Professional magician Luis Wong (黃志輝) spoke with The Macau Post Daily about his career, the art and facets of magic and the importance of learning it during an interview at a café in Nam Van last week.
A game of 3 card monte
Wong, who has done countless shows of varying sizes and platforms, said that his interest in magic started when he was around 10 years old after watching a few TV programmes. He later started to pursue magic after a trip to the mainland at a time when street scams were common and found himself in a game of three-card monte, a confidence game that tricks victims into betting money assuming that they can find the money card among three playing cards lying face-down.
Though he lost a few games, he said that he was more amazed than disappointed and became curious. Wong would then go to the library and bookshops to read books on magic and cheating at playing cards. He then read about some magic tricks that he practised and later did small performances for his friends, which amazed them. “At that time, I really fell in love with magic”, Wong said. Wanting to do “something special that people can remember me by”, magic brought him this feeling and he would go on to buy more books on the craft, learning the basic skills and tricks and practising everything on his own without a teacher or “sifu” (the Cantonese word for “master”).
Thoughts of pursuing a professional career came after a really good friend offered to pay him to perform at a birthday party. It brought him to a realisation: “What I love is magic” and he could earn money by doing what he loves, prompting him to becoming a professional performer.
Asked about notable challenges that he faced throughout his career, he pointed out learning how to overcome camera shyness and stage fright during earlier performances, which was overcome with practice. However, he remarked that there is no perfect show as “there is always a devil behind the stage”, a performance slogan, with unexpected on-stage problems for performers.
The art and multi-faceted nature of magic
“Magicians paint with magic” Wong said, adding that “magicians need to know how to paint” as he explained why, in his opinion, it is the most difficult art form.
“If you want to be a magician, you have to learn many, many things” the 43-year-old emphasised, as magic requires more than just knowing how to perform tricks. Wong noted that a magician needs to incorporate many factors such as mathematics, psychology and chemistry into their tricks and shows, as well as tools for certain gimmicks. Moreover, magic has many forms ranging from coin and card tricks to stage and close-up magic, which Wong said he likes the most especially as it enables him to communicate with people.
He also pointed out that he needed to learn how to present himself and become a skilled showman as when performers are on stage, “communicating with people is really important” as the first 10-15 seconds can determine whether people will like you or not. “This is not magic, but this is what you need in your magic”, also adding that a good performer must know how to control situations.
Best parts, hopes and importance of magic
Reactions, great experiences and valuable memories such as representing Macau in a magic competition on a Japanese TV show are among the things that are the best parts of magic, Wong said.
“Magic is a very good skill [that] people need to learn, no matter if you really want to be a magician or are just a normal person” Wong said, as knowing even just one or two tricks can bring people together or be an ice-breaker. It can also change people.
On his hopes for magic for the future, he notes that it could play a part in diversifying Macau’s economy as well as “expressing magic” for the people of Macau in ways such as being part of something that can make people happy when they are stressed or sad. Though difficult, he hopes to be able do so such as by opening a magic bar.
Wong said he hopes that more people can support the work of magicians and that the government can find ways to support, sponsor and build the industry in Macau. “Macau needs to change” and it “needs to build many kinds of industries to attract people” to come and see the city, he said.
Wong’s tricks and performances can also be seen on Instagram at luiswong718 and YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/user/luiswong718)
Luis Wong poses after last week’s interview
Wong showcases some of the props he uses to perform magic tricks
These undated handout photos were provided by Luis Wong.
