A sometime Pender Harbour resident and professional photographer plans to premiere his latest live travel show on the Coast this weekend.
William Jans began touring his lively fact-based presentations in 1990. The shows use photographs, costumes and storytelling to share light-hearted insights into countries like Burma, Morocco, China and Ireland.
On Nov. 4, he will debut A Man, A Plan, Japan! at the Pender Harbour School of Music. The show will travel to other venues across Western Canada early next year.
“It’s a complete misnomer because I often do not have a plan [when travelling],” said Jans. “And that’s part of the absolute massive joy of solo travel: you can change your mind any minute. It tends to really work for me and I’ll sleep pretty much anywhere. I’ve slept on the Great Wall. I’ve slept on a pool table. It’s just a better story and a fun experience.”
Approximately 80,000 people have viewed Jans’s shows, including sold-out performances at the Ridge Theatre in Vancouver.
The Vancouver-based corporate photographer has clients worldwide. His imagery was used in the Canada Pavilion at the Beijing Olympics. His zeal for travel and culture is unquenchable; in his travels he has learned the rudiments of 11 languages.
“I can learn languages quite easily,” he said, “and even if my memory isn’t great, my pronunciation is usually very good, apparently. Even if I can’t remember it off the top of my head, it’s basically a [variation of the] phrase, ‘Excuse me, can you tell me where I can buy an extra-large?’”
Jans says he uses audience interaction to transform the image of soporific travel lectures. His “multimedia extravaganzas” feature apparel, self-deprecating humour, and an array of images collected first-hand.
Occasionally audience members are invited to participate. In Solo in South America, he urged spectators to join him in sipping a strong alcoholic beverage consumed by Bolivian miners. In preparation for his show on Ireland and Iceland, he learned to pronounce — and eat — kæstur hákarl, or fermented shark, an Icelandic delicacy.
“I let six people who were willing to try this come up and try it,” he recollected. “And it’s horrifying. It’s one of the creepiest foods in the world to eat. I actually did it at the end of the show because it kind of scared everybody out of the theatre.”
Jans delights in outlandish aspects of culture. During A Man, A Plan, Japan!, he will make an appearance in oversize Hello Kitty costume. He also describes the country’s Kanamara Matsuri festival, which venerates a god and goddess through creative depictions of the male sex organ.
“It’s family-friendly, but it’s silly as all get out,” Jans said.
In the face of contemporary skittishness about cultural appropriation, Jans takes a full-immersion approach. When living with the Masai people in Africa, he wore traditional apparel with their blessing. Pedestrians would approach him and make adjustments to his wardrobe, repositioning and securing his armbands.
The exuberant pictorial depictions of Jans’s travels also teach a subtle lesson.
“I try to convey to audiences to remember: be awesome yourself [when abroad],” said Jans. “You’re a guest in another country. Travel with eyes of wonder instead of entitlement. My goal is to promote delicate travel. You can be silly still, but be kind.”
William Jans’s A Man, A Plan, Japan! appears at the Pender Harbour School of Music on Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. Tickets are available at wrjphoto.com.
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