1306
Stage Management: Plays & Musicals / cumbersome scene shifts
« on: Nov 29, 2004, 05:29 pm »
ah - two fun areas, practical food and absurd scene shifts
both in my recent production of The Real Thing
1) they have to pour and drink mimosas on stage - easy, right? but no, one actor can't have fruit in any shape, three can't have sugar (nor sugar substitutes) and one is allergic to anything chemical. So we mixed mineral water (not artificially carbonated, no additives) lightly touched w black tea (amazingly, something all four could digest) for champagne, and used yellow bell pepper juice - really - for the OJ -
2) and the scene shifts - in a tiny and cluttered backstage with ackwardly oversized and stupidly heavy furniture being SILENTLY swapped on the upstage half of the hollow wooden turntable while the scene took place in lights downstage - the worst two being a) a full set-up cleared and reset with another full set-up by two slight backstage crew (one doubling as the quick-change/wardrobe mistress) during a very quiet and intimate 15-20 second scene, and b) similar full unset and reset with a full stage worth of props and furniture during another quiet 1 minute scene.
Sigh
both in my recent production of The Real Thing
1) they have to pour and drink mimosas on stage - easy, right? but no, one actor can't have fruit in any shape, three can't have sugar (nor sugar substitutes) and one is allergic to anything chemical. So we mixed mineral water (not artificially carbonated, no additives) lightly touched w black tea (amazingly, something all four could digest) for champagne, and used yellow bell pepper juice - really - for the OJ -
2) and the scene shifts - in a tiny and cluttered backstage with ackwardly oversized and stupidly heavy furniture being SILENTLY swapped on the upstage half of the hollow wooden turntable while the scene took place in lights downstage - the worst two being a) a full set-up cleared and reset with another full set-up by two slight backstage crew (one doubling as the quick-change/wardrobe mistress) during a very quiet and intimate 15-20 second scene, and b) similar full unset and reset with a full stage worth of props and furniture during another quiet 1 minute scene.
Sigh