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How to be Dumped is subtitled, “a sort of magic show”, which is an accurate description. The multitalented Sam Lupton has written this part magic, part storytelling, and part musical theatre collage of performance art as a sort of active therapy to help himself get over his recent difficult breakup. It sounds like it will be a mess, but much like Lupton‘s self described mental state, that’s only how it starts, by the end of the show the disparate elements are revealed to be the necessary pieces to tell the whole of the story.

The biggest surprise to someone who just glanced at the poster before seeing this show is probably the musical aspect. Lupton walks the audience through the stages of a breakup, and each stage comes with an original musical number, which Lupton performs using his voice and a piano. The songs are a lot of fun, and weave the thread of the story that Lupton illustrates through magic.

The magical effects are performed well, with mis-sleights few and far between. An early moment that sets the tone is when Lupton uses magic to set up two members of the audience on a mock date. In true magician fashion, he reveals that he predicted from the start that the two participants chosen would be perfect for each other, only to play on that expectation of magical omnipresence to highlight the flaws and frustrations of online dating. It’s an interesting and thoughtful use of the tropes of magic that illustrate how Lupton approaches the tricks used in the show; it’s very much story-forward, and the way Lupton uses tricks highlights the storyline more than the magic itself.

That being said, there are some great reveals.  Lupton has audience members write down a regret before the show and then throw them in a garbage bin onstage, a fitting symbolic act.  He does rummage through the bin to find some regrets and successfully read them from people’s minds, politely respecting those that request they not be revealed to the audience, but concluding that the bin really was the best place for the secrets. 

Magicians have to lie in their shows, otherwise the audience couldn’t experience them as magical, but the heart of How to be Dumped feels like it’s come from somewhere honest. If it’s not quite a magic show, it feels like the performing artist’s version of kintsugi, repairing a shattered object with gold to make it whole. It’s an exceptionally creative sort-of magic show, and the patchwork of artistic talents fits that theme of reconstruction. No one could leave the show not wanting to see more from Lupton, although for the sake of his mental health hopefully on a different theme.