A Devilishly Delightful Prelude to TK Fringe: ‘El Diablo of the Cards 2.0’
A tight 45 minutes of magic served with a citrus twist. Hailing from Ouro Preto, Brazil, Ewerton Martins—better known as El Diablo of the Cards—is a globetrotting magician and card-carrying clown. His last local appearance was at TK Fringe in 2019, where audiences were enraptured by his devilish charisma and skillful sleight of hand. This year, El Diablo is back to kick off Theatre Kingston’s summer programming with two performances of his latest show: El Diablo of the Cards 2.0.
In a small, dimly-lit studio on the ground floor of the Tett Centre, a few dozen chairs are arranged around a table. As spectators shuffle in, Scott Joplin’s iconic piano rag “The Entertainer” plays over the audio system, followed by a brass band arrangement of the same tune, and so on. Giggles emerge as people pick up on the repetition.
And there he is: the Entertainer! Wearing a poker-themed necktie, a classic clown nose, black suspenders, and a red button-down shirt (with suspiciously long and loose sleeves—though I never managed to spot any cards going in or out of them), El Diablo of the Cards grins around the room, makes puppy dog eyes, and chats a little with the audience. “Five more minutes,” he jokes a few times, before starting the show in earnest. Once it begins, there are no delays and no dry moments—it’s wall-to-wall card tricks, banter, and laughter, with a jaw-dropping finish involving a knife and a lime.
Audience engagement is a fundamental feature of magic shows, and El Diablo works the room like he was born with a deck of cards in his hand and a sly smile on his face. While most of his illusions remain a mystery, there is one trick where all but two audience members are let in on the secret. Far from breaking the spell, getting to see the misdirection at work had me even more entranced, and I watched the rest of the show all the more unblinkingly as I tried to figure out how he was pulling the wool over our eyes.
The Friday night crowd was full of familiar faces from Kingston’s theatre community—actors and playwrights whose work I’ve grown accustomed to seeing on stage—and with close-packed seating and multiple interactive moments, there was a slightly surreal blur between performance and spectatorship. Cheerful interjections and cheeky misinterpretations of Martins’ instructions—“Can you name a card?” “George!”—were well-timed and contributed nicely to the show.
Audiences on El Diablo’s tour circuit can look forward to an entertaining and dynamic experience. Meanwhile, there’s plenty of excitement in the cards for theatregoers in Kingston this summer—from late July to mid-August, the Kick & Push Festival will offer a curated lineup of innovative performances, while its self-proclaimed “UNCENSORED! UNCURATED! UNBORING!” lottery-selected counterpart, TK Fringe, runs for the first week and a half of August, featuring 18 shows in 3 venues downtown.
‘El Diablo of the Cards 2.0’ played at Theatre Kingston’s Tett Centre studio on July 12th and 13th, 2024.
TK Fringe runs from August 1st to 11th, 2024. The festival schedule and ticket information can be found here.
The Kick & Push Festival runs from July 25th to August 18th, 2024. Programming announcements and tickets are coming soon and will be available here.
