In my previous topic, Mr. Newman brought up some very good points:

"So sometimes it's a good idea to escape fast...effortlessly.

And other times it should be excrutiatingly difficult."

I was curious...I know that escaping from a full-body tie with 100' of rope isn't too great when completed after an hour, but what times should we aim for while implementing those escapes that are "excrutiatingly difficult"? This gives us a wide range, from full-body rope/chain ties to the most difficult stage/publicity act.

What are your thoughts on this topic?



Daniel

It's not how much time you take. the important thing is how you keep the audience engaged with your process.

A lot lot lot of EAs I've seen doing, for example, straitjacket, make a big deal in their presentation of how they can do it in such and such amount of time, and get the audience to count along. This has to be the lamest excuse I've ever seen for a show. Where is the real drama?

It doesn't matter a bit, if you can do the most extreme and difficult escape ever produced, if you can't get the audience to enjoy it. It has nothing to do with time.

Sometime I'll post my 5 favorite.

Exactly what I'm referring to there. Sorry if I didn't make my post clear enough. As far as timing an escape, I was wondering what time limit you should give yourself for certain acts because some people to something too fast (sometimes it's okay) but like the example you gave, you would know what I mean. It shouldn't really take long for most escapes (example, two hours is way too long to get out of a Siberian Chain Escape) but some escapes are meant to be quick, but then there are more challenging escapes that actually require a lot of time.

When I used to do the 100' Rope Escape, I would have the audience time the people doing the tying and the challenge was for me to get out of it faster than they would put me into it. Only failed once and it was a stupid blunder on my part. But we live and learn.

The most difficult one I ever did (other than the one failure) was at Eastern Michigan University in the late '70's. I got two Iraqi exchange students up to tie me up. By the end og it, I had individually giftwrapped fingers, my hands behind my back with the backs of the hands smashed together and a rather uncomfortible set of loops in areas better left unmentioned.

I did beat their time, but only by a matter of about 2 seconds. And they did gripe about my kicking off my shoes after the tie. But that made it more fun!

Lee Darrow, C.H.

Wow Mr. Darrow. You must've had the audience on the edges of their seats waiting for you to escape!

Last minute escapes (in some cases) = Pleased audience/good act

I don't think the time limit is an essential part, although I do agree that you don't want to take too long. I normally have set time limits which vary depending on what I am escaping from. The important thing is how you portrait the escape. Eg. I did a private show for a family last night. Afterwards, the Hostess told me that her muscles were actually tired from trying to escape for me. She said that she was so gripped by the show that she was actually escaping herself and by what she could judge, so was everyone else. Of course you can imagine how big my smile was after I thanked her for her comment because I had gotten the exact response from those present that I wanted.

Regards
Wolflock

Thanks for the kind words on the escape, but the guy I used to work with, the late Paul Huffaker, used to do a SJ escape the same way. Talk about having them on the edge of their seats! He was FANTSTIC!

Lee Darrow, C.H.

I think it is hard to have time limits, but I think you do need some, or the audience will get bored. So, you need to be witty with the escape, when being put into the escape and when escaping. I have been practicing some escapes lately, and I do have to practice on the "jabs and barter" when being restrained.

Make it look like your actully. escaping and not just doing a magic/gimmicked escape.