Lin Lu-Chieh

TAIWAN SEASON: BIRTHDAY PARTY

☆☆☆☆

It’s not really a party if there’s no magician around. Lin Lu-Chieh has had plenty of experience providing the magic in other people’s parties, but this year at Taiwan Season: Birthday Party he is both the magic and the celebrant, throwing an exceptionally magical birthday party for himself and inviting the entire Edinburgh Fringe to celebrate with him.

Lu’s magic and routines are consistently and delightfully birthday party themed. Scottish audiences may even learn a little bit about Taiwanese culture, with one of Lu’s early routines showcasing a candy that he grew up eating at friends’ birthday parties. A later highlight is Lu’s celebratory take on a dangerous magic classic, making this usually serious effect feel unusually playful and fun.

Both magic and birthday parties often require more than one person for maximum effect, and Lu does indeed invite the occasional participant to join him onstage. An affable host, Lu makes them all feel welcome. At the reviewed show, it was notable that Lu attracted a particularly friendly audience. When one participant who had arrived alone was involved in an effect that she couldn’t witness due to her role in it, an audience member seated near her quickly filled her in once she returned to her seat, without disrupting the next routine. The fact that his audience was willing to pitch in is a testament to the type of people that he is attracting to his show.

Lu’s Birthday Party is undoubtedly a success, both as a party and as a show. With its early time slot, Lu wisely keeps it family friendly to maximize appeal. While he does indulge in the very occasional joke that is more aimed at children, Birthday Party is largely performed to appeal to adult audiences as well. If birthday parties are the individual’s annual celebration of themselves, the Fringe is undoubtedly the performing arts community’s equivalent. Lu’s Birthday Party Fringe show is the perfect way to mark both occasions, celebrating himself and the art of magic.

LIN LU-CHIEH: TAIWAN SEASON: DAZED AND CONFUSED

☆☆☆

Who doesn’t love talking about themselves? Autobiographical magic shows are a classic for a reason, especially for a magician introducing themselves to a new marketplace. Lin Lu-Chieh’s Taiwan Season: Dazed and Confused is excitingly not just his Edinburgh Fringe debut, but his fully-English-language debut, and it’s a memorable introduction. Dazed and Confused is light on magic but big on heart, and Lin is easy to watch onstage.

Lin utilizes the magic in his show in a consistently thoughtful way, the tricks feel well chosen to highlight the story. If there is the occasional moment where the sleight of hand feels a little bit clumsy—maybe a card edge peeking out where it shouldn’t, or a prop that is slightly fumbled—it’s only because the Edinburgh Fringe has such a high standard of magic, and it doesn’t have a huge effect on the overall enjoyment of the audience. There are plenty of magic highlights in the show, most notably a sequence in which Lin demonstrates his enthusiastic performance of the first card trick he learned to all of his friends and classmates. Lin has perfected the balancing act of performing the same trick over and over just often enough for it to feel entertaining each time, making this routine particularly fun to watch.

Naturally following from the light sprinkling of magic is a light sprinkling of audience participation. At the reviewed show, Lin found ample participants in the front row who were visibly delighted to take part onstage. Lin’s personable stage presence made joining in on the act an appealing proposition.

The story that Lin tells about his journey into magic is compellingly relatable. At a time where the concept of finding and staying in one dream job forever is increasingly unrealistic, Lin’s tale of stumbling in to magic as a just one attempt of many to find something that he is both passionate about and able to excel at will ring true for many who are watching. Lin simultaneously demonstrates and pokes fun at the advice he received early on from his father, that miracles aren’t real but are just the result of persistence. With enough strategically applied persistence, he may not yet be a baseball star but at least he is able to create miracles in front of his audience.

With a lunchtime time slot, central venue, and family friendly theme, Taiwan Season: Dazed and Confused is sure to be a hit this Fringe. Lin’s magic-flavored recollections of his childhood easily hold the audience’s attention, and his creative approach to magic performance leaves them excited to see what he does next.