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AbracaDaring! is a full-evening, theatrical performance. A simply wizard! addition to any fine arts series. With the consummate skill of a world traveled escamoteur, David Avadon unveils mesmerizing sleight of hand shaded with conjuring lore and outrageous humor.
 
Audiences sit rapt, enchanted by the breadth of Avadon's accomplishments. His feats of dexterity reveal years of patient application. As Rama Khan, the mysterious carnival mind reader, he divines secret-most thoughts. He's a virtuoso of the Tamasudare, a Japanese folk art which involves the deft manipulation of bamboo sticks. He's a daring pickpocket, and one of the few masters in the world of this underground art. His rendering of Wen Fa Sheng, Chinese Conjurer, requires expertise in the graceful, precise movements of Chinese Opera. A master story teller, his performance is peppered with picaresque stories of the sorcerers and scamps who first performed these sleights of hand to entertain the sophisticated and hoodwink the unsuspecting.
Wonder has been a part of the theatrical experience since the first deus ex machina lurched into view, since the first mechanically produced peal of thunder rolled across the stage. AbracaDaring! is an evening devoted to wonders. The kind you watch—shreds of paper untear themselves in a blink, heavy lumber is suspended at Avadon's fingertips—and the kind that nest in your imagination forever—you check the time and discover Avadon wearing your watch, you think of a playing card and see that very card crawl eerily from the deck to meet you.
 
Each bafflement is infused with Avadon's irrepressible humor. Those he brings on stage have so much fun, spectators stop laughing only to gasp in disbelief.
Audiences leave the performance beguiled by the mysteries, fascinated by the lore, and, almost certainly, considering the wonder of theater in a brand new way.
AbracaDaring! debuted at The London Theatre Festival in Ontario, Canada. It became the best attended event of the festival and garnered this review in the London Free Press:
"Within five minutes, the audience was enchanted. The sleight of hand was beyond clever. At times, it was a delicate dance. At others, a cosmic joke. But most exquisite was the storytelling, which covers two centuries and three continents of wizardry, sideshow and shystering. Wonderful."
Running time: 2 hours with one intermission
Performance requirements: AbracaDaring! can be performed in any well-equipped theatre space, even the most intimate. On grand stages, the performance is expanded to include The Wonders of Wen Fa Sheng and other large performance pieces.
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