PROPS: Drugs, anyone?

[Debo123]

So, how do you do drugs... onstage?

I'm working on a show where we need to have two actors snort meth onstage. It's a 3/4 thrust and they're all the way downstage. Is there any powder that would actually be okay to snort? Any other ways to make it work?

And another character smokes crack... does anyone know anything about that/how to make it look real?

Just looking to see if I can get some good suggestions; any help is appreciated.

[Didaskalos]

Snort any sort of powder SAFELY?

Is the realism worth the risk of having an actor choke on stage in the middle of the performance?  Can the action be moved upstage?  The audience will forgive well-played pretense sooner than poorly executed realism.

If not, you owe it to the actors to consult a doctor and research any potential damage that the actors could sustain in their throats, nasal passages, etc from inhaling any foreign substance.

[VSM]

I would suggest that the actions involved be sufficient.
Snorting anything onstage could have all kinds of repercussions.

Kudos to Marcel...

[FallenRain]

Yes, yes... putting something up your nose is not an ideal situation.  But there are directors and actors who will do anything for the sake of their art and forget that when you get down to it, we are just playing an expensive game of "make believe".

I did a show where one actor was supposed to watch another actor pull out some coke, cut it, and snort it.  This theatre has had to do this before and they use this vitamin powder... which of course I can't remember the name of... which is harmless to injest (they had some supporting research about this).  The problem, as others have suggested, is that your nasal passages aren't necessarily designed to accomodate powder and can become irritated by this action.  That's something you just aren't gonna get away from.  Another thing I've heard of is that instead of sniffing the powder up, the actor actually blows out hard enough to blow the powder away, making it appear that he/she sniffed it.

I'll ask the prop dept. what the name of that powder is tomorrow and get back to you.

Hope this helps!

[Debo123]

That would be immensely helpful-- thank you!

I also didn't think that snorting anything was terribly feasible... I just wondered  to what extent it was... and I know now that it's not. :-)

Does anyone have any ideas about crack?

[loebtmc]

long long ago I had to build some for an anti-drug film - and (if I am recalling correctly) they told me it looked like hard rock candy - which, of course, will boil  and liquify nicely if set afire, being sugar and all - caramelizes and everything.

[jazminhupp]

Vitamin B pills can be ground into a powder and snorted pretty safetly.  A small chunk of Shea butter looks like a crack rock but I'm not sure if you can smoke it.

-Jaz

[empresscallipygos]

This looks like this is out of date, but just in case --

I did HURLYBURLY once, which had a lot of drug use.  We used lactose powder for the onstage coke, I think.