Magic for Different Cultures.

Hi all, Wayne here.

On the 25th March 2025 I was booked for my third visit to perform for a group of Japanese students in the UK, I did two shows last year (August) for the same group (different students) and had an absolute blast.

Last nights show went really well but was a lot harder for a number of unforeseen reasons, so today I thought I would share with a bare bones review of the show and why some things landed great and others did not hit with the impact I would have liked.

Firstly let me reiterate, the show was a great success with the organisers, teachers and students having a great show, but not every effect was a knockout, and most of the reason for that falls on me.

There is a great saying,
"Fail to prepare, prepare to fail"
This was me last night.

okay lets break it down.

The show is a 1 hour show in a beautiful small amphitheatre in the famous Peterhouse College Theatre in Cambridge UK, it holds a couple of hundred people and with a small raised stage area.

The show was for 38 Japanese students over on a 2 1/2 week science and language trip to Cambridge and Oxford. in previous groups the ages have ranged from 18 - 25 and last night the students were all 16 years old, a mix of boys and girls and I was also informed the group were not from the affluent schools in Japan but rather a smaller community school around 200km from Tokyo.

What I had not considered (because both of the other groups spoke excellent English) was that this group would not have a high level of English comprehension.

They spoke some english but some tricks did not land for me, a prime couple of examples would be:

The Prestige - Hug / Kill version
Pegasus Page (Which I ditched from the show when i realised it wouldn't be understood)
My own Jumbo Deck effect which they didn't understand what had happened.

whilst tricks like

Sponge Balls (of course)
Professor's Nightmare
20th Century Silks
Cards Across
Water Pistols
Tenyo Missing Piece

all got great reactions so what was the difference?

well the main difference is that the tricks that involved reading or some level of comprehension of the instructions given tended to fall flat due to their level of language skills, the tricks that had more visual elements and less physical instructions were the ones that landed best, now this may appear obvious as you read this, but mainly due to previous shows I was caught a little off guard.

Another issue I faced last night is that the Japanese are a very different in their culture than in the UK, one being that they are from a very strict and disciplined society.
This means that they are very polite and have a high level of self control.

I have worked and lived all over the world and understand societal differences but last night I experience a big difference from anything I had seen before, unlike the other Japanese students I have met, this group, as a whole, were a lot more shy and quiet, which I learnt from one of the teachers, is very common in the Japanese society.

Young people in Japan, especially in societal groups like school have a tendency to form a symbiotic group empathy, and last night the group was very quiet, this was not just aimed at me, the organisers told me they are like this all the time.

If I had been pre-warned or knew about this I could have brought other effects that would not have needed me to tap into the communal audience bond, which I would be focused on in a normal show.

The lesson learnt here is to be prepared for this by asking what kind of group this is, rather than assume that because I had performed for other students that all groups would be the same.

One thing I have learnt from working around the world is that knowing, even a small amount, of the language, will get you an enormous amount of respect from the audience.

Good evening - Kon'nichiwa
Goodbye - Sayōnara
Thank you - Arigatō

and a few other words and numbers had a huge impact with the students last night, I even got some laughs with one young man attempting to teach me colours in Japanese, red and blue and green were ok but I tripped up on Purple getting a huge laugh from the group, purple in Japanese is "Murasaki", something I will never forget now.

So to finish the secret to learn here is that by asking more questions, doing a little research, being prepared for some cultural differences and most importantly NOT assuming from previous experience that all groups will be the same, you will be better prepared when you stand up and perform the show.

Once again I had a great show it was brilliant and I loved every moment as did the audience, the feedback was great, but as a performer I also learnt I can do more, be better prepared and up my game and deliver the best show I can and be the best performer I can be.