Seeing Theatre for What it Could Be

Shawn DeSouza-Coelho (he/him) is a writer, actor, stage manager, and scholar working toward his PhD in York University’s Communication and Culture program. His show, kicked in the end: a magic show, investigates two juxtaposed elements: a harmful personal experience told through the lens of a magic show.  

“My show presents two intertwined stories,” Shawn explains. “My account of being physically assaulted during rehearsal and the events leading up to it in a production in 2022.”  

 “That was such a watershed moment for me,” he shares. “Just how much theatre has always positioned my body as an object to be manipulated. How did my body come to feel simultaneously larger and smaller than itself upon being kicked? And there were witnesses. Why didn’t anyone say anything?” Shawn asks.  

 “So, to make sense of the questions in the present, I’m telling them through the lens of a magic show,” he explains. “That may seem strange – but as the sole keeper of knowledge, the magician is the one who supposedly holds all the power. How do I hold and wield this power responsibly?” he ponders.  

 As both artist and academic, Shawn questions how we negotiate power in theatre to make room for others. It’s a necessary question, a question that challenges familiar – and inherently colonial – models of theatre making. 

 “What I’m trying to do with this show is unpack and make sense of my career as a racialized performer in the theatre industry. Which, to this day in Canada, is an incredible colonial inheritance. And that inheritance is ubiquitous, and it’s more pervasive than I think people realize.” 

“The thing that I really hope the Audience gets from this is that they begin to see theatre itself differently,” Shawn urges. “To see the institution we’re in not only for what it is but also for what it could be. To really feel that uncertainty and possibility deeply. What do they do with that, that’s up to them. But my hope is to try to help them get to that place. That they’re able to see this thing we call the theatre in a different way.” 

“This is not a typical magic show,” continues Shawn. “It evolves into this process of co-creation where I’m building an illusion with the Audience.”  

“One of the illusions in my show involves a wooden spoon, twine, painters’ tape, a wine glass, and a steel nut. And these are just normal things – there’s nothing funny or gimmicky about them,” he says. “But these seemingly normal things are put together in a way that ends up feeling miraculous; it’s unexpected.”  

“And, I suppose, what happens from there – the audience will just have to come see it!” 

Grab tickets to kicked in the end: a magic show in Venue 8, Kick Point Old Strathcona Performing Arts Centre at fringetheatre.ca.