Review: The Escape by Lawrence & Priscilla

If you are reading this, either you are part of the media researching for the event, or more probably you are a magician yourself.

And if you are like me (which makes up majority of the magicians in Singapore), chances are you do not exactly take great interest in big scale magic (particularly with escapes).

I was cursing Thor and Vogue while making my way over to the Singapore Flyer for the New Year’s Eve Countdown. I thought it’s a privilege to cover the event as a guest at first. However,  getting squashed through the crowd certainly wasn’t enjoyable.

Then came the pleasant surprise.

I attended the event’s cocktail party as a guest. There were free flow of drinks and sweet delights. It was a prize presentation ceremony to award Lawrence and Priscilla the prestigious Merlin award and crown the two, as Sir Lawrence and Lady Priscilla. I had a chance to talk to Tony Hassini and as always his hair stole the limelight away from him.

and Merlin Award goes to.... Lawrence and Priscilla Khong!

Just a little background information on the Merlin award,  it is a prestigious title presented only to those who have achieved the highest level in their craft, both on the national and international stage. Some of the criteria includes talent, showmanship, originality, skills and above all the rare ability to entertain under any conditions. Some of these recipients includes Penn & Teller, David Copperfield, Criss Angel, Lu Chen and more recently, JC Sum and ‘Magic Babe’ Ning.
Now in Singapore we’ve our very own grand magicians for the year, Sir Lawrence and Lady Priscilla.

What better way to end the night than performing a death defying stunt! Lawrence and Priscilla were lifted up high, trapped in a cargo box and were  given just 3 minutes to escape before it detonates in mid-air. They were heavily chained, and literally more than 10kg worth of cuffs all over.

Suit up and ready to go!

Before it all started, Lawrence decided to make it harder for himself and that much more enjoyable for us. The duo gave themselves only 2.45 seconds to escape from the cargo box. As a skeptic I wasn’t sure if its that much harder for the for the both of them.

A mega scale escape!

Quite frankly the first part of the escape was a little dry. But then it came. By 2.15, the cargo exploded. Nothing was found. And then the spectators realized, we just got “punked” because they were high up at the platform on the other side.

All smiles after a very successful escape!

Right in front of your eyes. With no explanation.

That was Magic.