - is that weird?
There's another trick where my partner had to handcuff Kit and he made a coy comment to my partner about being very good at that, before looking at me and winking. My partner also helped him with a "mind control" trick, which involved them "psychically" connecting another volunteer to think of the same words.
I also got a chance to participate in one of the bigger magic tricks. When you first walked into the theatre, the ushers handed you a pencil, a small envelope and a slip of paper. You were instructed to write down a secret, seal it in the envelope and put your seat number on it, before dropping it off in a clear box on stage. I knew exactly what I wanted to write; my partner agonized a bit longer. At some point in the evening, Kit began pulling unopened envelopes from the clear box and used his "telepathic" powers to read what's on them - and he picked mine!
After "guessing" my name and birthdate, he started guessing the bulk of the secret with me confirming each correct guess (this is the gist of the interaction):
"Would you say you like your job? But you're doing a lot of meetings over Skype? Zoom? Oh, Google Meet? That's the worst one. And those meetings can get boring, yeah? And when you get bored - you start reading -" he was grinning and his eyes were twinkling - "trashy online fan fiction?"
At this point my face felt beet red, the audience was laughing, and all I could think was "My good man, I am reading trashy fan fics about *your character*, and picturing *you* in my mind." And I think Kit knew. It was simultaneously and hilariously embarrassing and a very fun interaction - all because of how well he handled it.
There's a twist in the latter half of the Play (and this is when it becomes a Play) when Kit's more emotional acting really comes through. Then after the show, he does come out to meet the audience - I'll post about that another time - but he's wonderful in real life too.
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