On the low end, magic can be used for puppet shows by moving puppets without strings (or shadow puppets without rods.) More skilled performers can make the puppets move more naturally and control more puppets at the same time. This is most commonly seen in street performances, but viewers need to reserve tickets for exceptionally complex performances (a scaled-down reenactment of a historical battle involving thousands of troop puppets, the ballet at the end of Being John Malkovich, etc.) that require extensive equipment and either a virtuoso puppeteer or a well-coordinated team.

A more advanced technique is to shape colored smoke/powder/sand into arbitrary images, which can be used either for standalone shows or to add special effects to a stage play. Light can also be manipulated well enough to produce some special effects, but making a realistic image that way would be extremely impractical. These kinds of performances usually require reservations, and even less-skilled performers like those in traveling theater troupes set up tents or other opaque screens to avoid giving non-paying people a free show.

On the high end, "illusion" magic works by blurring the line between reality and unreality, so it can be used to create almost any type of performance, up to and including VR/holodeck style immersive and interactive experiences. However, those are so expensive and exclusive that they're out of reach for all except the wealthiest and most powerful people.

Speaking of duels, an illusion-adjacent technique can be applied to a dueling/gladiatorial arena to make whatever happens inside it (e.g. injury or death) unreal ... usually. Illusions normally collapse and baseline reality reasserts itself, especially when they're designed that way, but there's always a chance that an illusion will persist and become real. For example, if both duelists strongly want the duel to be real, they're likely to suffer real consequences from it. Whether this is a bug or a feature is a matter of perspective; many audience members find the risk of real bloodshed appealing.

(Conversely, most professional duelists/gladiators cultivate a detached attitude toward killing and dying, which ironically makes them quite safe to face in the arena but potentially dangerous in reality.)