Show: The Norman Magic Experience

On Saturday November 4, magician Norman Ng performed on the Assembly Hall stage, dazzling a crowd of Exonians with illusions and card tricks.

Ng called a number of student volunteers onto the stage to assist him with the performance, reading their minds and even taking one of the participants’ phones and making it reappear in a different location.

Ng has been a magician for 24 years. During that time, he has gained national acclaim and travelled across the United States and Canada. His act was featured on the television show “Penn and Teller Fool Us” on the CW Network. Ng’s official website explains his unique approach to magic. “He views his show as a conversation with an audience rather than a performance for them,” the website says.

This method of magic was especially apparent in Ng’s first trick, in which he materialized a bowling ball from a sketch. Before the show, Ng had students write down a list of words. During the performance, an audience member selected bowling ball from the list of words as the object for Ng to draw, and the item then fell out of his sketchpad. Lower Matt Wabunoha found this trick particularly mesmerizing. “I try to see what magicians are really doing when they perform tricks, but that came out of nowhere,” Wabunoha said.

Lower Rose Coviello considered this trick to be one of his best, but was also impressed when he bent the tines of a fork with his mind.

However, she added that these tricks were not unique to Ng’s show and that she would have preferred more variety in the performance, particularly because both another magician and a mentalist duo have already performed at Exeter this year. “Magic is fun, but I think Exeter could switch it up a bit more,” Coviello said.

Lower Helen Xiu agreed that she was familiar with many of the tricks Ng executed. She said, “I think because Exeter has invited so many magicians to perform since my prep year, I’ve seen almost all of his tricks previously from other performers.” Although Xiu enjoys the magic shows, she thinks students would be more inclined to attend different types of entertainment. “Personally, I would like to see more musical performances like college acapella groups,” she said. Upper Eugene Hu similarly noted an increase in the number of magicians brought to the school this year, and commented that the greater number of magic acts coincided with the creation of a magic club on campus.

Although students had seen some of his tricks, many thought the show was special because of Ng’s personality and approach to magic. Hu said that people say “that magic and comedy go hand in hand, and I feel like that’s what his act was. He incorporated his own humor and his own jokes.” Hu added about Ng, “Overall, he’s a lot more interactive than a lot of other magicians I have seen. He adapts to a crowd really well.”

As a magician himself, Hu considers Ng a role model whose approach to magic he hopes to emulate. “I feel like he’s the type of person whose style and spirit I would aspire to have,” Hu said. He added that this enthusiasm for magic made Ng’s performance exceptional. “Even though magic oftentimes involves deception, he seemed very genuine. That’s a quality I think not a lot of magicians have nowadays,” Hu said.