Photos courtesy of Ryan Forbes (above) and Curtis Lovell (below).
He has been dropped into the Singapore River by crane, buried alive twice, and has cut Paris Hilton in half–just to name a few things. And now former Long Beacher Curtis Lovell II will return back once again to be handcuffed, shacked to chains, and tossed into the bottom of the Hotel Maya pool.
With a poof of bleach blonde hair and a welcoming smile, Lovell speaks with an exuberance about his attraction towards magic and escapism–largely influenced by his teenage obsession with Houdini–and what amounts to an ultimate comfort with fear and death.
“Most of us don’t choose how to die,” Lovell said. “They can’t choose the situation or elements. But when I perform, I’ve created the situation, I’ve chosen the elements–and my own abilities, nothing else, determine my life.”
His ability to escape what most would find terrifying–drowning, locked spaces, restraint–is one that is intimately attached to entertaining. And entertainment is also part of the challenge as when he was first on the news back in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio and after successfully escaping cuffs in a few minutes, the reporter quipped, “Bet you can’t do that in twenty seconds.”
Well, Lovell tried again and did it in 10. Since then, he has coordinated his escapes around common fears that, momentarily, put the audience viewer in his predicament. The visceral aspect–I am watching this person sink to the bottom of a river… What if he doesn’t make it?–creates a charge that simultaneously frightens and entertains.
Some might call it romanticizing death–Lovell, after all, stated quite matter-of-factly that should he die, it would be a noble death much like how a warrior wishes to die in battle–but if there is one thing it is not, it is a fear of death.
“I’m controlling the elements of death–there’s nothing to be scared of,” Lovell said. “The only things to be scared of are things you don’t understand.”
And understanding saturates the work of Lovell. His family, though supportive, were like most families: “Well, that’s great, sweetie, you like to perform magic tricks–but what do you want to do with your life?” This sentiment followed him all the way to California, with naysayers and pundits eyeing Lovell skeptically for choosing such an endeavor as a profession.
“Then on top of it all, I’m a gay escape artist and entertainer,” he said, laughing. “‘What are you going to do?’ people would ask me. ‘You have to be manly.’ No, I don’t have to be manly; I just have to be able to escape.”
And he did just that–in more ways than one. Escaping his own critics, he also escaped his own conception of entertainment when he realized that his use of common fears can actually supersede the stage.
A woman, holding a deep seated phobia of drowning to the extent that almost all forms of water frightened her, watched Lovell crawl into a claustrophobic box filled with water and escape it. According to Lovell, she approached him later and described how the show affected her: “If you could lock yourself up in a small box of water, sure I could take a step into the ocean.” She did just that and following that first step, eventually overcame her fear of drowning.
“Beyond the entertainment, there’s this hidden message,” Lovell said. “And that message becomes more profound with every performance.”
Curtis Lovell II will perform his escape act this Saturday, May 18, at Play@ Maya. The event will be held at Hotel Maya, located at 700 Queensway Dr. Cabanas have unfortunately sold out.Tickets are still available for purchase here.