Raynar Rogers
In a burst of slight-of-hand card tricks and dazzling showmanship, Lin Lu-Chieh, our evening’s performer and creator of Dazed and Confused, challenges the audience to keep up with a myriad of performative and spectacular card tricks. There is a feeling of momentous optimism. In fact, if you’d told me that Lin Lu-Chieh could pull a card out of any orifice I’d believe you. Cards appearing from mid-air in high numbers seem to be a reoccurring theme Lu’s act. Lu is slick and charming.
The narrative is well thought through, a relatable coming of age story that takes us back to Lu’s teenage years. We relive with him the agony of desperately wanting to be skilled at something and the slightly less relatable trials and tribulations of being able to recite pi but being unable to master math. Reciting pi and tracing specific number combinations chosen by the audience is an impressive moment that offers us a glimpse of the diversity in his skillset. Within the story careful moments of sentimentality and humour are weaved in alongside clever tricks to highlight the story. It is a lovely touch to make a baseball appear during an emotional segment on baseball, and a delightful dash of sweetness to use Taylor Swift’s Love Story to walk us through imagery of a high school singing contest.
The tricks are thrilling and performed with a nod and a wink. The audience is engaged and willing to get involved, but the audience interaction is limited to a few short moments that feel less fluent than the rest of the show. There are lovely moments of storytelling that tell of a complicated relationship with his father and the dynamic of Lin’s comparison to his sisters.
While the performance works well and Lu is a very comfortable performer to spend an hour with, the performance can go further. In particular it is missing a stronger breadth of topical commentary that would serve the story beyond focusing on Lin’s journey and allow audiences to build understanding through concept to deepen a relationship between the work and the audience. There is room to explore the theme of loneliness outside of the more obvious sense of the word, outside of wanting a girlfriend or not finding a suitable passion in life. Lu has the perfect charisma and bag of tricks to pull off a far more accomplished and nuanced script.
The show is simple, entertaining and engaging. Lu is a standout performer with a lot of great ideas. I’d love to see these ideas developed into a greater contextual experience. This show could be a knock out!
Recommended Drink: Something smoky and rich like an Old Fashioned. Be careful not to let it disappear in an instant!
You can catch Dazed and Confused one final time today Saturday 30th May from 19:00 at Divadlo Inspirace. Tickets are available through the Prague Fringe Online Box Office.
Magdaléna Škerenčák
Salvador Kent
