Tuesday, 18 March 2003

Family Magic
- Streats

Magic will be coming to Singapore in a big way next week, with an international three-day festival. But for one local magician, the show is very much a family affair.

When Lawrence Khong saws his wife and daughter into half, he does it with a cunning smile.

And when he says that he is going to stick razor-sharp blades into their helpless bodies, you can tell that he enjoys it.

But, of course, it’s all in a day’s job for Lawrence the magician, and the 50-year-old can’t really help but call his magic shows a family affair.

His wife, Nina, also 50, works behind the scene as the assistant producer while their 21-year-old daughter, Priscilla, performs on stage as his assistant.

Working together has improved family ties, said Lawrence, who is also chairman of Gateway Entertainment, an entertainment company that is staging Singapore’s first international magic festival from March 28 to 30.

“It’s a blessing in disguise to have your family members in your team because it forces out issues.

“An example was when Priscilla started out. She was very nervous so I was always telling her what to do.

“But when she told me that she felt everything is always not good enough for daddy, it became a family issue that she probably wouldn’t have told me had we not worked together,” said Lawrence.

And it seems like there could be two new additions to this family of magic.

Lawrence is already training his second daughter, Michelle, 18, and youngest child, Daniel, 15, to pick up the tricks of the trade.

But it was with wife Nina that the magical affair started.

The couple, who graduated from National Junior College as the pioneer batch of graduates more than 30 years ago, were still courting when Lawrence began performing.

Said Nina, “I met him when I was 16 and I soon became his assistant on stage.

“Those days, we were performing at company functions at places like Metro and I was doing that until we got married about 25 years ago.”

She then pursued her own career as a general practitioner at her Hougang clinic before quitting two years ago to team up with her husband once more.

According to Nina, Priscilla’s affair with magic also came “naturally.”

“When I was pregnant with Priscilla, Lawrence would make me disappear on stage. So I always tell Priscilla that she already started disappearing even before she was born.”

Besides being a magician and the chairman at Gateway Entertainment, Lawrence is also the chairman and founder of TOUCH Community Services as well as a pastor at Faith Community Baptist Church.

As a result, the 1998 Public Service Medal recipient works seven days a week and “easily more than 12 hours a day.”’

But he is unfazed. For him, the magic shows are just a channel through he says he “serves people”.

A Gathering of Magicians

Catch Lawrence and Priscilla Khong in Singapore’s first magic-musical, “Magic of Love”, as part of the International Festival of Magic.

The show was first staged in 2001 and has been presented overseas, such as at the Shanghai International Film Festival.

In Singapore for the festival will be renowned magicians like Jeff McBride, a three-time award winner at the International Prix of Magic, as well as Eugene Burger and Max Maven.

Performances are at 8 pm at the TOUCH Community Theatre at Jalan Bukit Merah.

For ticket enquiries, call Gateway Entertainment at 6278-2777.

Local magicians will also perform at shopping centers including Scotts Shopping Centre and Bishan Junction 8 on March 22 and 23, from 1 pm to 5 pm.