Belfast magician aims to cast her spell on the global stage
By Jonathan McCambridge, PA
A Belfast magician has travelled from the Shankill Road to South Korea as part of her journey towards creating a global stage show.
Nicola McBride, who performs as Nikola Arkane and who originally taught herself magic to perform at children’s birthday parties, is now being mentored by two-time world champion Hyunjoon Kim.
From first becoming interested in conjuring when watching Sooty on TV as a child, Ms Arkane has since performed for duo Penn and Teller in Las Vegas and been a contestant on Sweden’s Got Talent.
Ms Arkane became involved in magic while doing work experience with theatre company Cahoots NI when studying for her drama degree and began to teach herself tricks from reading a book.
Never underestimate working with children, they are your hardest audience, but they are also the best audience
She said: “I didn’t want a normal job so I decided to invent a magic show to perform at children’s birthday parties.
“I went to my first birthday party and it was awful, so difficult.
“Never underestimate working with children, they are your hardest audience, but they are also the best audience because it has made me a better magician.
“I created a character called FizzWizzPop who has become beloved by kids here.”
While Ms Arkane continues to perform for children, she wanted to expand her skills into close-up and stage magic and began performing shows beyond Northern Ireland, including appearing on the Penn And Teller: Fool Us programme in Las Vegas.
She created a show for the FISM (Federation International des Societes Magiques) European Championship of Magic in an attempt to qualify for the world championships.
She said: “I went there two years ago and it was like going from non-league to Fifa, it was too big a leap.
“I was performing for 5,000 people. One of the acts had a full-size tree on stage which was hit by lightning and it burnt and then a dove was produced; I was doing my self-taught tricks.
“I cried a lot after that, it was gut-wrenching. I knew that I needed help.”
Ms Arkane reached out to two-time world champion Mr Kim, who invited her to South Korea as his student.
She said: “This was my goal but I knew it was a project I would never be able to afford.”
Ms Arkane received funding from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland for her first month-long trip to Korea in January.
She then raised £9,000 through donations and doing 75 FizzWizzPop shows for children in four months, which enabled her to return to Korea in September.
She has since received Major Individual Awards funding from the Arts Council which will enable her to make two further trips in 2026 to finish her training.
Ms Arkane said: “On the very first day, my mentor watched some of my acts, then he stopped the video and said we are going to start from scratch.
“We started with a candle, waxing the back and front of cards for hours. That taught me it is not just the skills, it is about the preparation.”
The lessons have focused on manipulation, the art of making objects appear and disappear and included skills such as card-fanning, back-palming and ball manipulation.
My ultimate dream is to be world champion and to tour the world with magic
Ms Arkane said: “It is ridiculously difficult. It is just hours and hours of practice, you are trying to get this stuff to go into your body memory.
“I got calluses on my fingers, my hands hurt, that is part of the process.
“I am now doing things I never thought I would be able to do.”
Ms Arkane wants to use her training to create a show which would be able to tour internationally.
She said: “What I want to do first is bring something back to Northern Ireland. I would like to put on a show showcasing what I have learnt and to bring my mentor over to Belfast.
“My ultimate dream is to be world champion and to tour the world with magic. Perhaps that might be performing with Cirque du Soleil.
“Language can be a barrier to performance. If I create a silent magic manipulation act, I can perform it around the world.”
