British magician Richard Young was eight years old when he fell in love with the craft. Decades later, touring with Champions of Magic, one of, if not the biggest, travelling magic shows in the world, Young thinks back to his bright-eyed self and hopes to instill that sense of wonder in the next generation of performers.
Young said one of his favourite acts is a "wonderful illusion" in which a child is pulled from an audience, put into a box onstage, and magically appears at the back of the theatre seconds later.
"We're getting emails from the moms and dads saying that was the most exciting thing they've ever done ... the kids have the time of their life on stage and are the star of the show."
The show comes to Victoria for the first time May 7 to 9 at the Royal Theatre.
For Young, one of three performers who has been with the show since it started 12 years ago, seeing David Copperfield live when he was 10 was a similar once-in-a-lifetime moment. "My dad still tells the story of when we left the theatre that night," he said.
Champions of Magic is meant to evoke the same wonder in its viewers. The acts focus on the spectacular, using fire, aerialists and even the jaws of death – an upside-down straight jacket escape.
The cast consists of fourth-generation magician Liberty Larsen, Fernando Velasco, a boundary-pushing escapologist, and Young and Strange, a comedy magic double act with Young's childhood friend, Sam Strange.
The show has come a long, long way since its first years when Young remembers just four people and two vans. "There was no money in the game. It was all just done for the love of it," he said.
He never anticipated it would grow into a production team of 30 people and sold-out shows globally. Even in Victoria, the first two shows have already sold out with a third now added to the roster. In its early days, they were lucky to get 100 people out to a show he said.
Young reflected on how much magic has changed since he was a kid – searching for that one book he might find in the library on the subject. Now, it's all at people's fingertips on Google, but thankfully, he thinks it's only made magic grow in popularity – not ruin the fun of it.
"It's quite the opposite actually. I think it's made people respect magic a bit more," he said.
He wouldn't be where he is today without his mom and dad playing along with his childhood performances, being "very kind with their time, feedback" and being "encouraging," he said.
Young hopes to inspire others in the audience to love live magic in the same way.
"We are doing great, bright, colourful, vibrant magic," Young said. "There's a possibility there might be a kid out there one night on this tour ... that we will inspire to be the next David Copperfield."
Get tickets online at rmts.bc.ca/production-detail-pages/2025-royal-theatre/champions-of-magic.
