Friday, 4 July 2008

LIKE FATHER, LIKE DAUGHTER
- TODAY | Plus



IT MAY have only been a typical rehearsal day over at the Gateway Entertainment office, but the father-and-daughter team of Lawrence and Priscilla Khong were pulling parasols from their fingertips, stabbing one another with flaming spears and walking through an industrial fan.

At one point, the elder Khong began conjuring dove after dove after dove, which he promptly put inside a small, cloth-covered cage. With much flourish, he pulled the cloth away and in place of a cage full of doves was ... his daughter. (We were close enough to contemplate his pores but we so didn't expect that.)

This fluid relationship between the two wasn't forged overnight. In fact, Priscilla remembers that as a kid, she was sceptical about magic. Or in her own words: "I thought it was full of crap!"

But she was eventually convinced that it wasn't just about pulling rabbits out of hats, thanks to an overly enthusiastic dad, who incidentally wears many hats (pastor, social worker, entrepreneur, and even national polo player — he was part of the team that bagged a silver at last year's South-east Asian Games in Thailand).

"He really loves his magic. It's not unusual for him to come to my room at 1am and go, 'Hey, I'll show you a card trick', and I'm like, 'Uh, not now, Dad ..." said Priscilla, 27.

Dad's enthusiasm has obviously rubbed off her, and she's now the only one among the elder Khong's four children who has seriously taken up the artform.

Their new show is called MagicBox, which will be staged at the Esplanade from July 12 to 20. It's a big scale magic show-meets-theatre production with an impressive crew led by director Loretta Chen, composer Iskandar Ismail, playwright magician Jim Steinmeyer and John Thompson, who's a consultant for the Mindfreak TV series by Criss Angel.

For Lawrence, a magical performance should be more than just about magic.

"Magic in itself can be dazzling, but it doesn't have much meaning. We'd like people to leave with something worth thinking about, like what happens after watching a movie," said the 56-year-old magician.

In the show, Lawrence plays a traditional magician who has to deal with a daughter who wants to strike out on her own. It may seem like a typical family drama — but not when it's combined with acts featuring Lawrence appearing inside a water tank, Priscilla walking through an industrial fan, and the both of them levitating.

But to truly enjoy these acts, Lawrence suggests that you leave your analytical side at the door.

"If people just go 'how did he do it?', in a sense, I would have failed. I'd like them to be caught up in that moment of wonder when you just enjoy the fantasy. If you watch Harry Potter, you don't ask how the car flew, do you?" he said.

So, what's harder, doing magic or acting?

Lawrence's rather enigmatic response was: "We always think that a magician is an actor playing the part of a magician."

By that, we think it means knowing how to carry on with the show even when things go pear-shaped. Lawrence remembered a show they did in Dallas where someone had forgotten to close the hatch of a water chamber prop during the pre-act demonstration.

"Two hundred gallons of water poured unto the theatre and I was thinking: 'What do I do now?'"

Thankfully, people thought it was all part of the show.

"They thought it was a very expensive special effect," grinned Priscilla.

MagicBox runs from July 12 to 20, 8pm, at the Esplanade Theatre. With 2.30pm matinees on weekends. Tickets are from $28 to $128 at Sistic.

Copyright 2008 MediaCorp Press Ltd. Article first appeared in TODAY.