Although this performance is in Japanese, this is not a barrier to reflect about this performance from Max. As a matter of fact, it is an opportunity to observe his non-verbals, and learn.
In our own understanding of Mystery Performance, this piece is mostly understood as a Mental Magic/Bizarre piece and not strictly Mentalism.
Maybe you can think...who cares? Real audiences just enjoy our performance.
And I agree, but it is always good to have proper understanding of our acts. By this I dont take off ANY of the impact of this mystery piece. Max is an expert and he creates amazing moments.
Personally, I love any performance art that is done with love, and we can feel that this piece from Max is done with attention to detail and desire to impact.
At the end of the day, do whatever you enjoy. If you care, and you communicate if in an effective manner, your audience will care.
We can see his handling of the props as very casual and innocent, which is perfect. As always, in "What we can learn about", we dont care about the actual method used, but the technical aspects that are not present (most of the times) in the literature.
Whenever you perform, always rehearse not just your script and actions, but also something so simple as pocket management. Please watch how Max doesnt have any fumbling whenever he takes his props. This is very important and communicates a lot.
Remember, details ARE important.
I truly love the moment in which Max does the spell while he burns the voodoo card (3:19). This offer not just a dramatic moment, but also realism to the experience.
Please watch several times the revelation and climax of this routine. You can see that Max stays in silence, his body doesnt move. This is PERFECT and we must take this as a technique to let people FEEL and absorb the experience.
We can have the tendency to talk and talk to "fill silence". SILENCE IS POWERFUL.
Simplicity is powerful. If you think about it, the effect in here is very simple to understand, and thats GOOD.
Be simple, be realistic, and let people enjoy your pieces.
Thanks Max for the constant inspiration!
CONVERSATION