In an age of cynicism, Las Vegas-based illusionist Rob Lake’s recent performance at Mumbai’s Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC) was nothing short of a masterclass in the art of awe. In those few minutes, reality was suspended, and one existed in an alternate plane where magic was not trickery, but a manoeuvring of the mind to see and feel the impossible.
From the moment he asked a woman to step into a towering box, reality began to unravel. He started folding it into smaller boxes, until no human being could possibly fit inside. The suspense deepened as he, almost with ritualistic precision, stabbed the box with swords on every side. Then, as if reversing time itself, Lake removed the swords and unfolded it. With a magician’s flourish, he opened the door to let the woman emerge unscathed, but white as a sheet. She snapped open a Japanese fan, and with one swift flick, the colour returned to her face. It was a perfect crescendo of illusion and a reminder that, in the hands of a skilled magician, the rules of existence can easily fall apart.
The performance was a seamless balance of spectacle and storytelling. Lake didn’t just craft illusions, but also built narratives around them, taking the audience along on this fantastical joyride. In one trick, he asked three audience members to give him their rings. And then with a sleight of hand, he wove the separate bands into a single, interlocked chain, as if the metal had yielded to his will. Gasps rippled through the audience. Then, upon untangling the rings, he returned two to their owners, while keeping the third. Playing the moment like a master violinist, he searched his pockets and feigned confusion. And then, out of nowhere, the missing ring reappeared on the finger of its owner. This was not a trick; it was a tear in the fabric of reality.
As Lake weaves his enchanting dreamscape, the audience is a participant, yearning to rediscover that childlike sense of wonder. At one point, his performance turned deeply personal, as he reminisced about his childhood and the potency of magic in his life. He saw his first magic show around the age of 10 and knew in that instant that it was what he wanted to do with his life. “It wasn’t a feeling like, ‘Oh, how cool would it be’,” he told THE WEEK before the show. “I fully knew it. It was as if I had been programmed with divine instruction. I think what hooked me was this overwhelming sense of complete wonder. I was so inspired to see that anything could be possible. Afterwards, I went to the library and got every book they had on magic. I was obsessed. I could not get enough. I still find all sorts of ideas and inspiration in old magic books.”
In 2008, Rob became the youngest magician to receive the Merlin Award―the holy grail of the magic world―for ‘international stage magician of the year’. He has also performed on America’s Got Talent, but the turning point was when he was first selling out and headlining some of the largest theatres and casinos in the US. “My parents’ friends were calling them to say, ‘We saw your kid on billboards’,” he says. “That is when I think they realised it was going to work out for me, and when I could finally breathe―my career was solid at last.”
Lake provides an almost cinematic experience, with dance and music, much beyond the conventional boundaries of stage magic that we have grown up with. The theatrical grandeur makes you teleport―to a place where you unlearn what you have learnt, and learn what is yet unlearnt. A place where its creator can make a cocktail napkin dance to his tune, then turn it into a paper flower which, when lit, turns into a real rose, which he then gives to a woman in the audience. It has taken Lake years of discipline to master his craft, but he says there have been numerous times when things did not go according to plan. However, he has learnt from each of them. “Now, from experience, I know when I am creating a new illusion, I must prepare fully,” he says. According to him, a significant part of the planning is preparing for everything that can go wrong so that the audience will never know. Then there are things beyond his control, like when the power went out once in the entire part of the city in which he was performing. “If that happens, I just go out and talk to the audience,” he says. “It is a live experience, we are all in on it together, and we make the most of it.”
In the two hours of his performance, Lake managed to establish a connection with the audience, all his illusions being executed with impeccable artistry. In the end, he got a standing ovation. Part of the appeal of a Lake show is its universality. As he himself put it, “We all have gravity, no matter what language we speak. So, when I levitate, the experience is the same all over the world.”
For someone who has worked on productions like The Phantom of the Opera and Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Lake's first love has always been theatre. And that is why, he adds, his shows are so large and theatrical. “As a side hobby, I have created illusions, special effects and more for tons of shows―Broadway musicals, theme parks, concert shows―and I even designed illusions and special effects for Adele’s Las Vegas concert,” he says.
Lake believes we need magic and whimsy now more than ever, in this fast-paced, pressure-cooker world of ours. "I think we need authenticity. It’s ironic because I deceive people for a living. I do the impossible. However, the experience you have seeing my show is an authentic one that can only be fully realised live. We are so addicted to our phones. When people come together for a few hours in my show, they get to relax and be present. They get to leave the chaos and the busy world behind. They turn off their phones. And being in the moment, experiencing wonder, is pure magic to me.” For a people to whom maya or illusion is an ingrained philosophy, Lake’s ‘deception’ might be pointing to a deeper truth than he realises.