Revealing Secrets: Reflections on Self-Expression in Craft through Lu Production’s Dazed and Confused
by seah Yi-zai
A magician is an actor playing the role of a magician" — this famous quote from Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin, the father of modern magic, not only underscores that magic is not sorcery but the skilled execution of techniques, but also highlights the distinction between a magician’s real identity and their stage persona in the art of magic. As an actor or performer, their life inevitably oscillates between the stage and offstage, the spotlight and the shadows. In Dazed and Confused, created in collaboration with director Cheng-chun Lee, Lin presents yet another solo performance, refining several earlier versions by weaving together personal life experiences and his journey as a magician. The concept of how a magician engages in "role-playing" has been explored extensively in Lin’s previous works, with Role Play elevating this idea to a question of "manipulation" through the narrative of Chung-Ling Soo.
2022 Role Play at NTCH Experimental Theater
In recent years, many performers in dance, circus, and other skill-based arts have begun to "speak out" and express themselves, giving rise to a trend of "autobiographical" theater among such artists. However, when magicians, as fellow skill-based performers, begin to engage in self-expression, they encounter a more complex set of theatrical challenges.
2022 Role Play at NTCH Experimental Theater
In a theatrical space that relies on constructing illusions and maintaining the fourth wall, the audience’s trust is the final line of defense in the performer-audience relationship. Magic, which demands a high degree of trust from its audience, cannot presuppose its own "falseness" — for magic hinges entirely on the absolute condition of making people believe. Thus, when a magician in a magic theater begins to speak lines or share narratives about their "true" origins beyond the magic performance itself, the audience’s trust must navigate a dual axis: the magic performance and the magician’s self-expression.
2024 Dazed and Confused at Guling Street Avant-Garde Theatre
Yet, despite the emphasis on "magic creating reality" and "earning audience trust," magic remains an art of "concealment." In other words, the truth and mystery of magic must remain an enigma, not easily unraveled. However, when a magician begins to self-express, the act of revealing their personal history transforms into a further "authentication" of theatrical belief. This duality persists: while magic seeks to create reality and secure trust, its essence lies in hiding. When a magician discloses their personal story, this act of revelation becomes a theatrical device to strengthen "authenticity."
Renowned close-up card magician Richard Turner, blind since childhood, spent his life refusing to acknowledge his visual impairment. Through intense self-discipline, he lived as if he were sighted, eschewing a white cane or guide dog. Yet, at the age of 60, in 2014, he decided to create a new solo performance, Pasteboard Warrior. This marked the first time in his half-century career that he openly shared his personal background and reflections on magic, publicly acknowledging his identity as a blind person.
2024 Dazed and Confused at Guling Street Avant-Garde Theatre
Such self-disclosure of personal struggles and vulnerabilities transforms the revelation of secrets into a theatrical sleight-of-hand, reinforcing "authenticity" and "trust." While magic extracts trust from the audience through its performance, the magician’s self-expressive performance further elicits empathy, emotion, and affection. Of course, a magician’s self-expression does not imply that their life experiences or emotions are "acted" out. Rather, through the logic of theater and magic, the magician’s narrative of self-expression inevitably pushes the question of theatrical authenticity to a more complex level. This makes Lu-Chieh Lin’s development of narrative-driven magic theater a compelling advantage worthy of continued attention.