The Perfect Brother -- Dwayne Tan

One actor you should be looking out for is Dwayne Tan who reprises the role of Charlie - Lawrence’s son and Priscilla’s brother.

With his soft-spoken ways and sweet nature, Dwayne was the perfect foil for the charismatic Lawrence and hotheaded Priscilla. In fact, when he auditioned for the role, the casters Loretta Chen and Felina Khong said something along the lines of “Eureka! This is it! You are the one!”

Although MAGICBOX is touted more as a magic show than a theatre play, Dwayne is not flustered at all by the fact that he knows not one single magic trick.

“Sure, I was fascinated by magic when I was a young boy,” he recalled, “In fact, I used to think that magicians were making the supernatural happen. Then I learned that magic is just another art form, like acting. The real magic is the people who conceptualise the magic acts.”

Unlike other boys, Dwayne never got round to dabbling with magic, he was too busy pursuing his first love – acting!

Dwayne graduated from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York. He trained with Singapore Armed Forces Music and Drama Company and Theatreworks. He starred in Singapore’s own musical, Beauty World, and worked with other theatre companies like Action Theatre, The Necessary Stage, Imaginarts, among others.

He has released an EP titled Moments Alone; deejayed on radio, voiced for various animated series, and sang on stage for Disney on Ice. Dwayne also garnered good reviews with his performance in the USA theatre scene playing Ching Ho in Merry-Go-Round-Playhouse's "Thoroughly Modern Millie".

Not one of these were grand-scale theatre illusion productions. So, how does he feel being the ‘illiterate’ one with two professional magicians on MAGICBOX?

“Well... They do the magic, I do my acting,” he quipped mildly with a smile. “But seriously, it’s a great cast. I see the two worlds, magic and drama, fusing on this stage.”

For his role, Dwayne gets to do what other boys only dream of – make magic!

“Yup! You’ll see me doing hot stuff, literally. In a Torch Box scene, I’ll be pushing flaming torches into a box with a person inside and the person will remain unscathed. In another scene, I will be disappearing and appearing magically out of nowhere.”

“I can’t tell you more than that; people who get involved in magic productions have to sign a letter of No Disclosure,” he said, showing a cheeky side beneath the wholesome boy-next-door demeanour.

But it’s the acting challenges of the role that gets Dwayne really going.

“It’s a good role. There are lots of Charlies out there overlooked by their parents. They are good kids, but show some rebelliousness because they just want to be heard. Hopefully, parents who come to the show will leave with a better understanding of their children. And kids watching it will know that they are not alone.”

“I believe in doing shows with a good message. And I believe Charlie has something to tell the world.”

Looking and behaving naturally in a role is second nature for Dwayne, but he has had to work harder at it in this show.

“Magic has a presentation front which is quite artificial and yet one has to look and act naturally. Acting is simple compared to all this!” he said, shaking his head.

Dwayne says he is living every actor’s dream – being part of a new fusion of magic and drama. “I’ve played nerds, phantoms, I’ve animated puppets; I’ve played so many different roles that sometimes people don’t recognise that the actor on stage was me. And now this!” he smiles triumphantly, giving it his thumb's up.

Dwayne has lots of plans for the future – write plays, penetrate the US arts scene, direct a production… But for now, he is counting down to the opening performance of MAGICBOX at Esplanade.

And so are we!