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Please indulge me a short while and let me tell you a little story,

I was performing last weekend in Newcastle city centre and a crowd gathered, all the norm for the moment. I had performed two effects in my routine and both had gotten gasps, claps and "Oh my god!"s so I confidently gestured to a young man in the audience and cheerily asked him to join me in my next effect; a booktest. He obliged and we gave him a round of applause, I asked his name and he replied with a firm and concise "Peter."

I gave a little soliloquy about book tests and parapsychology etc and then turned to Peter and asked him to turn to a page previously chosen by another audience member and to read a certain line. He seemed to comply but then when I asked him if he could get an image in his mind of the scene described in his line he looked blank, I didn't dwell on this however and continued to reveal his line to him. I was confident that I was correct yet he didn't seem to be impressed by the stages of the revelation. He gave me no signals or signs that I was right or wrong. I finished revealing it and asked if I was correct, to which Peter replied in a beautiful yet incomprehensible Polish accent "I do not speak English."

There were giggles from the audience and I felt rather embarrassed. I did manage to recover by asking another member of the audience to double check if I'd gotten the correct line and turned it into a memory feat but this detracted enormously from the effect and I left disheartned.

What are your thoughts?

I have no experience street performing, but if it's anything like what I've heard or anything like any other type of performance, I believe it's a case of what can go wrong, will. Now it's happened, you can plan to avoid it next time. Is it not all part of refining an act?

I've done shows in French, Spanish and, on occasion, French and Spanish. These things happen, and often can actually improve a show (ironically).

It happened, you have a story, and it will probably happen again.

Ian

I think if you laughed outloud, clapped his hand and said something self-deprecatory along the lines of - "Wow, I actually translated your mind from Polish to English! but you don't understand even that, right?", the entire audience would've been laughing along with you. Not at you, or at the spectator, but at the entire situation. This, in my view, would've been priceless.

Remember that laughter is contagious. If you laugh at your own fumbles, the audience will laugh as well. And in the end, what is magic but entertainment?

I know that if I was there at the time as a spectator, I'd probably say this was one show I would remember for a long, long time, because it brought comedy into the mix, and made me see the performer as an actual person. I don't mind telling you that whenever I stumble on my foot in a lecture, I just laugh and everybody laughs along. And that's great!

At least you could understand his Polenglish.

It would be even worse for someone outside Newcastle if he had replied in a heavy Geordie accent ?

Whey maaan aaah divvent knaa wot yer meen like. The ownly books aaah knaa hev pictaz in them.

Discombobulator wrote:Whey maaan aaah divvent knaa wot yer meen like. The ownly books aaah knaa hev pictaz in them.

Yes, because all people from Newcastle are really stupid.

Sigh.

screwystewie wrote:Yes, because all people from Newcastle are really stupid.

Sigh.

ooh controvertial.

I perform in lots of pubs around Newcastle. They are friendliest people you could meet and definately not stupid.

When I approach a table and they all speak a different language I do have a couple of 'language independant' props with me. such as the colour changing poker chips. The only words I use are 'casino' £5 £10 and £500.