Role Play

The story took place in London at the dawn of the twentieth century. It was about the world-famous Chinese magician Chung Ling-soo. He performed in London every night. The audience went crazy for his magic tricks and flocked to see this oriental man wearing a long robe, a mandarin jacket, and a long braid. But a magician is just someone who knows how to keep secrets. Secrets are the essence of their job. In fact, Chung Ling-soo was not even a Chinese.

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Role Play discusses various ways of “role-playing”. Through the perspective of the magician Lin Lu-chieh, the production discusses the intriguing connection between Lin himself and the magician Chung Ling-soo. The show straddles on the line between fact and fiction. There are a lot of narratives. The essence of magic is explored with stories. And magic is employed experimentally as a way of storytelling. From the discussion of the fakeness of the society, the show moves gradually towards the discovery of the reality of life—the magic hour.