The Story of the Wizard, the King, & the Fool

The Wizard, the King, and the Fool follows the process of individuation, described by Carl Jung as “the psychological process that makes of a human being an ‘individual’-a unique, indivisible unit or ‘whole man,’” (Jung). The show is organized into several acts which correspond to distinct archetypes, “universal, inborn models of people, behaviors, and personalities that play a role in influencing human behavior” (i.e. the Wizard, the King, and the Fool). These archetypes form part of the collective uncsonscious, which can be thought of as an instincintual, biologically inherited, “psychic system of a collective, universal, and impersonal nature which is identical in all individuals” (Jung). Jung believed that the path toward individuation largely meant becoming aware of and integrating one's own archetypes in order to create inner harmony. For more information regarding Jung's theories, visit the Book Synopsis page.

Each archetype is embodied through several songs which explore different aspects of their respective archetype. Furthermore, the music is accompanied by visuals consisting of AI-generated animations and video compilations that mimick dreaming and a state of "active imagination", whose symbolism Jung believed was a powerful tool in understanding the archetypes and the unconscious mind. The following is a list of each song in the performance and its lyrics. It is followed by an explanation of the 'map' of the performance used in the promotional material which may be used to better understand the stucture of the show.

The black circle/triangle symbol in the middle represents the psyche, with dark and light representing unconsciousness and consciousness respectively. Each point on the triangle/prism represents an archetype the performance exposes, the idea being that as more and more archetypes are made conscious, the more whole the psyche becomes. The prism depicted above the head gives a 3-dimensional perspective of the triangle, revealing more depth to the psyche and a 4th point/archetype, which alludes to the archetype of the syzygy, representing non-duality and the union of masculine/feminine consciousness.

Each act in the performance explores both the positive and negative aspects of each archetype, which is represented by the shading of the triangle. For example, while the Wizard archetype has the strengths of vision, reativity, and independence, it struggles with megalomania, social isolation, and manipulation. The perceived negative qualities of the Wizard are then flipped and turned into the strengths of the King, (i.e. courage, leadership, and ambition) within the next act. The show presents how the strengths and weaknesses of each archetype may be harmonized to create a more united, balanced psyche.

As the performance progresses more of the unconscious is explored. This is represented by the counter-clockwise spiral, as “a leftward (counter clockwise) movement indicates towards the unconscious” As Jung observed in his studies of symbology. The spiral also traces the character development and metamorphosis of the Wizard into the Syzygy. Furthermore, layers of costume are removed with each act to reveal the next archetype concealed underneath, just as “individuation is to divest the self of false wrappings” (Jung).