At this magical performance, you won’t know what you’re seeing. In a large black viewing box, a woman plays with light, shadow and mirrors. Like some kind of magician, she conjures up images that aren’t actually there. She does everything very quietly, and the audience can follow exactly what she is doing. And yet everything seems to float or disappear.

Spanish playwright Macarena Recuerda Shepard knows all about “optical illusions. And of the carnival rides that in earlier times wowed audiences with tricks of sight. The title of The Watching Machine recalls the “viewing machines” that were built with screens and mirrors. With this solo, which won several awards in Spain, Recuerda Shepard turns the stage into a watching machine. One critic described the performance as “a beautiful, funny, exciting, relaxing, fascinating and hypnotic visual spectacle.